Chapter 2.2: Message

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From Luna's diary

My job at the hospital is tough, but I'm happy with what my colleagues and I are managing to do. Being able to keep aliens healthy without humans noticing is not easy, after all.

Luna: Madam, I don't think that blonde wig is enough as a disguise... Did anyone notice you?

Many older aliens are not used to wear a disguise, so moving them all on Earth was the moment at which we risked the most to be discovered. In the worst cases we just have to erase some memories and make the earthlings forget about having met an alien, but we prefer not to resort to such drastic measures...

Passing to the big news of the week, Milo has finally admitted that Noemi is his girlfriend, they recently graduated and moved in together. They took this picture right after they finished moving all the boxes, they were exhausted (to say the least).

Noemi loves cats, even her running clothes make it so obvious. It's a very cute hoody, but I don't think I would ever be able to wear it in public, to be honest.

Soon after they also adopted a kitten, his name is Pedro and they both already fell for him.

In the meanwhile, the human abductions by unauthorized spaceships were continuing, and no one could figure out exactly who the responsible were or what they wanted. By now, everyone called them "the pirates". I have to admit that I'm very concerned, in particular after what happened to Milo just a couple of months ago...

Hermes: Whatever is going on, they seem to want to make things clear tonight, they will transmit their official statements on Sixam. My bosses want me to go there to listen to their message and write an article about it.

Luna: I want to be present too, to hear it in person...

Around the Sixam docking point that night there were more aliens than usual, many curious people reached the place to hear the mysterious message we were promised just like I did. 

However, albeit the little momentary crowd, it was clear how the place was now completely abandoned. The place has always looked empty, as they used to spend more time on spaceships than on land, but now it's evident that no one is still living here at all.

Luna: It looks so empty...

So we waited for the announced message from the pirates, it could have come at any moment at that point. In fact, a few minutes later, we heard a loud acoustic signal, probably emitted by some spaceship hidden nearby, followed by the announcement we were all waiting for.

Announcement: We are the Pirates of Sixam, and we are here to officially announce that we strongly oppose the norms imposed by the Elders' Council in the name of peaceful coexistence with humans!

We looked at each other with puzzled expressions. The matter had been discussed and re-discussed, but in the end the opposing faction seemed to have accepted the final decision. Could it be just a facade?

Announcement: Look at yourselves now, don't you think that living perpetually disguised as humans is just a big lie? Our technology and culture are light-years beyond the earthlings', is there really no viable alternative to this farce?

The puzzled expressions became a murmur, the limitations of earthly life were causing a lot of dissatisfaction among some aliens. The ones among us who were born on Earth know little about it, but our species also has its own culture and history, and our fellow aliens also form a population proud of their own identity. It had been calculated that this was the price to pay in order to ensure everyone the necessary resources for our survival and that Sixam could no longer provide, but after the initial enthusiasm the discontent increased more and more.

Announcement: so join us, stay here on Sixam, don't resign yourself to such a life! And...

The announcement was interrupted by a rattling electronic noise, most likely the authorities in the Elder's Council had intercepted and interrupted the signal without warning. But their intervention was probably too late, we had heard enough by then. The message had passed already.

Hermes and I exchanged a single glance, and then we turned back and run to the portal that would have taken us back to the secret laboratory left by dad in our basement. We discussed about it for days, always concluding that what those "pirates of Sixam" proposed was pure madness, there were no other alternatives that would allow everyone to live peacefully, but how many would have fallen for that vane promise instead?

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