Chapter 1.20: Turning point

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Luna was born shortly after her brother Milo, so her birthday came in no time.

The more time passes, the more she resembles those other aliens controlling our lab, and who abduct people... But in the moment she puts back her disguise, she returns to be the good old Luna we all know so well.

A few days later, Milo asked me to talk in private. This is unusual, should I be worried? Is he worried about something?

Milo: Dad ... Do you think I'm a loser?

Stuart: Of course you're not, why would you say that?

Milo: At school I don't have any friend, and everyone makes fun of me saying I'm just a geek and that I don't even do any sport!

Stuart: Well, what do you think of them instead?

Milo: Um... I think they are a bit boring, they just talk about the last match, or about the cheerleaders, or who has the newest shoes.

Stuart: But you're too kind to tell them these things to their faces. You see, people are all different, everyone is free to do or think whatever they want to.

Milo: ... I see. But I don't think that this could help me much tomorrow at school, you know?

Stuart: Well... I have to admit that, when I was your age, it was just the same for me. For a while I even tried to be like the "cool kids", but it just wasn't for me. It's fine if you don't like everyone else, and specularly it's impossible to convince everyone to like you. 

Milo: ...

Stuart: If you want my suggestion, keep trying to talk with other guys around your school, sooner or later you will find someone nice. People like us are hard to notice sometimes, but we are a lot!

Milo: ... Yes, maybe you are right. 

I know too well what Milo was talking about, as I told him my old school days were just the same. I suggested to him what I would have liked to know back then, and I really hope that this could help him a bit...

You're really lucky, my dear diary, you have never had to spend years of your life in that crazy place called high school...

A few days later, Sylvia and I dedicated an evening to us two alone, we hadn't done it for too long. It was Valentine's Day after all, and now Milo and Luna are both old enough to spend some time alone.

Sylvia: Are you making any progress with your research? You haven't told us about your inventions for ages!

Stuart: Well, admittedly, alien technology is amazing, every day we discover something new.

Sylvia: But you are still not sure if it can be of any use to you, are you not?

Stuart: ... Yes, probably yes. We've discovered quite a few pieces, but we still don't know how to put them together. Knowing the real intentions and motives of those aliens would be very helpful, but with what we now know we are unable to make any plan.

Sylvia: ...

Stuart: (thoughtfully) The other day we were at the observatory, we spent all day examining the data collected by the telescope during the past nights and by the radio telescopes, we pointed them months ago in the same direction as the delivery communications we are always transmitting.

Sylvia: It has been a long time since I heard from you about an experiment in your field of study... Have you found out anything interesting?

Stuart: We may have been able to locate a signal from their homeworld. 

Sylvia: Ah ah, so they have a planet too!

Stuart: (Cautiously) ...The signal was barely visible. That planet orbiting a dying dwarf star, it receives a negligible amount of light compared to what we have here on Earth. By now, that place must be almost uninhabitable.

Sylvia: Do you think that's why they try to colonize other planets, like ours?

Stuart: Well, probably yes. But this doesn't justify what they're doing to us anyway! And...

And then I remembered why we were dying out that night, and I suddenly froze. Was it possible that I could only think about work nowadays?

Stuart: ... I'm sorry, at least tonight I shouldn't be telling you about these things.

Sylvia: we are all worried about this, and we are all involved at least as much as you are! Rather, you should start to share a bit more of what you're finding out also with us, don't you agree?

I stopped for a moment, thinking about what she'd just said. As usual she was right, my whole family knew about the aliens and their attempt to colonize us now, it wasn't fair to hide them any detail, not even the crudest ones. Even the kids were old enough now to know the whole truth.

Luna: Dad, come to watch this! Hurry up!

Luna was glowing with a light blue tint, it was not a good sign. Whenever she felt a strong emotion, she glowed slightly, and blue was the colour of sadness.

When I reached her I immediately understood what was bothering her. She was watching a TV channel we receive from the satellite dish in our garden, which I connected to the aliens' telecommunication system, the same they use to transmit the main communications to each other. It took me quite a while before I was able to intercept that signal, in fact.

Luna had gotten into the habit of watching that channel more and more often, even if we've never received any interesting news from it. But what she was hearing in that moment would have upset anyone in her place.

TV: the first seeds born on the Earth have recently reached adulthood, demonstrating the genetic stability of the last generation. We have in fact confirmed that they are fertile individuals, able to generate offspring without any further requirement for human surrogates or specific equipment. After phase 1, consisting in the optimization of genomic integration, and phase 2, consisting in the expansion of our population with the seeding among the terrestrials, we are therefore ready to start phase 3...

Stuart: ... Luna, you aren't obliged to listen to this.

Luna: ...

TV: ... currently the number of seeds left on planet Earth is of roughly 16 million, corresponding to about 0.2% of the total population of the planet. In some regions, these percentages are approaching 10% of the young population. The current goal is only one: to completely replace humans and to make their planet our new operational base. Teaching our culture and technology to the seeds present and grown on the planet will also be a priority, considering...

Luna: (Worried) ... Do you think you can explain to me what you know now?

Stuart: (serious) It's probably time, you're right. But it could take a long...

Luna: I suspected it.

Stuart: (stunned) What are you doing?

Luna: I'm reading your mind. It is a bit exhausting, but it is the quickest way.

So Luna now knows everything, and she's also learning how to use the alien's weird mental abilities. She needed a few minutes to process everything she had learned in those few moments, and then she completely took me by surprise by telling me:

Luna: you know almost nothing about aliens, and neither do I. Do you want to analyze me?

Stuart: ... What?

Luna: It would be the most efficient way to collect data about us aliens in a short time, and you think it too.

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