Disclaimer: characters are not mine yadda yadda yadda...neither are the lyrics yadda yadda yadda...please don’t sue, have no moola yadda yadda yadda...
Note: This songfic is the first story in a series of future-fics :) Song: "Gas Panic" by the fabulous Oasis, off their fabulous new record Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants...

*~*~*

They stalked across the Roswell desert, the four of them, kicking up sand with a purpose, their skins taut against the wind, hunched shoulders and hard mouths. This is what their whole lives have been leading up to...this one moment. There was fear, there was excitement. It twisted in their stomachs, it made them feel alive. Nasedo led the way. And they trusted him now. He no longer had to hide behind the guise of Tess. They accepted him, they were no longer afraid. He was showing them the way home. They would get to it together.

What tongueless ghost of sin crept through my curtains?
Sailing on a sea of sweat on a stormy night
I think he don't got a name but I can't be certain
And in me he starts to confide

That my family don't seem so familiar
And my enemies all know my name
And if you hear me tap on your window
Better get on yer knees and pray panic is on the way

They stopped directly under the V of stars, the constellation that haunted their dreams when they slept, and was always at the back of their minds when they were awake. They drew a circle in the sand and set the stone in the center. They took their places around it, and Nasedo closed his eyes as lines stretched out from under the stone to where each of them stood, connecting them to the stone, to each other. They breathed together, one breath, one body, one consciousness.

My pulse pumps out a beat to the ghost dancer
My eyes are dead and my throat's like a black hole
And if there's a god would he give another chancer
An hour to sing for his soul

Cos my family don't seem so familiar
And my enemies all know my name
And when you hear me tap on yer window
Yer better get on yer knees and pray panic is on the way

The stone began to throb and hum, echoing their beating hearts and white light fringed with an electric blue shot out from the mirrored grooves in its surface imprinting the sign on the sky, stretching beyond the earth’s atmosphere. Tension in the air, tangible like chain link surrounding them in the circle shooting up, up, tension and heat, pressure and the sky, eyes closed tight with concentration, hands out and reaching... An electric jolt through their bodies from the sky, visions threading themselves through the tornado of sand cradeling the activated stone. Visions left in the collective consciousness, waiting to be found, waiting to be set free. Memories of a dying planet, visions of those who tried to save a desperate race traveling through the darkness of space, searching for a light, a safe haven, a new place to call home.

A spinning marble of blue, green and white swirls.

Hope torn to shreds by the blare of the ships alarm system and replaced with fear.

A seventeen year old face shadowed by guilt as it watched the adults struggle with the controls...

The ship being pulled into the new planet’s atmosphere, hurtling through the sky, the golden ground coming closer and closer...

Screams...

Panic...

The final gut wrenching crunch of the crash...

Bodies strewn everywhere no survivors except...three pods the size of the stone undisturbed at the back of the ship still cradeled against the wall, set into it like jewels.

Young hands releasing them, holding them close as the door melted away at his touch.

Hididng in the bushes, watching the men come, listening to their shouts of disbelief and horror as they pulled out the bodies, listening to the rumble of their vehicles coming closer and closer.

Running, running, running, cradeling the babies, cradeling the signal given to him...the signal that would bring him back home. Him, the betrayer. Nasedo.

Cos my family don't seem so familiar

Trying to use the signal, not strong enough...

And my enemies all know my name

Hiding the pods where they’ll never be found, where they’ll be safe untill they’re born.

And when you hear me tap on yer window

Someone coming...

Then you get on your knees and you better pray

He buries the stone, the sign, deep in this alien ground and runs, runs, runs...

Cos my family don't seem so familiar
And my enemies all know my name
And when you hear me tap on your window
Yer better get on yer knees and pray
Panic is on the way...
Panic is on the way...

The circle holds them still as they struggle against the connection in rage and confusion. Nasedo holds them, still reaching up, up, desperately reaching for Him. He had said he would help him come home if he destroyed the mission, if he betrayed his friends, his family. It was for the greater good... The greater good...

An explosion of a star blood red wave of death and destruction pouring out from space and showering them with the knowledge that their planet is dead.

This is what the collective consciousness has left behind for them.

Nasedo’s howl of pain breaks the chain, breaks the circle, breaks the connection. The particles of light break apart and fall like rain and disapear as they hit the ground. They crumple like marrionettes with cut strings, and lay broken on the sand, pinned down by shock and despair and pain.

Rage lifts one of them to their feet.

Fury pushes him after Nasedo who is running deeper into the desert.

A hand clamps down on his shoulder, holding him back.

"Michael, No!" He doesn’t say a word. He turns to his friend and pushes with his mind as hard as he can. Max flies back and lands with a thud, sprawled out on the sandy ground. Michael turns away from him. He turns away from Isabel who kneels before the stone in shock, tears marking slick trails down her dusty cheeks as she stares up at the sky.

He turns and runs off into the night after Nasedo.

Back to Area 51 (Section II)