From Leo's diary
Aster and Roberta weren't kidding when they said they wanted a large family...
They recently had two more girls, Camille and Ariana. Camille looks a lot like her older brothers, while Ariana seems to be the one who had inherited the most from the alien side of the family.
So now they have four small children to look after. Claire and I can't even imagine how hard it could be, so we proposed to help them a bit. However, they preferred to kindly decline our offer. Unsurprisingly, Aster and Roberta have very little free time at this point, but they seem so happy looking after their kids to not really care about it.
In the meantime, I'm focusing a lot on my job instead. Everything is going so well, other than having my own case now I'm also directing my own detective team.
The drug-dealers gang is really elusive, but slowly we're getting the pieces together and slowly getting closer to their leaders.
None of those gang members seems to have noticed yet that I am an alien too, which clearly is a point in my favour. Also the Captain looks very satisfied with my results, and my colleagues seem to start trusting me more too.
At home, however, little Luke completely absorbs all our time.
After putting Luke to sleep, I went back downstairs where Claire was following the TV news. I could immediately tell something bad had happened, because I could feel her turmoil from meters away.
Leo: (worried) Claire, what happened?
Claire: ...
Claire: It was the first news tonight... They said my father passed away the last night, I didn't even know he was ill...
She looked sad, but also confused. She had always thought she had no interest in what her father was doing, but only at that moment she realised that she just could not remain indifferent to such news.
I know her well, and I was sure that from the following day she would again shown her determinated self and resumed working for her cause with her usual enthusiasm, if not even more. But for that night all she wanted was a shoulder to cry on.
As if we hadn't already been sad enough, shortly afterwards even Amazonia, our old cat, left us.
The news about her father made Claire think a lot. With her protests and demonstrations she had collected a lot of supporters, especially on social media in the form of thousands of followers. But she believed she had reached the limit of what she could do with that method, if she really wanted to change things she would have had to go even further.
Claire: (thoughtfully) They offered me a job as a paper-pusher at the Ministry for Technological Innovation. It's not a great job, but if I try hard enough, I might be able to get to some decision-making role someday.
Leo: So do you really want to enter into politics?
Claire: ... I know the environment, there are so many subterfuges and corruption to make me sick. But as long as they are the only ones in the government, things will never change.
Leo: I see.
Beep Bop!
Claire: What was it?
Leo: My cell phone, it's a e-mail notification.
Claire: And from whom?
Leo: At least this time they avoided kidnapping us in one of those prehistoric spaceships and let us use the black hole generator we have at home. That's a good sign, isn't it?
Claire: Well, maybe... But your brother calls are always quite unpredictable, to say the least. For example, do you have any idea about where he is?
Just then we saw Orion and another alien heading toward us. They were talking animatedly about stuff that I absolutely couldn't understand, but at least he was there.
???: I told you that we still needed some time to calibrate the universal relative reference system, they appeared two kilometres further north than expected!
Orion: Two measly kilometres compared to all the light-years between here and the Earth it's not too bad, is it?
At that point they reached us, and said:
Orion: Welcome! How was your trip? Do you still have all your parts?
Claire: What did I tell you, they wanted test subjects for who knows what!
Leo: That message seemed urgent, that do you want to show us?
Orion: Just the teleportation machine we made you use to get here.
Leo: It didn't look much different from any other time we used Grandpa's black hole generator at home.
Orion: There are some important differences actually, for example....
???: If you don't mind, I would continue because, until proven otherwise, I took care of the commissioning of that tool.
Claire: And you are...
???: Silas, I'm specialized in programming, electronics, robotics... This kind of thing.
Then followed about ten minutes of technical details that I couldn't follow at all. From what I could understand, they started to work on grandpa's notes and on the Sixam databases to rebuild a teleportation system from scratch. In this way they will no longer have to continue to use the few black hole generators left here and there by the aliens in the period of pre-colonization of the Earth, but they will be able to build as many new ones as they wish to.
Silas: By now this technology is almost ready for use, it would bring enormous progress in the field of transport of people and goods. It could completely replace planes, ships and trains, making transportation of people and goods instantaneous!
Claire: Interesting... But how are we involved in this?
Orion: Why so suspicious?
Silas: (seriously) We heard that you are about to start working at the Ministry for Technological Innovation.
Claire: So what?
Silas: Well... we would like to let the earthlings know that alien technology can be useful for everyone, to get started.
Orion: And we would also like to ask for laboratories on Earth, we are running out of energy reserves up here.
Claire thought about it for a moment. On the one hand, she had always had some reserves about the methods of Orion and the other aliens on Sixam but, on the other hand, demonstrating the usefulness of alien technology was one of the first points of her preliminary political program. And also being able to secure the dozen or so disbanded aliens hiding in Sixam's underground labs didn't seem like a bad idea...
Claire: ... I can't promise you anything, I haven't even started working there yet. It could take months, or years.
Orion: We know.
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After that Claire had really put in a lot of effort and gave her best for her entry into politics. She spent days on the computer writing speeches, putting together a consistent program and seeking support. Perhaps her role in the Ministry would not have been important, but she knew well that to advance in a political career it was essential to be recognized and supported by the people.
For her debut, she put together a big speech for the official presentation of her program.
Claire: It is a great honour for me to be able to contribute to the work of the Ministry for Technological Innovation, I fully intend to give my best for making my contribution in such a fundamental field...
She worked hard in preparation for this moment, and the result shows. A couple of other new senators and sub-ministers spoke before her, but in my opinion she outshined them all.
Claire: Differences must not be a reason for conflict, but a source of innovation! The level of technology used by aliens precedes the terrestrial one by millennia, but given the situation of absolute chaos in which alien communities have been forced to live for decades, this futuristic technology risks being completely forgotten. Yet these same technologies would be capable of leading to enormous advances in transportation, medicine, manufacturing, and telecommunications, advances that would be beneficial to everyone. Therefore, we consider it essential to recover and integrate this knowledge in order to...
At least Orion will be satisfied, this is the largest showcase that those of his group have ever had.
Maybe there weren't many people sitting there and listening to her, but I personally took care of filming the entire speech and posting it on her social profiles, where most of her supporters are.
In my opinion she had done a great job, but the next morning she seemed strangely dull as she ate her breakfast.
Leo: Are you okay?
Claire: Well, I'm not very hungry, honestly ...
Leo: (a bit suspicious) Are you sure this is all?
I had already seen that face, she reminded me of when...
Claire: (vague) I wanted to wait and see a doctor before telling you, but apparently you can already read it on my face, isn't it? You're really becoming a good detective...
Leo: (surprised) You mean...
Claire: Yes, I think I'm expecting a baby again.
Claire seemed much more serene about the news than the last lime, while I couldn't be happier. Luke also seemed to have guessed something and to be happy with the news.
In the same period we have also decided to adopt a kitten, his name is Freddy.
He is a very cuddly kitty, I think he will get along with everyone.
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The months went by fast, as we focused on Claire's belly getting bigger and bigger, on her new job at the Ministry, on my investigations and, of course, also on Luke's and his approaching birthday.
That's right, Luke's birthday has arrived! He'll soon be going to school and all, but I'm sure he won't have any problems because he's a very smart kid.
Claire always insists saying that to her he looks a lot like me, but I remain of the idea that he is all like his mother instead.
Luke has been playing all afternoon with his older cousins, Peter and Samuel, but I have the impression that for now he doesn't get along too well. Maybe it's just a phase, hopefully they will become friends over time.
And today Luke also had the chance to meet someone we are always talking to him about, but that he had never met in person before...
Orion: Hey champion, happy birthday!
Luke: Thanks, uncle Orion!
Orion: I admit that I missed this old house quite a bit...
Aster: I'm losing count, how long did you stay on Sixam?
Orion: Er ... it must have been nine or ten years... There's a different calendar up there different, it is hard to keep track.
Leo: So did you manage to have a real laboratory here on Earth?
Orion: Yes, even if they put us in the middle of a desert about ten kilometres from the nearest town, in a lab surrounded by barbed wire and guards from the army.
Leo: But now that you've put together all those teleportation prototypes, it shouldn't be that hard to travel, right?
Orion: That's true, I also used it to come here today!
Aster: Cool! You can give us some prototypes too, it would be very convenient to take the kids to school!
Orion: Absolutely not, everything is classified as top-secret!
Orion: And c'mon, is really bringing the kids to school the first application of teleport you can think of? (ironic) You two are really getting old, now you both look like middle-aged men who only think about family and work!
Leo: It's called growing up, and making strong bonds with your significant other and family. (Joking) Also, do you really expect us to believe that you have spent all this time on Sixam completely alone, and devoting yourself completely to science?
Orion made one of his usual grins, but he then preferred to avoid answering and to change the topic of the conversation.
Orion: There are just a couple of slices of cake left, I'm gonna take one and I also suggest you to do the same...
Leo: Ah ah, if you say so...
We have not a clear idea of what Orion has been through in all these years, and he often seems to be reluctant to talk about many details. Maybe he just needs some time to get used to the Earth again, while I and Aster are just happy to have him around again.
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