[Isabel] Exposition Time
Who: Isabel
Where: Medical Facility: Cafeteria #1
When: Day 20, Mid-Morning
Invited: Everyone in Cafeteria #1
Status: Complete
Isabel let herself be pushed to the cafeteria, ignoring the guns. Of course they didn't trust her. She'd hardly acquitted herself with honour and dignity so far.
The cafeteria was nearly empty, but people were drifting around, drawn by the commotion. Now that Claire was found, Isabel assumed that many would return. she found a seat and sat on it, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her head in her hands.
Suddenly the urge to tell her story became overwhelming. She looked up at the men who surrounded her.
"You probably don't care about the reasons for what I just did," she said, "and I don't expect you to forgive me. I don't know if I can ever forgive myself for it." She sighed. "But after that I can't keep any secrets from you."
She looked at the faces of her listeners again, then looked away. This was going to be hard enough without seeing their reactions.
"My name is Isabel Evans. My human name, anyway. I came to Earth in 1947 with my brother Max, our friend Michael, and Tess. We are hybrids, humans with alien genetics and enhancements, made from our former bodies to be raised on Earth, away from the enemies who had us killed. Max was our planet's ruler; Tess was his Queen. Michael was Max's right-hand man, and I was his wife. In that life I was called Vilandra, and it was my betrayal which brought our downfall."
She shook her head.
"But I still don't remember much of my former life. Our ship crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. You might have heard about that. We emerged from our pods on the remains of the ship in the early nineties, physically aged about eight years old. We were adopted by human families in Roswell and kept our true nature a secret. We didn't know Tess then; there was a full-blooded alien protector on our ship who'd taken her elsewhere and raised her alone.
"Then a girl Max liked, Liz Parker, got shot in a café. It was an accident, and we were there, and... we have powers, as you probably noticed. We can't all do the same things, but Max can heal. He got down after Liz and healed her of a wound that should have killed her. She, of course, wanted to know what was going on, especially when a silver handprint appeared over where the wound had been. An unfortunate side effect of certain things we can do.
"So she found out the whole story, and so did some of her friends, but they were intelligent, and they kept quiet, and helped us a lot. After that incident a lot of people started trying to find us. The FBI, the sheriff... then Tess turned up with the man who'd raised her, our 'protector' who we'd never seen before that moment. The medicine man at the Indian reservation had known him years before, called him 'Nasedo'. It means 'visitor'. He wasn't human at all, could change his shape, had stronger powers. He'd killed a lot of people to keep them away from Tess. That's something else that can leave a silver handprint. Especially the way he liked to do it."
She paused.
"It's long and complicated, but suffice it to say that there were other aliens on Earth, aliens from the species who were controlling our planet. We call them Skins, because they have to wear these human-shaped suits to survive in Earth's atmosphere. They killed Nasedo. I fell in love with a human, a boy named Alex. It was unwise, I'd seen all the pain that Max and Liz had gone through, but I did it anyway. Tess killed him.
"She had the power to alter people's minds, make them forget things or see things which weren't there, convince them to do things. We thought he was going to Sweden; instead Tess made him translate a book we'd found in our ship, which gave instructions on how to use it to get back home. She seduced Max, wanting to return to our old lives, and got pregnant. Then all the mindwiping she was doing on Alex stopped working, and rather than let anybody find out what she'd done, she killed him and arranged a car accident to cover it up. Fortunately we figured out what she'd done before it was too late. She'd made a deal with K'Var, the leader of the Skins, to return home with the baby in exchange for her acquiescence to his rule.
"We all stayed behind when she left. Eventually she came back with the baby, which was a pure human and wasn't accepted on our world. The FBI were hot on our heels by then, drawn particularly by the ship Tess returned in, and they gave the baby up for adoption so he could have a normal life. Then Tess went to the military base and used her powers to blow it up. They only knew for sure about her, as she'd been caught on camera breaking out of there after the crash. So when they killed her in that base, we were free for a while."
Isabel wiped the last tears from her face and looked up at the others again.
"So when I saw Claire - and she looks exactly like Tess - I thought she'd betrayed us again. I was so angry... I was still angry about the first betrayal. Even though she died to save us, I never lost that anger with her. Neither did Liz. When she first came back to Earth, Liz threw her across the room much like I did with Claire just now.
"As for the story about how I got here. That's all true. Max, Michael and I were on a ship with Liz and Maria, Kyle and Jesse. Max and Liz are married now, Maria and Michael will probably get round to it one day. Kyle got involved with us despite our best efforts, but he's had the same problem Liz had after being healed by Max - they both developed powers like ours. So he came with us. And Jesse - Jesse's my husband. I lost my ring somewhere... and I told you about the storm already.
"So that's my story."
Where: Medical Facility: Cafeteria #1
When: Day 20, Mid-Morning
Invited: Everyone in Cafeteria #1
Status: Complete
Isabel let herself be pushed to the cafeteria, ignoring the guns. Of course they didn't trust her. She'd hardly acquitted herself with honour and dignity so far.
The cafeteria was nearly empty, but people were drifting around, drawn by the commotion. Now that Claire was found, Isabel assumed that many would return. she found a seat and sat on it, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her head in her hands.
Suddenly the urge to tell her story became overwhelming. She looked up at the men who surrounded her.
"You probably don't care about the reasons for what I just did," she said, "and I don't expect you to forgive me. I don't know if I can ever forgive myself for it." She sighed. "But after that I can't keep any secrets from you."
She looked at the faces of her listeners again, then looked away. This was going to be hard enough without seeing their reactions.
"My name is Isabel Evans. My human name, anyway. I came to Earth in 1947 with my brother Max, our friend Michael, and Tess. We are hybrids, humans with alien genetics and enhancements, made from our former bodies to be raised on Earth, away from the enemies who had us killed. Max was our planet's ruler; Tess was his Queen. Michael was Max's right-hand man, and I was his wife. In that life I was called Vilandra, and it was my betrayal which brought our downfall."
She shook her head.
"But I still don't remember much of my former life. Our ship crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. You might have heard about that. We emerged from our pods on the remains of the ship in the early nineties, physically aged about eight years old. We were adopted by human families in Roswell and kept our true nature a secret. We didn't know Tess then; there was a full-blooded alien protector on our ship who'd taken her elsewhere and raised her alone.
"Then a girl Max liked, Liz Parker, got shot in a café. It was an accident, and we were there, and... we have powers, as you probably noticed. We can't all do the same things, but Max can heal. He got down after Liz and healed her of a wound that should have killed her. She, of course, wanted to know what was going on, especially when a silver handprint appeared over where the wound had been. An unfortunate side effect of certain things we can do.
"So she found out the whole story, and so did some of her friends, but they were intelligent, and they kept quiet, and helped us a lot. After that incident a lot of people started trying to find us. The FBI, the sheriff... then Tess turned up with the man who'd raised her, our 'protector' who we'd never seen before that moment. The medicine man at the Indian reservation had known him years before, called him 'Nasedo'. It means 'visitor'. He wasn't human at all, could change his shape, had stronger powers. He'd killed a lot of people to keep them away from Tess. That's something else that can leave a silver handprint. Especially the way he liked to do it."
She paused.
"It's long and complicated, but suffice it to say that there were other aliens on Earth, aliens from the species who were controlling our planet. We call them Skins, because they have to wear these human-shaped suits to survive in Earth's atmosphere. They killed Nasedo. I fell in love with a human, a boy named Alex. It was unwise, I'd seen all the pain that Max and Liz had gone through, but I did it anyway. Tess killed him.
"She had the power to alter people's minds, make them forget things or see things which weren't there, convince them to do things. We thought he was going to Sweden; instead Tess made him translate a book we'd found in our ship, which gave instructions on how to use it to get back home. She seduced Max, wanting to return to our old lives, and got pregnant. Then all the mindwiping she was doing on Alex stopped working, and rather than let anybody find out what she'd done, she killed him and arranged a car accident to cover it up. Fortunately we figured out what she'd done before it was too late. She'd made a deal with K'Var, the leader of the Skins, to return home with the baby in exchange for her acquiescence to his rule.
"We all stayed behind when she left. Eventually she came back with the baby, which was a pure human and wasn't accepted on our world. The FBI were hot on our heels by then, drawn particularly by the ship Tess returned in, and they gave the baby up for adoption so he could have a normal life. Then Tess went to the military base and used her powers to blow it up. They only knew for sure about her, as she'd been caught on camera breaking out of there after the crash. So when they killed her in that base, we were free for a while."
Isabel wiped the last tears from her face and looked up at the others again.
"So when I saw Claire - and she looks exactly like Tess - I thought she'd betrayed us again. I was so angry... I was still angry about the first betrayal. Even though she died to save us, I never lost that anger with her. Neither did Liz. When she first came back to Earth, Liz threw her across the room much like I did with Claire just now.
"As for the story about how I got here. That's all true. Max, Michael and I were on a ship with Liz and Maria, Kyle and Jesse. Max and Liz are married now, Maria and Michael will probably get round to it one day. Kyle got involved with us despite our best efforts, but he's had the same problem Liz had after being healed by Max - they both developed powers like ours. So he came with us. And Jesse - Jesse's my husband. I lost my ring somewhere... and I told you about the storm already.
"So that's my story."