What Brian always enjoyed the most was the heat. The heat of Mark's passion, the heat of his body as they joined, all fueling the fire he saw in those eyes ... he was in awe of the display. Whether it was seventeen or seventy, Brian was sure Mark would maintain that inner fire his whole life.

Tonight they christened the new bedroom on a familiar bed. Rosie was spending the evening with Todd, and Mark was sure he would pop the question. Brian had much the same feeling, but then he'd already seen the answer in Rosie's eyes before she left.

The romance with Todd would become a shared life, something Brian felt she deserved. Rosie had given up so much of herself to the boy, and now he'd felt her attentions as well. She wasn't old, he'd been wrong in his first assessment. Merely forty-two, but her life had given her unneeded age, and now she was about to claim it back.

The house had become a home rather quickly after that wonderful surprise party. Rosie slid her things into place and filled the gaps with several shopping sprees. Brian had more than enough to fill his apartment, although Mark didn't care to see much past setting up the bedroom. And here they were several weeks later, making plans for the rest of the summer, enjoying the city views at night, and settling back down to the long and tedious work schedule.

Mark moved again, sliding around in their shared sweat and natural body lubrication. "Stay with me, I am gonna make you see stars again," Mark said.

Brian groaned. "You'll try, I'm sure ... I don't think I have anything left to give."

Their bodies were covered in sweat despite the air conditioning.

Mark smiled. "We need a bath ... "

"Midnight bathing sounds fine to me."

The plumber would be in next week, the Japanese tub they bought would fit in nicely down in the sun room. Mark had requested it and they chose the spot together. For now they did it the western way. As the tub filled they stood at the window looking out at the lights of the city below.

"Hard to tell the difference between our view and Tim's," Mark said.

"We have a more westerly view while his is a little south and east. There's less development around him, at least we don't have to look in anyone else's back yard," Brian said. "But he's higher too, just the next hill over."

They showered off the results of their love making and then slid into the tub. "Are you going to teach Rosie how to bathe Japanese style?" Brian asked.

"Not naked, you must be joking. The Japanese don't mix men and women, do they?"

"Families bathe together I believe, we are so hung up here," Brian replied.

The water in the tub sloshed around and the lights flickered a bit.

"What was that ... earthquake?" Mark asked.

"Felt like it ... " And then it happened again.

"Come on ... out of the tub," Brian said.

They dried in a hurry and threw on some shorts. Brian grabbed his wallet and car keys on the way out the door. Another shake occurred as they walked out the front door and Mark followed him over to the driveway.

"Where are we going?" Mark asked.

"Nowhere, I just want to sit in the car for a while. I don't know this area, it didn't move around much, but I want to see what happened elsewhere."

They slid in the seats and Brian turned on the radio. The reports said the quake had been centered in the San Bernardino area, nothing they had to worry about. If the house sat on solid bedrock they would feel the tremblers, but it was unlikely to cause any damage. It paid to be careful since Mark was a valuable asset to a lot of people.

The water in the tub was cold when they went back inside, so Brian drained it and they changed the sheets before sliding in bed. They had both grown up with earthquakes as a fact of life. Californians shrugged it off most times. The Big One might come tomorrow and it fed the lifestyle with a sense of urgency. The thought nagged in everyone's mind on a daily basis, but it didn't keep them from falling asleep.

Wayne Edwards and Leonard Avery took the studio shuttle downtown to the museum while Tina loaded the extras on two comfortable buses. Tim and Brian took the limo alone because Mark and Steve decided to ride with the other kids in a show of solidarity.

The street on one side of the Natural History Museum had been cordoned off. Equipment trucks and two school buses occupied the space behind the police lines. On-site shooting was a pain in the ass for everyone, but you couldn't build a museum filled with dinosaur bones on any studio lot. Episode Three had been nicknamed 'Chaos at the Museum' by the writers. It was every bit of that.

The museum closed for them at five, and they were going to run the shooting late, as late as needed. Keeping thirty-five kids under control would be a challenge, especially when Adam began reacting to the dinosaurs like they were Narts. The kid scenes would be over in three or four hours, then they would shoot the aftermath and every detail they needed. Alan did not want to return here another day, it cost too much.

Studio B back on the Triton lot had been the site of some serious construction the past three weeks, all in an attempt to reproduce the actual gift shop at the museum and the imaginary storeroom where Puckett and Adam would be trapped. But first up were these shots inside the museum, and the transport buses pulled up at the side entrance.

Once the camera equipment was set up out front, the kids would board the two school buses and drive around the block, pulling up to the entrance and unloading as the cameras ran. The effort would show that Blake, the science teacher, was in complete control of twenty kids, Puckett was at a loss with his. But then he had Adam and Steve to contend with, along with Butch the Bully.

The extras were carefully selected for these scenes since this was to be a freshman and sophomore outing. Butch was the catalyst for much of the bad behavior that would occur, but as usual Steve was the fall guy. And even though the story in this episode would carry into the next, there would be some strange happenings to charm the audience's socks off.

The caterer had set up in the middle of the blocked off street, and here Alan was holding court with the two dozen adult extras required in the scenes. People in 'off the street' clothing, guards in 'uniform', and several other 'museum' employees all listened to his instructions. Only three of them had lines, and they would be paid more than union scale for their participation.

The cameras were finally in place and Tina moved the kids to the school buses, Puckett and Blake took their seats and then so did Adam and Steve. Beverly was not in these scenes. They were holding her back for the next episode, giving Adam a chance to relive what was about to happen. The buses drove around the block and Alan stood behind the cameras with Tim and Brian as they hove into sight.

"Rolling," Frank called out, and the buses were captured on their approach to the curb. There were three camera positions, Alan didn't want to chance losing a shot so all three were running. Blake and Puckett were wired for sound, two sound techs held a parabolic mike for the background sounds of kids and traffic. And the doors of each bus opened.

Blake steps down and addresses the kids in his bus. "Single file now, let's move along," He says in a firm voice.

The orderly fashion in which they disembark was almost a laugh, the kids look like robots. The spacing between them was exact, the steps slow and even, two hours of rehearsal had been needed to achieve the result.

Puckett steps down on the sidewalk and is nearly run over by his kids who seem to boil out the doorway. "Slow down, stay in line," He yells, all to no avail. Butch steps down and lands right on Puckett's foot. "Oops, sorry," The boy says with a note of insincerity.

Puckett is hustling around trying to maintain order when Adam and Steve step off the bus and stand watching the chaos. Steve pushes his way through the crowd and turns on the steps. He lets out a out a piercing whistle, a talent that Alan had only recently discovered. "Line up people," Steve yells, and the kids do just that. Mark smiles at Puckett, and they follow Blake's group up the steps and through the doors.

"Cut," Alan yelled. "Jeez, what a mess."

Frank hurried over. "We got all kinds of stuff to work with, are we good?"

Alan laughed. "I have no idea, we wanted chaos and that's what we got. The kids were great, thanks Tina."

Tina smiled, she had rehearsed them well. Alan was always lavish with his praise, but it was good to hear, and now they could move on. The cameras were moved, the dollies and booms hoisted up the stairs by the crews. The sound crew tagged along last.

Each scene and every location they might shoot was evaluated beforehand. Lighting and sound was planned out to maintain the show's production standards. Cameras were adjustable for lighting conditions and a multiplicity of lenses on hand could achieve different effects. But digital equipment was sensitive, it picked up damning details that a director often wished wasn't there. Editing could only do so much, and then it became expensive if the special effects guys had to be called in to add or remove something.

Sound was like that too, it picked up all kinds of garbage. The ambient noise in the museum was like recording in a cavern, and there were maintenance guys waiting around in case they had to shut down some equipment as the shoot took place. But the wireless system allowed them to tag each lead actor with a personal mike, mixing the sound levels later in the studio.

The nice thing about a museum was that the kids couldn't get bored with so much to look at. Right now they were staring up at the bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex which towered over their heads. Most of these kids had been here before since the museum was a favorite field trip experience for the kids in Los Angeles County.

Tina hustled the kids in a semicircle around the dinosaur exhibit. The skeletons looked fierce and that was what Alan wanted to capture. The Steadicam moved around behind the kids and Frank nodded, they were rolling without a voice command. The sounds of the kids whispering, the awe of what they were looking at, the camera recorded it all. Then Blake steps forward and claps his hands for attention.

"We will go in our groups to one of the displays and I will stop for any questions you might have, and then we will move on to the next display. Please stay together and raise your hand before you speak. There are other people in the museum so we don't need to make a lot of noise."

The groups moved on towards the next room, the insect displays.

"Ew, bugs," Steve says, and his voice echoed around the room.

"Not just any bugs, here we see species that have been extinct for millions of years. Like this fine creature," Blake says. "This is the ancestor of the cockroach, see how big they are?"

"I've seen roaches that big in the dumpster behind the school," Steve whispers.

Adam nods. "On Regalia they're considered quite a delicacy."

"Oh no way," Steve says. "You eat those?"

"I'm not one of the bug eaters. I'd rather have a hamburger."

"Quiet," Puckett hisses from several feet away.

"It comes as no surprise to us that as the food sources on Earth became scarce after the cataclysm which brought the dinosaurs to extinction, bugs became smaller. Nature allowed them to adapt to their surroundings and thus provided for their continued existence. Larger creatures did not adapt, and they are no longer with us ... now over here we have ... "

The camera eye followed the students down the room and into the next, a display of ancient native people. "These are some of the early tribal people that first populated North America ... Yes, Adam?"

"They came after the dinosaurs were gone ... was there anything here?"

Blake smiles, a surprised look on his face. "A good question, what was left? There were millions of years between the age of dinosaurs and the first human inhabitants. By then the surviving creatures had adapted and new species were evolved. The natives found a lot of game animals. In the beginning they were hunters and did not grow their own crops."

Adam stands fascinated as the group moves on. The diorama around the still figures depicted the grasslands of the valley. These were not like the Indians Adam had seen on television, and there were no cowboys either. The images he had seen on television for years must have been wrong since surely the museum knew what was right. He looks up and the room is empty.

Adam moves quickly towards the entrance to the next exhibit when he hears a mighty roar. Did they have live creatures here? He peeks around the corner and sees the students plastered against the wall as this giant dinosaur moves its head around and looks down at them. A Nart, the biggest one Adam had ever seen…and this one was alive! The room was dark, it was hard to tell what was going on, but Adam senses danger.

Some of the girls scream as the dinosaur lifts a huge foot and roars. Yes, his friends were in danger. And as luck would have it there was a selection of native weapons right by the door. Adam grabs a bow and two arrows from the display, notching one of the arrows as he had seen Indians do on television.

He pops back around the corner just as the dinosaur roars again and its head comes swooping down, the huge jaws open and it snaps at the kids. Adam steps in the doorway and fires off an arrow at the beast, and then quickly fitted the second arrow to the bow. The first arrow bounces off the beast's plastic hide, so this time Adam takes careful aim. The beast seems to leer at him and opens its mouth to roar out a threat.

Narts did that, and they had thick hides that could deflect a weapon's projectile quite easily. Every boy on Regalia knew that the best place to shoot a Nart was in the soft skin of the neck, that's where their heart was. Adam aims and fires just as the dinosaur opens its mouth. The arrow flies straight down the beast's throat in mid-roar and the sound immediately stops.

Steve rushes around the corner and pushes Adam up against the wall. "What the hell are you doing?" Steve whispers.

"The creature was attacking ... ."Adam begins to say.

"Adam, snap out of it ... that thing is a mechanical display, it's not alive."

"Oh ... but ... " Adam drops the bow and Steve bends to pick it up just as Puckett rushes in the room.

"Steven ... what the hell are you doing?"

Puckett strips the bow from Steve's hand and tosses it back on the display. He glares at Adam and then yanks Steve by the arm back into the other room. Adam meekly follows. He had been wrong, dinosaurs really were extinct, but Narts weren't.

The lights come up and the students follow Blake out of the exhibit, no one had seen the arrows fly. Except now the dinosaur was speechless and Adam seemed to get some satisfaction out of that.

"Cut," Alan said.

The prop girl retrieved the bow and went looking for the arrows. The cameras were once again moved as the museum people set up a ladder to see if there had been any damage to their display. The arrows had rubber tips, they had been assured that if there was any damage that the studio would pay for it, Alan had to sign a waiver.

Mark had spent an hour practicing with the bow back at the studio. It wasn't very strong, but he was happy, he'd nailed that dino right in the kisser. Frank wheeled his dolly on past and grinned. "Nice shooting, paleface," He laughed. The museum guy retrieved the arrow from the dino's mouth and dropped it back down to the prop girl. At least that bit was over.

Alan called a break and Mark followed Brian out to the chuck wagon for some tea. Steve was there in the short line of actors joking with Butch Peterson.

"How late do you think this is gonna run?" Butch asked when he saw Mark.

"Two more scenes with you guys, and then Wayne and I do our thing," Mark said. "Why, you got a hot date?"

Butch laughed. "No, it's my little sister's birthday, she's three today."

"Aww, sweet," Steve said. "At least you have some girl in your life."

"Hey, I do alright with the ladies," Butch threw back with a grin. "I got fan mail."

Brian smiled. Everyone in the cast was getting mail. Mark and Steve spent thirty minutes to an hour a day reading e-mail from the fans and responding to some. The ACE website was flooded and Triton knew better then to ignore the television audience. They had backed off placing a YouTube clip since there were already bootleg copies of the first season out there on the internet.

Their break ended and they resumed the shoot in the hallway outside a display room. Blake was droning on about the La Brea tar pits and the discovery of dinosaur remains when a young lady raises her hand.

"Mr. Blake, may we use the bathrooms?" She asks.

Blake looks concerned, as if he had forgotten the needs of the kids while rambling on. He nods and a dozen kids of each sex split off from the group and head for the restrooms. Puckett gave Steve a glaring look; he wasn't planning to lose sight of his alleged little troublemaker.

But Blake turns and follows the boys towards the bathroom and Steve slides away from Puckett and went along. Puckett had to stay with the group and didn't see Butch smile and follow Steve, but Adam did.

Adam had been there several times when Butch confronted the boy, but he had just missed the punch that bloodied Steve's lip. Butch had eventually paid for that. The prop guys had pumped a small cafeteria style carton of chocolate milk with forty pounds of air pressure. The minute Butch popped the seal in a cafeteria scene the kid was sprayed with milk and the whole room laughed at him while Adam sat across the room and smiled.

Blake pauses at the bathroom door as the boys go in. There was now a water fountain attached to the wall by the entrance, a special fountain rigged for the scene. Butch shoves Steve into the tile wall and then laughs until Adam steps between them. Butch could not do anything while Adam was there, Steve grins and walks out of the bathroom.

"You're being bad again, Butch ... haven't you learned anything?" Adam asks.

Butch is frozen in place as Adam looks around the room. He spots the water fountain and smiles. Like a robot, Butch's feet take short deliberate steps to the water fountain and he bends over for a drink. "You need to cool off, Butch," Adam says as the fountain begins to spray water, splattering Butch's face and shirt.

Adam nods at his success and walks out of the bathroom. "Help," Butch yells. And from beyond the door Adam can be heard laughing.

The tour resumes with a very wet Butch standing at the back of the group. Blake leads them back to the lobby and here they are allowed to visit the gift shop. Not all the kids went inside, but Adam did. Puckett tags along to keep an eye on the boy.

The gift displays were mostly under glass and locked up, but there were several counters of shirts, baubles and beads out in the open. Puckett stands by the door and looks at his watch. A girl approaches.

"Mr. Puckett, do I have time to look at the books?" She asks.

He looks at his watch again. "Five minutes and then we have to leave," He replies.

She rushes over to the book shelves and Puckett looks around, Adam has disappeared. The camera cuts back to a low shot of Adam on the floor behind the counter, he is on his hands and knees picking up beads from a broken necklace. The camera angle catches Puckett from the knees down as he steps around the counter, scattering beads even further across the floor.

"What did you do now?" Puckett asks.

Adam looks up. "I don't know, it just broke."

Butch steps up at that point and smiles. "You broke it ... that will cost you."

"Mind your own business, Butch," Puckett says, and turns to look back at Adam who has once again disappeared.

The door to the rear storeroom looms open before him and Puckett sticks his head inside. "Adam?" He says. And from the rear of the room filled with shelves and boxes comes Adam's reply. "Oh, Wow ... would you look at this."

Puckett steps through the doorway and out of sight. Butch stands there a moment and looks down at the key sitting in the lock. He looks around and smiles, pulling the door shut and locking it. Then he removes the key and tosses it in a bin with a large display of souvenirs, chuckling to himself.

The camera follows Butch back towards the entrance where several girls and two boys stand waiting. "Puckett says it's time to go, we better move out," He says, and the kids all leave the gift shop.

They were the last customers, and the young lady behind the counter looks around and then down at her watch. She smiles and flips a few switches on the wall. The display lights go out and the room becomes dark. She steps out and pulls down the security grating, and there is a loud audible click as it locks in place.

The final shot from the camera shows the face of the metal storeroom door. The knob moves a bit leaving no doubt that it is locked. And from behind the door the microphones pick up a lone voice.

"Hello?" Puckett could be heard saying. "Is anyone out there?"

"Cut," Alan said. "Good job."

Tina strode over and opened the door. Wayne stood there grinning. "Did it work?" He asked.

Tina smiled. "Like a charm."

"I need some time filler," Alan called out as he watched the playback.

The grate slid open and the lights came back on. Mitch moved the Steadicam towards the back and Alan had Mark get back on the floor while Wayne resumed his stance by the counter. Props scattered some more beads on the floor.

"I need you to give the beads another little kick around, Wayne. Try to make some roll towards the door. I want Adam to crawl back through the door after the beads as you do your line with Butch, then a little expression as you see the boy has vanished. Then do your slow walk through the doorway and we'll follow. "

"Got it," Wayne said.

"Mitch, keep low as Adam follows the beads into the back and then pull back as Puckett follows. I want a half shot of the door, Puckett from the waist down, that way it will get the keys dangling in the lock before Butch even sees them. Okay? Let's do it."

They shot it twice until Alan saw what he wanted. The sequence was Adam crawling after beads, Puckett's lines with Butch and then a shot of the man from the knees down. A turn this way and that, then a slow steady approach to the doorway. The view of the keys dangling before a full shot of Puckett leaning in the doorway and saying, "Adam?"

The cuts would be spliced into one smooth flowing chain of events, leaving the audience with no doubt that Puckett and Adam were trapped in the storeroom. Then it was time to shoot the last scene in the gift shop, something simple at least. Adam and Puckett stand behind the grating, the lights are out behind them.

The sound of an alarm bell can be heard ringing in the background as Puckett grasps the grate and shakes it to no avail. Adam had the final line. "Uh oh," He says, and Alan yelled "Cut."

They shot the final scene on the front steps outside the museum. Blake was there with Steve and two security guards. Two angle shots, one facing the building and the other out towards the street and the two yellow buses.

"But you heard the young man, our Principal and a student are missing," Blake says to one of the guards.

"Sir, we'll take one last look around inside, but I assure you we saw no one. The alarm sets automatically and if the sensors detected movement it would go off, but there is no alarm. I'm sure they left without informing you," The guard says.

The guards unlock the door and step inside. Blake stands there, distress clearly etched on his face. "This is terrible, where could they have gone?" He is talking to himself, and Steve just smiles. "What will I say to Adam's parents?" Blake groans.

Steve clears his throat and Blake looks down. "Yes?"

There is a knock on the glass door and Blake looks up at the security guard standing inside, the man shakes his head and shrugs.

"Oh my," Blake says. "How terrible for Adam."

"Mr. Blake, I think you ought to feel sorry for Mr. Puckett. Adam can take care of himself," Steve says.

"Cut," Alan said. "Wrap it up."

Tomorrow morning they would move into Studio B for the opening of Episode Four. Alan sighed, that would be a lot easier to manage. The storeroom and the police station sets were done, and in the afternoon Brandon Edgerton would grace the set with his presence.

The star of a dozen cop style television shows, numerous drama films and even a few comedies, the man was a legend. He had the part of a cranky police detective down to a science, and Alan was counting on it. Their first featured star, Adam Conquers Earth was about to go into new territory.

Rosie and Todd were sitting in the kitchen when they got home, two glasses of wine on the table. Mark took one look at the smile on Rosie's face and knew Todd had finally popped the question. Brian smiled as Rosie held up her hand to display the ring.

"How wonderful," Brian said, giving her a kiss and shaking Todd's hand. Mark was quiet; things were going to change again. Todd at least was savvy enough to sense the moment and he smiled at Mark.

"I'm marrying your aunt, Mark ... you shouldn't be concerned. No young man wants life to change, I understand that. We'll take our time, and I hope we can work this out."

"Will you move out?" Mark asked, and Rosie shook her head.

"I'd like Todd to come live with us, it's too soon for me to leave," She said.

Mark seemed to accept that and sat down to eat his dinner. Brian knew there would be a period of adjustment, but he wasn't expecting it to be challenging right away. They cleared away the dinner dishes and Brian said good night, figuring Mark needed a good night's sleep and some time to think.

Todd and Rosie went in the living room and settled down as Mark went to his room. But fifteen minutes later he was back and smiled as he crossed the room towards the door.

"Mark ... where are you going?" Todd asked.

"To see Brian," Mark said.

"It's kinda late there, isn't it? I think you should go back to your room."

Mark paused at the door and turned back. "I visit Brian any time I want, we like to talk."

"Go back to bed, Mark," Todd said.

Mark shrugged and turned towards the door once again.

"Mark," Todd said a bit too loudly. He had crossed the line.

Mark turned around and walked over to the couch. Rosie was sitting quietly, wondering at Todd's attitude and knowing how Mark would respond.

"I'm going to see, Brian. Just because you're engaged to my aunt doesn't give you the right to control my life, this is my house after all and not yours. If you plan to stay here you'll learn that I set my own schedule and meet my own commitments, and that will not change no matter what you say."

Mark did an about face and left the room, shutting the living room door quietly behind him.

"What the hell was that?" Todd asked.

"You won't control him no matter what you try," Rosie said. "He's very much in charge of his own life, and he does it quite well. And believe me, if Mark says you have to leave you will. He has a very large bodyguard that would throw you out the door in a minute if Mark asked him too."

Rosie reached over and patted Todd's hand. "Brian is his source of strength, dear. They talk all hours of the day and night so get used to it. He's the only man that can get through to the boy, and I thank the Lord every day that's he's in Mark's life right now. So let it go, you won't change things."

"I'm sorry," Todd said. "In my family Dad used to do all our thinking when we were kids, I didn't realize that Mark is such an independent boy. But if it works for you I'm just keeping my mouth shut."

"He needs time to adjust, Todd ... just give him some room."

Mark found Brian looking at his mail. "So Todd tried the power play with me and lost, I think he got the point."

Brian smiled. "Trying to control you already, huh? Rosie will straighten him out. You ought to be in bed ... my bed."

"That's why I'm here."

The day had gone well and Mark was deflating slowly. A little love, a gentle back rub, and he was out for the count. Todd would soon learn that he wasn't wanted as a father figure. Brian supposed the man felt like he had to try. Rosie would have her hands full.

They were fifteen minutes into the shoot on the storeroom set when the ground shook. Brian had been sitting behind Alan watching the monitor. Puckett and Adam were moving boxes to see if there was another way out.

"Hello, can anyone hear me?" Puckett repeats as his opening line, slowly banging his head against the door.

"What time is it?" Adam asks.

Puckett looks at his watch, "Five-ten."

"The museum is closed, no one is out there," Adam says.

Puckett groans. "Thanks for the good news. I'm starving, I didn't get lunch."

"We have food, I saw some dinosaur cookies, and there is bottled water on the shelf behind you." Puckett grabs a bottle of water and drinks half of it. "Better be careful, we don't have a bathroom," Adam advises.

Puckett sits on a cardboard carton and opens a box of the cookies. He tastes one and makes a face. "They're dry, tasteless."

"Maybe they're sixty-five million years old," Adam jokes.

"How did we manage to get locked in here?" Puckett asks.

"I didn't shut the door ... who did?"

"Butch ... he was the only one out there, I bet he locked us in," Puckett says.

"Sounds like something he would do," Adam says. "We could be here all night."

"Oh, now there's a pleasant thought ... we have to get out of here. Your parents will be worried."

"Maybe ... I never know," Adam says.

The silence grows around them as Adam scopes out the room. There is a tiny window high up on the wall, but there are bars running across it. Puckett's box slowly collapses under his weight and the man is left sprawled on the floor. Adam smiles, almost enjoying the man's misery.

Mitch was crammed in a corner with the Steadicam, and there were two other cameras pointing through holes in the wall. The angles were tight, the room felt confining ... and then the building shook with the tremor of an earthquake. They froze in place, awaiting a sign from Alan. The ground heaved again.

"What was that?" Mark said. It wasn't the line Adam was supposed to deliver.

"Earthquake," Wayne responded. Mark smiled and slipped back into Adam mode.

"The ground shakes? That doesn't happen on Regalia."

"Regalia, I never heard of that town," Puckett says. Mark was ad-libbing and damned if Wayne was going to be left behind.

"Small red planet, about four thousand light years away," Adam says.

"So, it's further than Encino," Puckett says, eliciting a smile from Mark.

"A little, I'm an alien ... .don't you think that's weird?"

"Weird? I'll give you weird, have you seen the senior class this year?" Puckett is grinning now.

"Yeah, strange creatures, the bunch of them," Adam laughs.

They heard laughter from the other side of the wall. "Stop it you two, the earthquake is over ... get back into it," Alan yelled. "We're still rolling."

Puckett laughs ... a short barking sound followed by silence

"I ought to be sitting at home in front of my television watching the news and eating my dinner," Puckett says, rubbing his face with a hand to hide the grin. "Instead I find myself trapped here with you ... you of all people." He looks over at Adam, a concerned look back on his face. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"You don't like me," Adam says.

Puckett frowns. "It's not you, it's the way you act ... you have no sense of discipline. My school is just a playground for you."

"I have to go to school or else ... " Adam's voice trails off.

"Or else what? Go on, tell me," Puckett insists.

Adam smiles. "You wouldn't understand ... we're not from the same planet."

"I can agree with you there." Puckett looks at his watch again. "Fourteen hours until the museum opens again ... it seems like an eternity."

"You could sleep," Adam suggests.

"And what about you?" Puckett asks.

"I might try to open the door."

"Oh that would be nice," Puckett says. "Why didn't I think of that? It's locked solid."

Adam gets up and walks to the door. "How does the lock work?" From this side all he can see is a knob and a key slot for the deadbolt.

"We don't have a key ... it takes ... "Puckett begin to say.

But Adam has placed a hand over the key slot and Puckett hears a loud snap. Adam turns the knob and the door opens. "It's open," Adam says with a smile.

Puckett gasps and scrambles to his feet. "How did you do that?"

Adam shrugs. "I don't know ... it needed to open that's all."

They both stand looking out the doorway at the darkened room beyond, and then they step through. "Cut," Alan said.

They shot some filler time. Puckett pacing back and forth in the tiny room, Adam looking through boxes. More moments of silence, all to show the progress of time spent trapped in that tiny room. The whole six minute scene would be made with Alan's edits, splicing the material together in a logical progression. Seventy-two minutes of recorded images all condensed into six, it would probably take Alan two or three hours of work.

Every bit of information recorded was digitally encoded, timed to a hundredth of a second so everything was calibrated. The master for each scene would be built from those digital parts into a smooth flowing whole. It would all be viewed by a dozen eyes, but only Alan had the final say, he got to paint the final picture.

Brian watched them setting up the police station set for the afternoon shoot. Steve and Tim walked in the studio and looked around.

"Is she here yet?" Steve asked.

"No, but she ought to be," Brian said.

Steve was referring to Marsha Grant, the reporter for a national entertainment channel's Star Power program. One of the little details of the work day was the interviews that took place, sometimes weekly. Grant had been after Triton for a slot with the boys for weeks, this was her chance.

Steve went off to find Mark and get himself powdered by the makeup girl for the interview under hot lights. Both boys had done dozens of these interviews by now, the format was pretty standard. Fifteen to twenty minutes would boil down to a three minute spot on Marsha's show.

They would break for lunch in about an hour so Brian had been relieved to see the van from the channel unloading the setup. Three chairs, six lights and two cameras, that standard KISS of television, keep it simple and move on. The only thing that made money was air time, and time was the enemy if it was wasted.

Marsha Grant breezed in and within ten minutes they got down to it.

Marsha smiled at the camera. "We have with us this morning Mark Harrison and Steven Biddle, stars of the new sit-com sensation Adam Conquers Earth. Good Morning, and Mark I suppose the first question goes to you because I hear you're not only the star of the show, but you have a creative role as well. What can you tell me about that?"

"Good Morning to you, Marsha. I work with the writers in script development. I think that's the fun part of the process. They're a great bunch of guys with a lot of experience so I get to laugh a lot."

"Your previous experience was a minor role on Beacon's World and a good deal of stage work. Did any of that prepare you for what you're doing now?"

"A little, acting is something I always wanted to do. I can't say I was prepared for the intensity of bringing a show of this magnitude to the audience, but I'm learning fast. At least I have a great bunch of people around me. The cast is full of experienced people. I still feel like the rookie."

"Steve, you also came from stage work, a singer if I'm not mistaken?"

"Yes, I sang in musicals before I auditioned for this show, that's where Alan Dawkins the director saw me."

"So what's it like for you? The role you play as the friend of an alien is unique, and I see they keep giving you more on screen time as the series progresses."

"Yes, that's Mark's doing. I'll do whatever they ask of me, the fun never stops."

"So the both of you, tell me about the fan response."

"Wow, we have the greatest fans in the world," Mark said. "Steve and I spend hours online talking back to them."

"You personally respond to your mail?"

"Absolutely," Steve said. "We both agree, if they take the time to reach out to us we have to respond. I just want all of them to know we care about the things they tell us."

"That's a personal touch I don't think many young stars have," Marsha said. "Mark, you donated a lot of gifts to several children's hospitals."

"Yes, and I know the fans who send both Steve and I all those stuffed animals would agree. If we can bring a little joy into the minds of those sick kids out there it's all worthwhile. I feel we have a partnership with our fans. We support those kids together, neither of us could do it alone."

"I agree," Steve said, "But it was Mark's idea. We had this huge room full of toys and he said we ought to give them to kids who don't have all the things we do."

Marsha nodded. "I'm sure the fans are very pleased with your decision. So what comes next, any thoughts on where the show is going?"

Mark laughed. "We get asked that all the time, and the studio tells us not to give things away. But Triton has invested quite a bit in our success, so there will be some new faces showing up in the series. Right now we're shooting scenes with Brandon Edgerton, I'm sure everyone knows his face."

"Yes we do, how exciting. So there will be other guest stars in the future?"

"Yes, lots of them," Mark said.

"Any thoughts about the future of your careers?" Marsha asked.

Steve grinned. "I'd like to do films at some point, I think Mark would like to direct."

Mark smiled. "I'd take on a film role if something good came up. As for directing, maybe on down the road. Both of us still have a lot of educational goals ahead, but after that, who knows?"

Marsha nodded. "I see such energy in both of you. I think you'll be able to accomplish whatever you set your sights on. Adam Conquers Earth has a big following, so I know you'll be busy with that for some time to come. So one final question, and I'm sure the fans all want to know. What's going to happen between Beverly and Adam?"

Steve laughed and Mark smiled. "Adam doesn't quite know what to make of all the fuss with Beverly, but I don't think most teenage human boys do either. I can't tell you exactly what will happen, but let's just say it will be a very alien response."

Marsha laughed. "Okay, well at least you're working on it. Thank you for sharing this time with me, I know you have a busy schedule."

"You're welcome," Mark said, and he looked over at Steve.

"Same goes for me, stay tuned for the season," Steve said. "Thursday nights, be there."

Mark laughed at Steve's promo and slapped his shoulder, Steve slapped back and they traded slaps after that. Marsha laughed at their antics and used it to end her piece.

"Alien verses human. Here in Hollywood at Triton Studios, I'm Marsha Grant."

She smiled and looked up at her camera man. "That's a wrap."

"Thanks," Mark said. "That was fun."

"So I see you guys are friends, I'm sure that must make life easier," Marsha said.

"Yeah, we spend so much time together, it's nice to have someone I can really talk to," Steve said.

"Long days, hard work, at least you seem to have a handle on it," Marsha said.

Mark smiled and looked up at Brian waiting patiently. "I do, probably because I have people to tell me what to do like Brian over there."

Marsha looked up and nodded. "I know you need to go, thank you for your time."

Both boys shook her hand and Brian led them away. "That went well," He said.

Steve looked over at Mark. "I thought you were about to tell her what's going to happen with Beverly."

"Hell no ... I don't even know yet."

"What? But you said ... okay, never mind."

"We haven't gone there yet, Steve ... it's still in the thinking stage," Mark said.

Brandon Edgerton was a gaunt gray haired man, the face television audiences knew so well. His usual stern countenance was lit up with a smile as he shook Mark's hand.

"I've been dying to meet you ever since my agent said they wanted me on the show. I don't watch much television, but I have seen this one because my granddaughters are such big fans," Brandon said.

"Thank you, we're glad to have you working with us," Mark said.

Brandon sat across a table drinking coffee as Mark talked them through the scene they were about to do. One by one the production staff slid into the room, even Alan made a showing, but no one disturbed the focus of that little meeting of the minds.

Alan had hoped something like this would happen. He could talk himself blue in the face but only Mark could lay out what the scene needed. Brandon was a veteran of thirty years in front of the camera; Mark had been there only a short time. But each seemed to sense the abilities of the other, and Brian could see that the man understood Mark's role in all of this. The shoot was to begin at two, so Brandon was led to wardrobe for his costume.

The character of Detective Morris was a stereotype, a serious no nonsense cop who found himself in an odd situation. The scene opens as Puckett and Adam are led into the station handcuffed together. Puckett is distraught while Adam treats it like some grand adventure. They are seated on a bench by several uniformed policemen to await Detective Morris' entrance.

"Oh, we're in so much trouble," Puckett moans. "I'm going to strangle Butch when I get the chance."

"We didn't do anything wrong, you can always pay for those cookies you ate," Adam says.

"It's not the cookies," Puckett hisses. "We were inside the museum, they think we broke in or something equally absurd."

Adam shrugs. "We were just trying to get out."

"Well I don't like people pointing guns at me, and this," Puckett says, holding up his wrist where the cuffs held him attached to Adam. "This is humiliating, I'm not a criminal."

Adam places a hand over the cuff on Puckett's wrist and it snaps open. "There you go."

"No ... don't do that," Puckett gasps. He grabs the cuff and snaps it back on his wrist. "They might think I'm trying to escape ... how did you do that?"

"It's just a thing," Adam says.

Puckett suddenly gets serious. "And that door, how did you open it? I know it was locked, I tried it a dozen times."

"I just did," Adam says.

"Well I need to know, they're going to ask me, I was in charge of that field trip."

A door opens and Detective Morris steps out of an office. The rumpled brown suit and horribly loud tie, yes, he is that old familiar character once again. "Mr. Puckett?" He says, looking at a sheet of paper. "Will you come with me?"

Puckett holds up his wrist. "We're attached."

Morris nods. "Then I guess you'll both have to come."

He leads them through another door and into an interrogation room. A uniformed officer follows and Morris gestures to the cuffs. The cop removes them and places them on the table before he steps outside. The room is bare, dingy and painted a gull gray. Puckett looks around while Adam never loses focus on the detective.

"It's late, why don't you just tell me what you were doing in the museum?" Morris asks.

"As I told the officers, one of my students locked us in the gift shop storeroom as a prank and we couldn't get out," Puckett says. "We didn't go in there intentionally, we just couldn't get out."

Morris nods, reading the report in his hand. "And yet somehow you did."

"Adam opened the door," Puckett says.

Morris looks at the boy and then back down at the report. "Adam Vernon. We called your parents, they'll be here shortly." He set the report down and looks across the table at the boy. "So the door was locked and yet you opened it?"

Adam nods. "Yes, it just went snap and opened when I turned the knob. I didn't know there was a screen outside, and then the alarms went off."

"Yes, you tripped the motion sensors." Morris stares at the boy. "Did anything happen while you were in that storeroom?"

Adam nods. "Mr. Puckett ate some cookies and we talked."

"Cookies ... he didn't touch you?" Morris asks.

"Oh My God ... you don't think ... " Puckett stammers.

Morris holds up his hand. "Let the boy talk. Adam, did Mr. Puckett touch you?"

Adam looks puzzled. "No, we just sat there until I opened the door."

"How did you do that?"

Adam picks up the handcuffs and locks one side on his wrist. He closes his eyes a second and the cuff pops open. "Like that," Adam says. Morris raises his eyebrows.

"You do magic tricks?" Morris asks.

"No, it just happens," Adam replies.

Morris picks up the cuffs and snaps one side of them on his own wrist. "Can you make it open now?"

Adam reaches over and touches the cuffs, they spring open.

"Telekinesis ... do you know what that means?" Morris asks.

Adam shakes his head and Morris frowns. "So you just unlocked the door the same way?"

Adam nods and Morris sighs. "Who locked you in?" He asks.

"Butch Peterson, he does bad things," Adam says.

Puckett is sitting there, silent, his mouth open ... stunned. Morris nods and fiddles with the handcuffs and then looks up at Puckett. "You're the principal at Brighton ... .does this Butch character cause you a lot of problems?"

Puckett nods, but Adam answered. "He's a bully."

Morris nods. "He picks on you?"

"No, but he'd like to ... I won't let him," Adam says.

"And how do you stop him?" Morris asks.

Adam smiles and reaches across the table. He looks up at Morris' face, and then gently grasps the detective's hand as he closes his eyes. Morris goes through that now familiar transformation… he blinks twice and stares back at Adam.

Morris' hard visage is softened. "I don't even know why you're here, this was all a mistake," He says. He reaches for the report and crumples the sheets of paper. "Go home, you both have school tomorrow."

Adam smiles and rises from his chair as Morris stands up. They walk towards the door and Morris puts a hand on Adam's shoulder. "I'm sure you'll take good care of Butch ... he doesn't know about you, does he?" Adam smiles and shakes his head, and now it's Morris who smiles. "If he bothers you again just call me, we'll scare him together."

Morris looks back at Puckett. "Are you going to stay here all night?" He asks, and Puckett jumps to his feet.

The Vernon's are waiting outside in the hall and Morris walks over to them as Adam hugs his mother. "He's a good boy, this was all a mistake," Morris says. "Thank you, Adam." And with that Morris makes his exit.

"Cut," Alan yelled.

The next scene would be shot in the parking lot behind the studio after dark some evening, Puckett and Adam in the back seat as the Vernon's gave him a lift back to the school to retrieve his car. Tomorrow they would shoot the aftermath of the museum incident. Puckett's phone call from the office of the school board, he was in hot water.

The audience would hear the phone call from both sides as Puckett got chewed out. What they wouldn't know was that the voice they would hear belonged to Alan Dawkins. Mark thought it would be fun if Alan got a shot in the show, and it would all be a bit of fun.

Brandon was all smiles when the shooting was over. He'd recited less than two dozen lines, but like most character actors his image had said a whole lot more in the scenes. Mark sat with him in the break room and autographed a couple of photos for his granddaughters. Triton's photographer had already taken a few shots of them together as characters in the scenes. Brandon would be added to the gallery in the lobby.

"We left it open ended with that character, I'm sure you noticed. I'm not sure when, but I'd love to bring you back on the show," Mark said.

Brandon smiled. "I'd love to come back. You guys have a smooth operation, no wonder this show works so well. I wouldn't mind being a part of this again."

"I'll be sure we write you in," Mark said.

Brandon chuckled. "Alan said you were the creative genius for most of this, I thought he was kidding. You have a great future in this business, Mark ... just grow into it gently."

Brandon got up to leave and Mark hugged him. "Thanks for all your help, stay in touch," Mark said. And then Brandon left. Mark sat back down and Brian joined him.

"That was great chemistry," Brian said.

"Yeah, I felt it too," Mark said. "He's got that gruff cop thing down to a science, but I'd love to see him play other roles. I suppose he's type cast now, I wonder if that will happen to me?"

Brian shook his head. "No ... you won't be an alien in everything you do. There will be bigger and better roles for you as you grow up."

Mark grinned and looked down at the ring on his finger. "I already have a lifetime role, and it suits me just fine."

Brian smiled. "Yeah, you already make a great romantic leading man."

Mark giggled. "Then lead me home and I'll practice my part."


On to Chapter Fifteen

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"Adam Conquers Earth" Copyright © 2011 Chris James. All rights reserved.
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