[ convention ]

A balloon in the shape of a stretched out figure flaps against the wind on the front wall of the UFO Centre, the museum where Max works. Outside, a person in a green alien costume is handing out flyers to tourists milling about. It is the first day of the 10th Annual UFO Convention at Roswell. The costumed figure stops in midstream and watches across the street. There, in front of the Crashdown, Liz is waiting on some tables that are situated outside the restaurant and right across the street from the UFO Centre. In the eyes of the costumed figure, Liz is the focus and every move she makes, every expression on her face is registered in slow fluid motion, as the costumed figure stands entranced by her.

At the Sheriff's office, Valenti is walking with a deputy who tells Valenti that the press are relentless in their questioning about the sightings in the Woods. Valenti tells the deputy to tell them all that it was dry lightening, but the deputy frets that perhaps the press may not buy it but Valenti brushes him off and heads to his office. Upon his entry into his office, Valenti sees a middle-aged man around Valenti's own age sitting in his chair, looking at a picture of Kyle. Valenti tenses and demands to know how the man has managed to get into his office. The man, known as, "Hub" continues to make small talk, seemingly oblivious to the sheriff's hostility. He then walks casually out leaving Valenti to stew in the fact that "Hub" has returned to Roswell. When the deputy sees Hub leaves Valenti's office, he asks Valenti whom that was and Valenti tells him that he has just seen a bona fide alien hunter.

Back at the UFO museum Michael is intently asking one of the "UFO experts" a question while Isabel watches with distaste. When Michael walks back to her, she asks Michael if they can leave because the UFO Centre freaks her out. Michael explains that they have almost run out of clues. All they have is a map, and the knowledge that someone may be trying to contact them but now they have hit a dead end and he's certain they can find more answers in this building. Isabel rolls her eyes. Suddenly, they see the costumed figure walk down the stairs and just when they are about to walk off disgusted at the grossly inaccurate stereotype of aliens, they realize that it's Max, who takes off the headpiece of his costume. Isabel is horrified at the level of degradation they have sunk to but Max doesn't seem to mind too much and he pulls Michael into a smaller room, clearly with something else on his mind. Once inside, Max asks Michael how he "does it" - not think about Maria. Max tells Michael that he can't stop thinking about Liz and every time he sees her, it seems like everything she does is in slow motion and he is helpless against doing anything except for watching her. Michael gives Max a look of sympathy and advises him to not think about his..."source of energy"...and instead, focus on something else, and put all his energy into it. Max mulls over this. As he walks outside later Max sees his boss, the curator who complains about all the work he has to do. Max takes this opportunity to ask for more work and the curator gladly appoints him the relation's manager for the speakers who will be at the conference.

At the Crashdown, Liz is serving customers when in walks the two UFO tourists who were there at the shooting back in September. They walk in and take a booth. The man examines the menu and tells Liz meaningfully that he will have an "Alien Encounter" to start while his fiance will have a soda. Just as Liz walks away in relief as she is clearly not happy that they are here and wants to get away from them as soon as possible, the male tourist tells her he has one more thing, he wants to know what exactly happened that day in September when she was shot. Liz looks at him in silence.

Meanwhile in the nursing room, Valenti is sitting with Valenti senior and trying to get his father to remember what happened the day of the silo murder that resulted in the innocent killing of a local town drifter and his dad being hauled away but Valenti Sr. isn't too helpful, making cryptic remarks about Hubble being too obsessed about his wife and his child. Valenti shakes his head sadly and tells his dad that Hubble doesn't have a wife or kids. Thinking he has hit a dead end, Valenti resignedly pulls a blanket over his dad's knees when his dad complains about the draft.

In the UFO museum, one of the keynote speakers, Frakes, walk up to Max and demand to know why he doesn't have a suite like the other speakers. Max doesn't know how to handle it too well, but Frakes finally tells Max in a friendly but no nonsense way to book him in another hotel room where he can get a suite before strolling off.

Meanwhile, Alex is also in the museum and he spots Isabel and approaches her like a bounding puppy. Isabel is amused that he's there, clearly looking for her and as he tries to strike up conversation about how it's such a pleasant surprise for him to bump into her, Maria breezes by them and remarks to Alex that she's glad he found Isabel, telling Isabel that Alex had been looking for her. Isabel smiles again.

Maria is helping her mother put up a banner inside the UFO museum that highlights an alien-fest fight and Michael is watching what she's doing. He tells her that he thinks it's rude to portray aliens in that way, to make ridicule about the whole thing and just as he gets all worked up, Maria tells him that it's her mom's and that it's how she makes a living. Michael is not rebuffed and says a few more things that reflects his disgust when they are approached from behind by Maria's mother who has overhead it all and she pointedly tell Michael that it's how she and Maria get by before walking off angry by his rudeness. Michael looks slightly chastened until Maria tells him sarcastically that he just made a 'great impression' to which Michael snaps back to his old form and responded that he didn't need to make a good impression before walking off.

In the middle of a museum, Max is standing inside the centre's information booth when a little kid walks up to him and asks him questions about aliens. When Max tries to direct the kid to the appropriate section of the museum, the kid demanded to know why Max couldn't just tell him the answer since he is after all, at the information booth. Just then, Liz walks in and Max loses his train of thought as he can only watch her walk down the stairs in that slow motion manner he was describing to Michael earlier. Just before she reaches him, Michael sees Max's reaction from behind tells Max to think of "mud" because that's what he does around Maria and it helps. Max tells Michael he doesn't need any tricks and he can handle this to which Michael replied, "suit yourself" and walks off. When Liz finally gets in front of Max, she tells him that she was there to talk about the lunch they are catering tomorrow for the UFO Centre. Max replies offhandedly that as long as it's business related, it's okay, they can talk. Liz gives him an odd smile and walks behind the booth to begin explaining her tourist dilemma with the two UFO tourist fanatics who won't leave the Crashdown but it's not clear that Max could hear anything she was saying since all he sees and focuses on is her face and that seemed to be pretty much it. Suddenly, the word, "mud" popped out of his mouth. When Liz asks him what he was talking about, he tells her that he wanted to have mud pies for tomorrow's lunch that is being catered. Liz tells him that she will try her best and before she can say much else, Max tells her he's very busy and leaves her.

In the other part of the museum, the curator who introduces Max to Hubble approaches Max. The curator excitedly tells Max that Hubble could be the only one who has ever made contact with an actual alien. Hub is not too interested and walks off but the curator tells Max to try his best to get Hub to speak at the round table he is organizing for the UFO Convention's big finale. Max watches Hubble as Hubble walks away.

Valenti approaches Hubble outside the museum that night and tells Hub that he's telling Hubble not as a Sheriff, but as himself to get out of town, telling him that Valenti will also hold him responsible for what happened in Silos that day thirty years ago. Hubble looks at Valenti and remarks that ever since Valenti Sr. had been committed, he knows Valenti must be dying to know what happened, and in fact, Hubble can see that Valenti is starting to believe a little of what Valenti Sr. had known with conviction. However, if Valenti drives Hubble out of town, Valenti will never get the answers to his questions. Valenti says nothing and watches as Hubble smugly walks off. From across the street, Max sees the entire exchange, worried about the ramification of the exchange.

At the Crashdown, Liz is serving the eighth cup of coffee to Jen, the girl tourist who's engaged to the male tourist fanatic. Suddenly, she breaks down and tells Liz that she so tired of having to travel around with Jerry ever since he witnessed the shooting and she doesn't know what to do. Liz commiserates with her and sits down to comfort her.

Back in the museum, Frakes is listening to stories from the audience of their various alien encounters followed by an assessment of whether such an encounter was real by the panel of experts. When it's finally Jerry turn, he starts to recount the shooting incident, which perks the interest of Hubble and Hubble watches shrewdly as he sees the interplay of reaction and action between Max's discomfort, Michael's attempt to cut Jerry off by accidentally interrupting him even as he takes the opportunity to brush against Jerry and caused Jerry to start itching wildly. In the end, the expert panel discredited Jerry's story and Jerry, indignant that he was dismissed so easily out of hand, tried to point to Max as the alien who did the healing, but by then, no one was paying attention - except for Hubble who watches speculatively. Later that night, outside, Jerry is applying a salve to his skin when Hub approached him. Hubble informs Jerry that he believes everything Jerry says, he just want to find out more.

Back at the UFO Centre, Maria's mom is frantically trying to convince one of the wrestler to continue with his deal but the wrestler is reluctant because the contender, who is practicing in the ring as she is speaking, is quite large and intimidating he tore a dummy in pieces during his practice. Amy frantically tries to beg the man to come telling him that if he doesn't she will be on the street because she relies heavily on the income she will get from this match. All her pleas fall on deaf ears and finally, the man hangs up on her and she walks off extremely distraught but Michael is listening thoughtfully from the background, having heard the entire conversation

. In the sheriff's office, Hubble is showing Valenti a series of pictures of different victims of this murderous alien who've killed several people. Hubble warns Valenti that the aliens aren't happy-go-lucky creature and in fact are killers so whatever Valenti knows, he must tell Hubble since it's his responsibility to protect their fellow human beings. Hubble then presses on Valenti's hot button - his dad's fervent belief in the existence of aliens, and how it was because of aliens that he went over the edge. Valenti has an expression of remorse and regret on his face and when Hub presses Valenti on whether or not he thinks Max has anything to do with this alien, Valenti tells him "maybe."

Isabel is in her kitchen looking out the window, an amused expression on her face. Moments later, Alex knocks on her door and she let him in. After pointing out that he's been in the neighbourhood for over 20-minutes and ribbing him about it, Alex gives her a book on constellation and tells her that he thought since she likes the stars so much, that they could one day, look at some together and she could teach him a little about them. Isabel distanced herself and tells Alex that she can't be with him and she thought she had made it clear already. Alex tells her he understands but wants to know if they can still spend time together. Isabel then brings up the fact that he's been suffocating her, lurking around every moment and she can't take it. Alex has a pained expression on his face, apologizes for suffocating her and leaves, with the book on the kitchen counter. Isabel looks at his retreating figure with a slightly guilty expression on her face.

Back at the Crashdown, Amy and Maria are sitting at one end of the counter while Liz is on the other, serving drinks. Alex walks in dejected and although Liz initially tried to cheer him up, eventually, the conversation turned and all the girls (Amy, Maria, Liz and Jen - who was sitting unobtrusively at the far end of the counter) got into a diatribe about how men used their work or passion to hide behind their fear of commitment, using it as a convenient shield whenever they don't want to deal. Alex, understandably, doesn't look like he's too cheered up. When Alex asked them what would they think if it's the guy who's obsessed with the girl - all the girls snorted in disbelief.

Suddenly the curator storms in demanding to know whether Amy is planning on watching the wrestling match. Thinking that the man she had originally hired decided to show up, Amy rushes with glee inside the UFO museum. She sees the beastly man who was supposed to fight her guy and winces when he tells her triumphantly that his opponent may need to be sent to the hospital. Maria and Amy go into the ring to see a figure in costume lying flat on his back. Rushing forth, they go over to see if he's okay. When the figure lifts his mask, it turns out to be Michael. Amy squeals with joy and thanks Michael before rushing off leaving Maria and Michael in the ring alone. Clearly moved, Maria moves in to kiss Michael but Michael, like Max sees every movement Maria makes in slow motion and just before she kisses him, he says, "mud". To which Maria gave him a confused look, breaking the mood of the moment. Michael then explains that he was thinking about mud. This really annoys Maria who mutters why she bothers trying before leaving Michael alone in the ring. Michael lies back alone on the floor of the wrestling ring and sighs.

In the UFO's storage room, Max is working when Hub walks in asking Max if Max had wanted to see him. Max tells him that it's true. He wants to know what he can do to convince Hub to be a round table panellist because one of the speakers bailed last minute. Hub tells Max in a very friendly manner that he was won over by Max's persistence and will agree to be a speaker - except his slides are at home and he needs them and between his age and problems with his car, he can't get to them in time. Max offers to drive to which Hub replied that he was hoping Max would say that and they leave. As they leave, Michael sees them go and grabs Jerry who was standing nearby and demanded to know who it was that Max had left with. Jerry tells him that Hubble was the guy who had approached him last night and asked a lot of question about the shooting.

Valenti is in his office; examining the pictures that Hubble had left him. With a magnifying glass, he looked up the license plate number from the car of one of the victim's and when he looks it up, he realizes that it's Hubble's wife. Realizing his dad isn't lying, Valenti goes back to his dad and confronts his dad with the facts, after piecing everything together. After Hubble's wife died, carrying Hubble's unborn child, Hubble went over the edge. He left and came back two years later and preyed on Valenti Sr obsession with aliens to lead him to the drifter who he had thought was responsible for killing his wife. And then, Hubble had shot the drifter, not his father, who somehow ended up with all the blame while Hubble disappeared, killing an innocent man by accident because he thought the person he shot was the alien. Valenti Sr. confirmed this and tells Valenti that no matter what, he can't trust Hubble.

Meanwhile, Max is driving Hubble back to Bitter Lake where he used to live and where he has told Max he had placed the slides. In the car ride, Hubble talked about his wife, and how much he loved her, knew that she was the one for him by the way they kissed. That the way to tell if someone is that one special person, is by the kiss - whether one could see fireworks or not. Hubble asked Max if he had ever kissed someone and seen fireworks. Max didn't say much at first, but later conceded that he saw it - once. Hubble subsequently continues to talk about the night of his first anniversary with his wife when they were going to light up fireworks in celebration. How he had used up his entire paycheck to buy fireworks, and how his wife had promised to give him a surprise. Max listens, not really understanding what was going on. Hubble continues, not paying much attention to whether Max understood or not. He described how he realized halfway out of town that he had forgotten to buy matches, but that he stopped off at a gas station and left his wife to wait by the car as he walked in to ask the store manager if he could have some matches without paying the 10 cents since he had left his money in the car and didn't want to look bad in front of his lady. The storeowner flipped him the matches and told him to have a good night - something that never happened.

Suddenly, Hubble tells Max to pull over and Max pulls over at the same diner that Hubble stopped at over thirty years ago, except it's now abandoned. Hub walks out as if to relive the moment and then turns to Max and tells him that he must have known that anyway. Max is confused until he realises that Hubble thinks he's that alien who killed his wife. Hubble whips out a gun prepared to shoot Max, convinced that Max was the killer of his wife and child but suddenly, Michael calls out from behind him to stop. He had followed them. Taking advantage of Hubble's disoriented state, Max knocks the gun out of his hand and the two fall to the ground in a struggle. Using his powers, Max moves the gun further out of Hubble's reach when they see flashing lights from behind them. Max and Michael stops their struggling to turn and look, which gives Hubble time to regain his gun.

By the time Valenti steps out of his car with his own gun in hand, Hubble already has Max in his line of shot again. Hubble tells Valenti that Valenti is right; Max is an alien because he witnessed Max used his powers. Without an expression, Valenti gives Hubble a chance to drop his weapon but when Hubble refuses, confident that Valenti is just like his dad, lacking the stomach to fire the gun, Valenti fires, and shoots Hubble in the arm de-capacitating him. As he walks over the look at Hubble's injury, Max demands to know what Valenti had told Hubble so that Hubble would go after him. Valenti explains that he didn't realize that Hubble was so dangerous, but Max, perhaps his anxiety heightened by the strain he had been under in that moment, tells Valenti that if he wants a piece of Max, he's there right now for Valenti to take. Michael tries to calm Max down, but it's not too successful. Valenti finally tells Max and Michael to get out of here, that they weren't seen here. Understanding that they should go, Michael pulls Max off, who by now, has calmed down. As they walk away, Max tells Michael that despite Michael's opinion that Hubble was crazed, Max believes that the fourth alien they are looking for have in fact killed, and have killed a lot of people.