In the Crashdown employee lounge, Max, Isabel, Maria, and Alex watch Nasedo, as Pierce, tell a congressional subcommittee on C-SPAN that the FBI Special Unit had no budget authorization.

Back on TV, the chair calls for a vote, but Vanessa Whittaker (D-New Mexico), speaking for the people of Roswell, has a question.

Nasedo replies calmly, "Cadmium X is a hoax we invented." The Special Unit seems done for.

Back at the Crashdown, the room clears out so Maria can change for work.

Max stays behind even though, as Maria tells him, "Girlfriend, I know that we bonded this summer, but I am not ready to show you the bod just yet."

However, Max really wants to know if Maria has heard from Liz, who has been away all summer. Maria mocks this dedication and instead advises him to play hard to get.

The advice appears sound, but she's not one to talk -- as Max reminds her, she has left five messages for Michael in the last two days.

Out in the main cafe, Alex and Isabel -- apparently the only "couple" still on speaking terms -- talk. Alex wants to go to the movies, but Isabel is obsessed with Cadmium X.

When he presses, she rebuffs him. Isabel cannot focus on a guy right now. As if on cue, the hunky-looking geologist wanders in. He is Grant Sorensen, and he's looking for the sheriff.

Suddenly, Isabel looks pretty focused. Just not on Alex.

As it turns out, Sorensen wants to show Sheriff Valenti and Deputy Hanson a bone he found off the old Clovis Highway, about 30 miles outside town. He was doing a geological survey and found the bone using a metal detector, which doesn't make sense.

Valenti dismisses the find as a coyote bone, but his deputy pushes him to look into it.

Meanwhile, Tess is helping Michael use his powers to blow up rocks in his apartment. As

Max -- who's shown up with Isabel to talk about the bone collector -- proclaims, "No rock stands a chance against Michael Guerin."

Michael appears understandably worried about the investigation over the bones and wants to see if the geologist is one of their enemies.

However, Max, as usual, wants to wait and let Valenti take care of things.

This fails to calm Michael, who demands of Max, "You're our leader. Why don't you lead us?"

Valenti oversees the excavation in the desert. The overzealous deputy finds a pocketknife and places it into an evidence bag -- moreover, he's already arranged to have it tested, as he tells his suspicious boss.

Michael watches the dig from a nearby hill while we see a vague humanoid shape watching him. Michael senses the attention and follows the shape, only to trip in the sand and land face-to-face with the mummified husk of a hand -- skin.

As he picks it up, the object turns to dust and disappears.

As Isabel walks down the street with Max, she is clearly still thinking about what Michael had to say.

She wants to investigate the geologist, but Max tells her that Valenti already has. She wants to call Nasedo, but Max does not want to.

Max sees Liz standing and waiting for someone. He stops short and rushes to her, but she seems cool. Significantly, she has been back for several days, "getting settled in," but didn't tell him.

Suddenly, Max is giddy. Everything is fine, he says. No aliens have come for them. Their problems could be over.

Liz says that this is "good for all of you." Max does not pick up on the fact that she does not say "good for us." She has separated herself.

Max tells her that he has no feelings for Tess and has told Tess this, but Liz says that she wants to make "a fresh start" -- and she's not referring to relationships.

Congresswoman Whittaker arrives to meet Liz for a job interview for a staff position. Liz introduces Whittaker to Max before the two women head inside to talk.

Fingerprints on the knife led the deputy to Michael, who is brought into Valenti's office for questioning. Valenti asks Michael if he remembers their meeting in the desert.

Valenti "reminds" the boy that he found Michael out drinking and joyriding in the desert with a couple of his friends. As part of this reminder, the sheriff even produces a police report.

Michael claims that he did not see anything suspicious while out there, "forcing" Valenti to let him go.

Deputy Hanson says he smells a rat. We wonder whom he meant.

Outside, Michael calls Nasedo from a pay phone. Nasedo is concerned that Max does not know of the call and warns Michael not to do this again.

Isabel, wearing a black dress, wanders into the geologist's desert camp. She flirts with Sorenson, saying she finds the idea of studying the earth to be romantic.

He tells her that he's looking for radioactivity from nuclear tests in the '50s. When Isabel wonders if this is to protect the public -- a "romantic" image -- Sorenson replies that he's under contract to a corporation looking to build a chemical plant here.

Congresswoman Whittaker goes to Valenti's office to discuss Pierce -- particularly, a conversation she had with the former Special Unit director before he came to Roswell to "investigate the sheriff."

She has the conversation on tape, but Valenti warns her off anyway. She shouldn't go looking for aliens, he says, especially if she doesn't want to end up jobless like Pierce.

Deputy Hanson rushes in with news from the coroner's office.

Coroner Bender has determined that the bones are clearly human. He notes the fused bones in the ribcage, the sign of "some bizarre form of radiation."

Whittaker asks Valenti if there have been any unreported nuclear accidents. He offers to coordinate an investigation, but Whittaker claims a federal interest in the matter.

When Hanson reminds Valenti of "the kid," Whittaker perks right up. Forced to acknowledge a suspect, Valenti heads over to Michael's apartment and places him under arrest.

A UFO nut at the Crashdown recognizes "Agent Pierce," who goes into the restroom and shifts shape into "Ed Harding." So disguised, Nasedo meets with Valenti and the others -- the first time the inscrutable alien has acknowledged the sheriff.

Max asks Nasedo about Whittaker, only to learn that Nasedo has been fooling around with her all summer. As he puts it, "I've grown awfully fond of the foul temptress. It's a shame I may now have to kill her."

Liz is shocked by all the casual talk of killing people. Murder is what started these problems. Max tells everyone that there will be no killing.

Nasedo comments, "Oh my, a pacifist for a king. Shall we all commit joint suicide right now?" Max orders him not to kill anyone.

Liz stays late at Whittaker's office. When Nasedo arrives as Pierce, the congresswoman asks what an ex-FBI agent is doing there.

He claims to be doing a different kind of hunting, as a private citizen. Liz discreetly leaves the two alone.

Whittaker is upset that Pierce humiliated her at the hearing. He cautions her not to take it personally -- it was just politics. She counters that politics is why they slept together.

Pierce says there's more to it. Whittaker asks Liz to lock up, as she now has plans for the evening.

Liz goes to the closet and lets Max out. They have investigating to do.

Valenti visits Michael's cell to determine that Michael is OK and won't use his powers to escape.

Michael feels remorse for killing a man, even though Valenti calls the action justified. The event has changed him, but he's scared that this is simply the beginning. He prepares for killing to come, but worries that he will not be up to the task.

Frustrated after finding nothing in Whittaker's office, Max starts to lose his temper. He can make everything better. It will be like nothing happened.

Liz says that it doesn't work that way. It is clear that she is referring to more than the bones they're looking for.

Now that Liz understands what Cadmium X is, she suggests that Max check the new particle physics lab at Los Cruces University, a three-hour drive away. The cyclotron there can measure isotope ratios.

Outside, Nasedo pulls Max into an alleyway. Max fills him in, but asks about the congresswoman; Nasedo counters by asking about Tess.

Max simply wants to go back to the way things were. He wants his friend back. There is no war going on. Nasedo warns him, "I would just be careful not to confuse what you want to be true with what really is true."

When Max has left, Nasedo finds a piece of skin by his car. He looks around, suddenly alert. We know he's being watched.

Garbed in fabulous leather pants, Isabel sashays over to a security guard at the university lab, who offers to show her to the student union.

While the guard's distracted, Max slips into the lab, using his powers to work the door. Inside, he calls Tess, who remains outside to prevent the people inside from seeing him enter the cyclotron.

The strain of mind-wiping so many people will be great, but Tess can do it for a few minutes.

In the control room, Whittaker watches the lab technicians prepare, delighted that she is about to make history. She looks out into the area but does not see Max open the hatch which leads into the cyclotron. Inside, he prepares to alter the bones when the cyclotron starts up.

Max uses his powers on the bones and exits just before the scan begins.

The test results are conclusive: there is no Cadmium X. Whittaker is stunned.

Furthermore, carbon dating shows that the bones are 42 years old. A scientist suggests that the fused bones could be the result of a mutation from the nuclear testing done in Roswell 42 years ago.

Whittaker knows that something here is not right.

The aliens and their friends celebrate back at the Crashdown. Max knew that changing the carbon will allow Michael to be cleared.

They are all surprised, though, when a new waitress, Courtney, walks out of the Crashdown's lounge. They had forgotten she was still there.

Before she leaves, Courtney makes a point of saying hi to Michael.

Maria approaches Michael as he gets pizza. She floats a line: "So I hear ex-cons are really great in bed."

He tells her it's over between them. She says he said it was over and just avoided her.

Michael explains that this has nothing to do with Isabel and everything to do with his destiny as a soldier. "A soldier can't have some chick at home waiting for him," he tells her.

She says that many do. Michael insists that it's over.

Max bumps into Liz outside as she is coming and he is going. He asks what Liz would think if they could pretend to go back to things as they were, but she refuses.

He touches her arm, and suddenly Liz flashes to passionate memories of herself with Max. He sees a response and asks about it.

She says that it was nothing and says good night.

There is a knock at the window as Max prepares to sleep. Nasedo, bleeding from his nose, staggers into Max's arms. He is wounded.

"They are among you now," Nasedo tells Max.

Nasedo refers to them as "Skins" before he dies in Max's arms. Max repeatedly says "No."