Chapter 1.22: We need a plan!

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Stuart: (relieved) Luna, you're back! What happened to you, why did you go through the portal?

Luna: they dragged me to the other side, they wanted me to go there! I...

Only then Luna realized she was not wearing her disguise, and she hurried to fix it. She once admitted to us that she felt exposed and vulnerable when showing her true appearance, so she was always showing her human face even when we were alone at home.

Then, she started to explain to me what had just happened. She still felt a bit shaken, her voice was trembling slightly as she spoke, but she was also determined to report me all the information she could.

Luna: This is the beginning of phase 3, they want to supplant the entire population of this planet within fifty years, and they want us to participate too! And you know their technology, if...

Stuart: (sadly) ... if a war began, we wouldn't last for a week.

We couldn't waste any more time, the aliens would have done their move soon. We had to come up with a plan, and fast.

Luna was as aware of it as I was, I could see it in her eyes. So I instinctively told her:

Stuart: Don't worry, Luna. We'll find a solution.

We talked about it for hours, days, even weeks. I told Luna about the information I gathered during my journey on Sixam, upsetting her as I rarely did before (according to her, I had risked far too much that time, and I should never try it again). Instead, she reported to me every single detail of what she had been told by that first alien instructor on Sixam, and then of all the others she met in the subsequent "lectures".

So much information and no concrete plan, was it really possible that all the work we have done might eventually turn out to be in vain?

The weeks went by, and then the months. Sylvia's birthday had also arrived, and now she started to complain about the back pain too. Even if she doesn't believe me when I tell her, I still think she is beautiful.

And also the kids are growing so much, they are in their third and fourth year of high school, respectively. The more time passes, the more their ideas and opinions become clear. They are really responsible kids, I'm sorry to have involved them in such a difficult situation since when they were born... But this can't be helped, either.

Milo: Why do you keep returning back to Sixam if you are on the humans' side? It's too dangerous, what if they read your thoughts and find out what you and dad are doing?

Luna: I've learned enough to hide some memories, you don't have to worry about that.

Milo: But...

Luna: I can't avoid going to Sixam, the older aliens force us to go there to teach us their plans and so on. Actually, I also believe they know perfectly well that many of us are sharing that information with humans, but they don't care because they don't think it will interfere with their plans. (Resigned) According to them, you humans are completely harmless.

Milo: So they don't fear us a bit... Are they really that much superior to us in terms of strength?

Luna: ...

Luna said nothing, she didn't want to frighten her brother any more than he already was. Instead, she said:

Luna: ... I have to go to Sixam, they don't accept latecomers.

From Luna's diary

Today I reached Sixam for the fifteenth mandatory training session. I am sick of hearing old aliens listing the weapons they will use, or rather, that we will use to exterminate the human species and to appropriate of planet Earth.

How can they even think that we, teens who grew up on Earth, could even consider doing such a thing? But insubordination is not a viable option, they are even more ruthless with the offenders than with the inhabitants of the planets they decide to colonize

If there is an, albeit little, positive aspect in this situation, it is that I've met some other young aliens just like me,  and we are becoming good friends. I've never met any other alien before, if it wasn't for the circumstances it would be a nice novelty for me.

Their names are Hermes and Ivy, and I always meet them during the mandatory training sessions on Sixam.

Hermes: Yesterday's history lesson wasn't too bad, I wasn't expecting anything like that.

Ivy: Well... I really wanted to ask you about that lesson, because I'm a bit confused. So the aliens haven't always been like us?

Luna: Not at all! From what they said, we are only the fifth generation with the same number of limbs as humans do!

Seeing that my answer was not helping Ivy to understand any better, Hermes immediately remedied with a much more detailed explanation than mine. He's very good at explaining things, in general.

Hermes: From what the senior instructors told us, the original inhabitants of this planet looked very different from us, many more tentacles and so on. And they had much stronger telepathic and camouflage abilities than we do, as well. But when they realized that Sixam was wasting away and that soon this would lead them to extinction, they decided to point to a new planet. 

Ivy: (focused) Okay, I think I had got this already. 

Hermes seemed satisfied for the success of his explanation, and went on with it without hesitation:

Hermes: However, before taking any choice they decided to simulate any possible future scenario, calculating that for them the greatest chances of success would be achieved with a three-phases plan. As a first step, they focused on optimizing their ability to survive on the new planet by progressively incorporating earthlings' genetic material within theirs. 

Luna: They have been working on it for several generations now, trying to find a stable genetic structure allowing them to maintain their telepathy and their ability to change their appearance, but also to integrate those characteristics that allow us to easily survive on Earth. It seems that they made several attempts, before passing to phase 2.

Hermes: They also say that they have integrated at least 90% of the human genome, before obtaining an acceptable result.

Luna: In fact the organs are practically all the same, apart from the skin and some differences in the brain, which we need for disguising and for using telepathy.  

Ivy: And so we reached phase 2, which concerns us, right?

Hermes: Right, we're at the end of alien's population expansion phase. They intended to increase their numbers by at least ten times in a few decades, so about twenty years ago they started inseminating humans. They didn't explain this during their lecture, but I think they preferred to have our surrogate parents raising us to optimize their time and resources, I believe, they wanted to focus their energies on activities other than raising so many children. Thinking about it, telepathy and memory-erasing were enough to keep the secret among the earthlings.

Luna: In the meantime, they have finished testing our genetic setup, and now they have also have proof that those of our generation are capable of having children just like humans do. So that we no longer need any machinery or to pollinate any terrestrial, our species would now theoretically be able to survive on Earth.

Ivy: So, after all, we are not so different from humans!

Ivy has two younger human sisters, and she has a very strong relationship with them. I'm not surprised to see that she feels relieved learning this information, for me it's the same thinking about Milo, Dad or Sylvia. 

Hermes: (embittered) It's a shame that the only reason why we are so similar to humans is that we are meant to replace them completely...

That said, he shook his head in resignation. Hermes found that whole situation just as unfair as I did, but we also felt powerless to the same level.

Hermes: (tired) The next training will start shortly, we'd better hurry if we want to avoid any punishment...

So, reluctantly, the three of us headed towards the pre-arranged meeting point.

It was so frustrating and tiresome, the only (sort-of) emotion we noticed in the instructors was the sarcasm they often used with us aliens-raised-on-Earth.

???: What were you doing before coming here? And do not try to lie to us, we would know.

Luna: (vague) I was talking to my brother.

???: (derisively) Your brother the human?

Old and annoying aliens, what do they think to know about families?

? ?: Get ready, soon we will send you information on the driving methods of our space shuttles. 

???: For now instead, you can exercise with telepathy. 

Luna: ... Okay, I won't miss it.

Those two old instructors walked away, leaving us to our telepathic training. I had been lucky, they told me to work together with Hermes.

Hermes: calm down, or they will start to wonder whether to overwrite your memories or not.

Luna: I know, but I can no longer play this absurd game!

Hermes: If there was an alternative I think most of us would be happy to hear it, but this isn't the case. So ...

Luna: I just don't get it, if they really wanted us to conquer the Earth, why did they let us grow among the humans? Don't they realize that we have developed a strong bond with them by now?

Hermes: ...

Luna: If just they had a family too, or any friends, they would never force us to do something like this! They just don't understand these things, those are completely alien concepts to them, that's the problem!

Until a few moments before, Hermes seemed simply resigned to the situation, but at that moment he was staring at me with his mouth open. It was the expression of someone who had just had an idea, and he couldn't believe his own intuition.

Hermes: ... You might be right, you know?

And so, with his telepathy, he showed me his new idea.

A few hours later, back on Earth...

Luna: ... They are Hermes and Ivy, and we may have been able to come up with a plan to convince the aliens to give up on the colonization of Earth, you know?

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