From Leo's diary
Claire took some time before giving her answer. Meanwhile, she also questioned Orion and Silas about the details that new secret and crazy plan they had been (evidently) involved with.
Claire: Do you want to tell me you've been working on it since before the TV broadcast interruption, when Mr M. said for the first time that he wanted to send us here?
Silas: To be precise, Celine had started devising the plan around the time we left Sixam. We just started to put it in place for real after that TV announcement.
Orion: We renamed it plan C., we had to work hard to get everything ready on time.
Claire silently listened to their explanation, trying not to let her exasperation come out. How many times did she tell them not to be so reckless?
Silas: We'veve never really considered the idea of putting plan C in place, it would have been too difficult to bring everyone here under normal conditions, but now ...
Orion: ... but now that idiot of Mr M. decided to kindly organise the mass transfer for us, we just couldn't waste such an opportunity!
Claire: And this also explains why you didn't protest for what was happening to us, it was simply convenient for your plan...
The work they had done was evident to everyone, they had used the matter recomposer at full regime to make all the buildings and infrastructures that would have been indispensable for everyone's life on our arrival. They were right, technically it was possible to set up an autonomous and functioning Country. But at which price?
Claire: Do you realize that if we proclaimed our independence, many other Nations would be too afraid of us to keep any diplomatic channel open? It would backfire, it would mean cutting all the connections with the humans!
Orion: That's the point!
Claire: But...
Silas: (Bitter) Considering how humans were treating us, cutting our connections with them is not necessarily a bad thing. We are perfectly capable of getting by on our own, even better than they do. And I'm sure many other sixamians would agree with me.
Orion: And what could humans do to stop us, declarea war? They should be at least intelligent enough to realize they have no chance of winning! Thinking about this, we've just started working on laser rifles the Ministry of Defence doesn't know anything about that...
Claire: We cannot point a gun at anyone trying to get close, it would be unacceptable!
Orion: Why, what Mr M. is doing segregating us in a desert is acceptable instead?
Claire: No, but we cannot lower ourselves to their level either! We will have to work to put together a country where everyone can feel accepted, after all this is what we lacked before, isn't it?
Silas: You stopped using the conditional, does it mean that you have decided to accept?
Claire: ... maybe. I mean, of course I want to help other sixamians, both if vote in favour of independence and if the referendum didn't pass. But, if this new Country was ever a thing, I think it would be fairer to let them choose who will govern them with another election. I don't want to become the "New Sixam's dictator", you know?
It was less than a month after our arrival in the Strangerville region when, without even trying to hide it from Mr M., our televisions began broadcasting information regarding the new referendum on the foundation of New Sixam and the election of the possible President.
Postman: Horray for New Sixam!
In some ways it is strange to live surrounded by other aliens only, but we also feel more united than we ever did. The more time passes, the more the outcome of the referendum seems obvious. And Mr M. knows it too.
Just the day before the elections, we celebrated Claire's birthday.
She is a bit worried, she claims to feel a bit like a granny at this point (and she also admitted with me that she's a bit afraid that people will prefer a younger candidate instead of her). We all reminded her she hasn't anything to worry about, surely everyone will remember all her past efforts, but she can't avoid feel a bit nervous about the incoming election.
So we all sat together on the sofa again, watching together the referendum and election results unfolding before our eyes on TV.
The referendum for the creation of New Sixam was won by stratospheric margins, no one seemed to want to be a small province within a Country that hated us. Claire instead won the presidential elections with 63.5% of the votes, as predicted everyone still remembered all the commitment she had shown in previous years and many had decided to trust her.
Mr M. appeared in trouble as never before at the time of the declaration of independence of New Sixam, but he was too afraid of our possible adverse reaction to do anything. Among us the first day of New Sixam was therefore generally remembered as a great celebration, full of confidence and hope for a better future.
Claire: (to herself) Surely life is strange sometimes, until a few months ago I would have never imagined making such a speech...
Cameramen: (wispering) Live in 5, 4, 3, 2 ...
Claire: Good evening to you all, citizens of New Sixam! Thank you for the trust you have placed in me, I promise to give my best to lead this Country!
A brief applause from the crowd followed her opening words, but silence settled again quickly. Everyone seemed to be eager to hear what their new President had to say, so Claire took her notes and started saying:
Claire: The move to Nuova Sixam was a difficult step for us all. We were forced to leave our homes behind, as well as many people who were important to us, to come here altogether. However, despite everything, I see so a lot of hope in the eyes of those around me, the hope of a better future. Future for which we need the commitment of all of you, a commitment that you are now demonstrating with your extraordinary daily efforts in building this new Country!
No one spoke, nor among the small crowd in front of her nor at home. Everyone noticed Claire's expression turning serious and, the same way I did when following to her rehearsal last night, listened even more carefully to what she was about to say.
Claire: .... however, besides this, there is also more that I see in the streets. There is distrust of humans, even hatred for them. But indiscriminate hatred cannot be one of the pillars on which we can build New Sixam.
A general murmur went through the crowd, but Claire didn't expect anything different and just ignored it. Instead she took another piece of paper, and then resumed her speech.
Claire: I am sure many of you could feel perplexed by hearing me saying so, which is why I have brought here a short essay on the subject to explain my point. It was written a few days ago by my son when, at the university, he was asked: how do you think relationships with human beings could evolve in the future?
The general perplexity grew more and more, but Claire seemed to know what she was doing.
Claire: Maybe not all of you know, but before we reached planet Earth our species was very different from how we are now. No one had two arms, two legs and a head. All our ancestors knew was to think aseptically and rationally, to the point they considered it ethical to conquer and raid planets following only their necessities. It was by introducing human genome into ours and by living on this Planet that we became what we are today. Humans taught us what now appears normal to us: from them we learnt what friendship, family and even love mean.
Now the audience followed her in silence and so we did, captivated.
Claire: However, we have learnt so much from the humans that we also assimilate some of their flaws, such as the fear of what is different, or of the unknown. Which, down deep, are the real reasons that led us to this situation.
Claire: (on TV) We Sixamians have lived for generations scattered in very different places, losing contact with the traditions and history of our ancestors who lived before our arrival on Earth. We are people without traditions and without history, but now we have the opportunity to write our own, our history. And we are also given a chance to ensure that future generations will be proud of the choices we will make!
Lyra: What a difficult speech ...
Luke: (stunned) Did she really read my anthropology essay during her inaugural speech!?
Leo: Your mom was going crazy writing her speech, but then she found your essay lying around the house. After she read it she said that it was just what she was trying to say.
Luke: But why not tell me?
Leo: Partly because she didn't have the time to, partly for surprise effect.
And this is how our lives in New Sixam began. As the President's family, on top of that.
Claire is definitively busy with very important matters right now, while the rest of us are continuing to deal with our much more ordinary life.
For starters, I'm now working at the local police station.
This place reminds me of something my mom told me when, immediately after we moved to Windenburg, she commented in amazement that all the hospitals in the country looked absolutely identical to each other. At this moment I have the impression that the same could also be said of police stations as well.
In any case, for the moment the situation seems to be relatively calm. Above all, we are mostly dealing with minor troubles and skirmishes that resulted from people struggling with the stressful situation we were obliged to pass through.
Lyra, on the other hand, is still a student at the local high school and continues to spend time with the group of local cheerleaders. Her two best friends, Ariana and Misty, also attend the same school and entered the local cheerleaders' team as well. Compared to the rest of us, she may be the one who lost the least by coming here.
Luke, on the other hand...
.... Luke continues to study at the local university, he's approaching the end of the first semester. His essay Claire read during her speech was not an exception, he is working hard and the results are evident to everyone. But we can't avoid being worried about him, apart from meals and his mom's public talks on TV he's always locked into his room and refuses to talk with us.
He seems so lonely and sad...
We all know about Serena and how they decided to break up just before we moved here. He strongly denies it, but at this point it seems clear to everyone that he is continuing to think about her.
We often try to knock at his door, proposing to spend some time together or to try to cheer him up a bit, but he never answers us. Probably his wound is still too fresh for him to ignore it and just go on. I know it will take time for him to feel better, but I can't wait to see him recovering either, it's so heartbreaking to us being unable to help him as it is now...
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§HermioneSims§ corner:
I'm writing this here because I feel like I'm interrupting these chapters too often to talk about the cats, but I have to share with you the sad news of Freddy's demise.
I've shamefully ignored him during his last few days, which is also why I decided to stop keeping replacing cats at the pace I've followed up to now.
It was a very sad moment, but at least the Reaper seems to have enjoyed his meeting with the cheerleaders... I suspect he wanted to participate too, what do you think?
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