From Leo's diary
Finally, I was able to return home to my family. I missed them so much during those last few days.
Leo: Hi everyone, I'm back!
Lyra: Dad!
Claire: She missed you so much, she kept asking: "where is daddy?"
Leo: Hi Lyra! I will never go away again, I promise!
Lyra: Huh!
Leo: And hi Luke, how are you?
Luke: Well. But you don't need to hug me as well, you kn...
Luke: ... I can't breathe this way...
Leo: I missed you too.
Luke did his best to wriggle out of that hug, and then asked me:
Luke: What were you doing, then?
Leo: Believe it or not, this time I took part in an adventure worthy of uncle Orion...
Claire: I have the impression that what you did was much more dangerous than you have told the children, isn't it?
Leo: A little... For sure I don't want to be involved in anything similar ever again, it was so absurd and scary!
Claire: At least were you able to find something useful for your investigation?
Leo: Not exactly. I think I've pinpointed the person responsible for the incident, but he doesn't seem to have any ties to the drug dealers gang I was looking for.
Claire: Damn... I mean, what a pity.
Leo: How are things here?
Claire: The children are fine, Luke even got an A at school.
Leo: What about you, instead?
Claire: Work is very tough right now... But the next elections are approaching, I can't give up right now.
It is true, Claire is working really hard these weeks. In a few months there will be elections, and this time she could become a member of parliament. So she has to focus on her political program, the public speeches and everything else.
The core of her program is simple: bringing equal opportunities to all the inhabitants of the Sim Nation, including us aliens. And to do this, her first bullet point is to change the law (unfortunately still in force) that prohibits us from using disguises or telepathic abilities of any kind. This is bringing her the sympathies of most of the aliens living in the country, while humans still view her with a lot of scepticism.
Since there are not many other aliens in politics, and certainly no one else in a position equal to hers, she is turning into the public image representing equalitarianism between humans and aliens, people have also started to recognize her in the streets.
I don't understand this kind of stuff at all, but even I can notice that she also seems to have started a kind of fashion trend among aliens, the more time passes the more we come aross other aliens exhibiting the most extravagant hairstyles.
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In recent months, even the cats in the house are bringing a lot of news. First of all Kiwi, despite her advanced age, surprised us by giving birth to a kitten looking almost like her. We called her Apple.
We were instead less surprised, but no less saddened, when shortly after Kiwi passed away...
On the other hand, the more Apple grows, the more she resembles her mother. I admit that a couple of times I called her Kiwi by mistake.
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Soon after, it was time to celebrate Lyra's birthday. Children grow up so quickly
The more she grows the more she looks like me... If we ignore her love for the colour pink, I mean.
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Luke and Lyra started to spend their afternoon in the park with their cousins. They seem to be enjoying themselves quite a lot, don't you agree my dear diary?
Peter: This is the last time we let you decide what to do, Luke.
Samuel: Yes, that's right ...
Luke: Sooner or later you have to do your homework anyway, isn't it?
Lyra: Have you seen yesterday's episode of the Super Friends?
Ariana: Yes! He was really cool, especially when they transform and...
Lyra instead spends a lot of time with her cousin Ariana. The two are almost identical, except for the fact that Lyra has pointy ears and Ariana has not, and the confusion they cause among others seems to amuse them a lot.
Camilla: come on Luke, you drop the books and play a little!
Luke: Um, maybe later...
Luke really loves books, we all noticed very soon. He often asks us to read stories for him, and now also started to read whole books on his own. We do our best to find stories he can enjoy, but the more time passes the less he appreciates books like "The tales of Timmy the brave train"...
Leo: ... and at that point Timmy ...
Luke: How boring, but how many times do you want to read this stuff?
Lyra: I haven't heard it yet though!
Luke: You haven't missed much anyway...
Leo: Well, Luke, which kind of stories would you prefer to hear instead?
Luke: I want to read some true stories! Like Sixam's story, we don't study any of that stuff at school!
Right then I didn't know what to answer: the little I knew about Sixam's story didn't seem suitable for children, with all those attempts of interplanetary conquers...
Luke: Please! You must know something about Sixam, right?
Leo: Well... I can try to find some of the old notes my dad wrote, he has been writing for alien newspapers for years. And then you could also try asking uncle Orion, he lived on Sixam for almost ten years after all. He sure knows more than I do.
Luke: Uhm.
Leo: By the way, next week we are all invited to his new house, he organised a BBQ for us. You can try asking him that day, if you want to.
Luke: (impatiently) Okay!
I'm not entirely sure if this is a good idea to push Luke towards learning about the past of Sixam and of us aliens, but it seems so important to him to make it impossible to tell him no.
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So, as announced, the following week we were all invited to the new home of Orion and Silas. They hadn't moved particularly far from their lab, but at least they had found a real home in a spot with a nice view. A whole different story, compared to the trailer where they lived before.
They also look so much happier than the last time I went to Strangerville, they both seemed to benefit from moving to that new place.
Orion: Come on, everyone inside!
Luke: Wait, uncle, can I ask you something?
Orion: Sure.
Luke: Do you, by chance, have any...
Claire: It's a really nice house! I didn't know the pay in that lab was this good!
Silas: Let's say that, after the accident, the house prices in the surrounding area have dropped a lot.
The other three of us stared at him with a worried face for a few moments, before he added:
Silas: The spores concentration is now well below the guard level, don't worry. We may have found a really good deal, actually.
After the BBQ, I and Orion decided to play a chess game, we hadn't played together for ages at that point.
Orion: So how are things at home?
Leo: Luke took A back to school, for sure that's the first thing he would want to tell you anyway.
Orion: He seems smart, no surprise there.
Leo: How are you doing instead, other than the new house? Are you still incinerating those weird plants?
Orion: I do, luckily they gave me permission to use laser guns because otherwise it would have taken ages. (Thoughtfully) I don't get why, but that stuff keeps growing everywhere ...
Leo: What's Silas doing instead?
Orion: Well... You have to know that our lab collaborates with a university, and he has managed to grab a position as a robotics professor. He can't wait, if it were up to him he would be starting tomorrow.
I can't say I know Silas well, but I had to admit that that day he seemed almost unrecognizable in comparison with the days at the trailer. At one point, he had even started playing the guitar and teaching the children how to make some chords. The stress from too much work seems to have a very bad effect on him, I can only wish him to find a better life balance with his new job.
Leo: I didn't know you guys could be teaching at the university, how came?
Orion: Well, it's because Silas studied a lot before coming to Sixam, unlike the rest of us. Actually, he even...
Claire: Ehi, what's happening down there?
I and Orion were having a very good time chatting like in the good old days, but we were abruptly interrupted by some troubles at the opposite end of the garden.
Claire: Ehi, sir, are you awake?
Leo: Don't worry, Orion and Silas can heal him in a sec...
My brother and Silas just shook their heads as they approached to heal that stranger wandering in their garden, apparently the complete removal of those plants and of their spores was taking longer than expected.
Should we have worried about it? As Orion and Silas reassured us that everything was under control, they also suggested to us to return back to our homes for today, and so we did.
Is that story really over? I'm starting to suspect that this is not really the case...
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