Max Arena (47 page)

‘I don’t
understand. How can you feel what’s in my heart and in my mind? Not
even
I
can decipher my feelings that clearly.’

‘Nar’gellan
mothers retain a mental link to their children, all through their
lives. I have watched you ever since the day I left, but due to the
complexity of your human genetics, you have not naturally activated
your link and so I could not communicate with you. I could only
watch, but it seems at last, you have broken through and I am
thankful because I have another message for you now. In addition to
your humanity providing you the advantage in combat, be also aware
that Macktidas has a physical weakness. Nar’gellans are vulnerable
to what humans call electricity. Our blood stream is particularly
sensitive to its charging effects, to the point that we literally
boil from the inside out, so make sure you use electricity where
possible in your arsenal, but beware, you yourself may also be
partially or highly susceptible to the same damaging effects. I do
not know if your human cell structure aids you in any way, so take
care.’

‘Thank you. Now
tell me, what else I can do for you while we’re linked?’

‘There is
nothing. Just fulfil your destiny and be the son I raised you to
be. Only then will I be free, regardless of my life or death.’

Suddenly, a
scraping noise sounded and through his mother’s eyes in the
reflection of the glass, Max watched a portal slide open behind
her. She did not turn. She did not flinch, but Max felt her dismay
as a figure filled the frame. The shape was huge. Enormous and
without ever having seen his full form, Max knew who it was.
Macktidas.

The beast
looked just like any other of the Nar’gellan soldiers Max had seen
and beaten, except this monster was half the size again. Macktidas
towered over his mother’s broken form and the glare from his eyes
portrayed the malice his mother had spoken of.

‘Go now,’ his
mother said silently to Max. ‘There is nothing for you to see here.
Be strong and be my son.’

‘Mother!’ Max
called out. ‘Mother wait! Tell him I’m going to kill him! Tell him
he’s going to die!’

‘Goodbye,
Max.’

And the light
snuffed out and the complete and total blackness returned, but this
time, Max fought against it. He knew what lay on the other side of
the dark. His mother. He had finally found her and she needed him
and he would not go quietly away. Surrounded by pitch, Max struck
out. He flailed. He wailed. He cursed and shouted and then he woke
up in bed, fighting an invisible foe.

Noon, 1
^st
December (8 days later).
Christmas Hope

‘What time is
he on?’ Kris asked as she hung another candy cane on the Christmas
tree that had been put up in the formal living room.

‘Midday,’ Elsa
replied as she helped Jason hang a glitter coated pine cone on a
lower branch. ‘He’s got the whole show to himself again. I think
Sally’s going to really grill him today given she won’t get a third
bite at him.’

‘How was he
feeling this morning?’ I know he hated the last time he went up
against her, but he was awesome anyway. He made Sally look like an
extra on her own show.’

Elsa reached
into a box and pulled out two more ruby red baubles and gave one
each to Jason and Millie who scurried off to hang them.

‘Yeah, he did,’
Elsa replied. ‘I’ve got to admit though, I don’t mind watching the
odd bit of Sally Sainsbury. Sure, she’s fake and the whole show is
sickening, but hey, if you’re looking for a release from reality,
Sally’s the goods. You can’t get much more unreal or over the top
than her.’

‘Can’t argue
with that,’ Kris said as she stood on tiptoes to perch a snowman on
a high branch. ‘Wow, this tree is huge! I’ve never had one even
half as big as this.’

‘Me neither,’
Elsa agreed, pulling a length of silver tinsel out of the box and
searching around for somewhere to string it up. ‘Hey, are you
heading back to Brisbane to spend Christmas with your family?’

‘Just Christmas
Eve and most of Christmas day. Be back Christmas night. Can’t
afford to slack off this close to the finish line.’

‘Well, it’s
your call,’ Elsa said as she tossed the tinsel off to the side and
instead pulled out a small reindeer and a star for the kids, ‘but I
reckon you should stay there through to Boxing Day. You’ve got Max
this far. I think he can handle himself for a couple of days on his
own. I know I don’t need to remind you this might be the last
Christmas before the end of the world.’

Kris didn’t
answer. Instead she paused and looked out the wide space of the
opening onto the balcony. Outside, the rising heat of the
midmorning summer sun formed a haze over the distant palm trees
bordering the beach. The bleached blue sky hung flawlessly behind.
Then the lazy silhouette of a Black Hawk droned into view offshore
of the island, its ceaseless presence no longer a distraction.

‘Hey,’ Elsa
said gently as she came up behind Kris and laid a hand on her
shoulder. Kris stirred and half smiled. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to be
a bully. You do what you want and I’ll shut up.’

‘No. It’s
alright,’ Kris said, turning and fully opening up her smile.
‘You’re allowed to lecture me. Friends get a free shot. If it was
anyone else, they’d be getting a death stare.’

‘I’d love to
have you here on Christmas Day,’ Elsa added, ‘and I know Max and
the kids would too and as for Abdullah? Well, I think we all know
how he’d feel, even though Christmas is not technically on his
calendar.’

Kris nodded and
quickly turned away to walk back to the coffee table in the centre
of the room to get her glass of water.

‘It’s none of
my business,’ Elsa added, ‘but seeing as you gave me one free shot,
I’ll take a second too. You and Abdullah need to sort out your
feelings and get on with being together. This whole end of the
world thing might cause some trouble with that too.’

‘What am I
going to do?’ Kris said, raising a hand and then letting it drop to
slap against her thigh. ‘I don’t even know how to, you know, ask
him out.’

‘What do you
mean?’

‘He’s Muslim
and I’m not. That’s not going to work.’

‘Is that it? Is
that what’s stopping you? Religion?’

‘Come on,
Elsa?’ Kris said, putting her glass back down and walking back to
rummage in the decorations box for another trinket. ‘Religion’s
pretty important and let’s face it. Abdullah’s not exactly a casual
worshipper and on top of that, he’s a king. There’s no way he could
spend any time with me. He needs to have a princess for a
girlfriend and a Muslim princess to boot. I’ve got nothing that’s
going to work with him.’

Elsa smiled and
looked upon her friend with soft eyes and a gentle smile. Kris
noted the silence and looked back.

‘What?’ Kris
said, her head askance.

‘I think it’s
sweet.’

‘What’s
sweet?’

‘That you care
so much about Abdullah that you think you’re not good enough for
him and don’t want to hurt him by putting him into a difficult
situation.’

Kris paused and
held her gaze on Elsa for a moment to then let it drift away into
space. Elsa let her words sink in for a few seconds more and then
walked over to take Kris’ hand and lead her away from the tree to
sit down on a couch.

‘Kris, you both
care for each other,’ Elsa began, ‘not just as close friends, but
as probably something more and given we’re all staring down the
barrel of only one more month of life as we know it, take a chance.
Don’t let something like religion get in the way of at least
telling him how you feel. Life literally might be too short to
waste this opportunity and you know what I think? I think that
despite his devout belief in Islam, Abdullah is a much bigger
believer in human spirit and if he cares for you in the same way
you care for him, he won’t let his religion get in the way.’

Kris listened
silently and nodded at the end. Elsa let the pause linger, waiting
for Kris to break it first.

‘Okay,’ Kris
finally said softly, looking down into her lap. ‘I’ll think about
it.’

‘Don’t think
about it!’ Elsa protested, reaching across to squeeze Kris’ hand.
‘Do it! Besides, the man’s a king! He’s rich and he’s pretty damn
good looking too. If I didn’t have Max hanging around, I’d be all
over Abdullah. The man’s a catch and so are you by the way, so get
on with it!’

Now Kris smiled
a wide, beaming grin. Elsa squeezed her hand again and Kris looked
up.

‘Okay,’ Kris
said. ‘I’ll think really,
really
hard about it.’

‘That’s
better,’ Elsa replied, turning to watch Millie and Jason start
pulling a bunch of tinsel strings out of another box.

‘And what about
you?’ Kris asked.

Elsa turned
back and said, ‘What about me?’

‘Now it’s my
turn for a free shot. How are
you
holding up? You might be
just about to lose your husband and then there’s Millie and Jason.
How are you handling them?’

‘I don’t worry
so much about Max and I know that sounds a bit cold, but the truth
is, we’ve known for a long time that this was coming. It’s still
hard to deal with, but Max has to do what Max has to do and I
bought into that. What I do struggle with though is the kids. Not
that they really know what’s coming. It’s more that when Max first
told me all about his alien side and that Macktidas would one day
come along and upend us, it was just us. Me and him. No kids to
think about, but now we’ve got Millie and Jason and it’s different.
Completely different. Now we have someone else in our lives to
protect and its’ hard to come to grips with the fact that they
might just be about to lose the greatest protector they could ever
have in their father and then if that happens and Macktidas’ army
comes in to kill us all, all they’ll have is me and I’ll be useless
in helping them. I’m not a soldier, let alone anything like Max, so
that’s what makes it hard. I just feel, you know, helpless when I
think about it, so I shut it out, at least as much as I can.’

Elsa stopped
and looked at her children as they wrapped each other in strings of
green, red and silver tinsel, giggling like mad. Now it was Kris’
turn to look softly at her friend.

‘Let me tell
you something,’ Kris said softly, dragging Elsa’s attention back to
her. ‘I’m not a mother and I may never be one, but I’ve spent
enough time with you and Max and the kids and what I know is that
when Millie and Jason look up at you, it’s unconditional love.
Their eyes brim with it and if Max is no longer around to protect
all of you, they don’t need you to be just like Max. They need you
to be just like
you
. Their mother and someone who
unconditionally loves them in return. You may not be able to fight
off alien hordes, but the way you protect your children is by
wrapping them in love all the way to the end and that’s better than
anything else. Love may not save your lives, but it will keep the
fear at bay and it’s hard to ask for much more than that. Love is
really all a child wants and you’ve got loads of love to give
them.’

Staring at
Kris, Elsa’s eyes grew wide, her pupils deep and full as tears
filmed across them. Leaning forward, Elsa gently embraced her
friend and held her tight. Kris hugged her back and they stayed
locked together in silence.

Suddenly, the
two women felt little hands pulling at them and they broke apart to
find Millie and Jason tugging on their clothes.

‘Our turn! Our
turn!’ they pleaded. Elsa and Kris laughed, genuine, heart-warming
laughter in return.

‘Okay!’ Elsa
called out and hefted Millie off her feet as she stood up, hugging
her close and spinning.

Kris followed
suit, lifting Jason off the floor too, squeezing him into her chest
as he giggled and giggled.

Noon, 1
^st
December (same time).
Together We Win

‘Max?’ Sally
asked. ‘You’re mysteriously quiet? Why so pensive?’

Max looked up
at his host and searched her eyes for even the most remote
possibility that she would ask anything other than another question
about how he was feeling and unfortunately, he failed. So, Max
decided to take matters into his own hands and usurp the interview,
regardless of the consequences.

‘Sally, I don’t
want to talk about myself anymore,’ he said plainly. ‘In all
honesty, I’m just a regular bloke. Sure, in a month’s time I’m
going to step into the arena and defend the world’s safety against
God knows what sort of aliens, but today, right now, I’m not the
most important story on the planet.’

Sally’s
response as best Max could make out was mainly shock. At first she
opened her eyes slightly wider and stiffened a little in her chair,
but then slowly Max saw the wheels start to grind back into motion.
Her eyes squinted marginally and then hardened around the edges as
a slight tension gripped her jaw line.

‘So, Max,’
Sally said, probably a little more tersely than she would have
liked, ‘if
you
are not the biggest story on the planet
today,
what
on Earth is?’

‘Us,’ Max
replied, holding his hands out to the sides, palms open and looking
from Sally to the audience. ‘All of us.’

‘I don’t
understand. All eyes are on
you
right now, Max, so why don’t
we get back to
you
?’ Sally said, shifting in her seat and
attempting to wrest control back of the interview.

‘Sally, I’m not
a deep thinker,’ Max ploughed on, ‘and I’m absolutely not a
philosopher or a visionary. I’m no good at any of that stuff, but
what I
am
good at is observing things. I see, hear and feel
things around me and then react on instinct. I don’t think deeply
about how I react. I just do it and that seems to have got me this
far in life. So I must be observing things okay, so let me tell you
what my observation is that explains why I think
all of us
are the biggest story in the world right now?’