Summary of generation 4

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From Luke's diary

Dear diary, now that I officially reached an old age and accumulated more experience and wisdom, I think it could have come the time to write an autobiography. I think that I will use these pages to write down a draft containing the main ideas, and then decide whether to really proceed with the writing of a whole book or not. Thus, here I go.

My name is Luke Miller, and I was born about 70 years ago in Windenburg, one of the towns in the northern area of the Sim Nation, not far from Sim City.

The country we used to live in has always been ruled by humans and, even if we sixamians had been peacefully living alongside them for decades, they kept showing suspicion towards us and applying discriminatory politics against us. They kept calling us aliens, just like any other foreign species, pointing their finger towards our telepathy and our ability to disguise ourselves into a human appearance whilst ignoring that, in fact, we are just people just like them. 

To us, that unfair situation used to be the norm. Many sixamians lived a very cautious life, carefully following all the rules. They hoped that with their good action they could gain the humans' trust, without realising that that same trust should have been an undeniable right for everyone. Many others were just tired and frustrated by the unfair treatment instead, and stopped caring about the humans' prejudices and their restrictive rules and laws.

I would say that my family belonged to the first category. Well, most of it at least, I'm not yet fully sure about uncle Orion and uncle Silas.

My parents always had a very strong sense of justice and moral, my father worked as a police officer and my mother was a politician. They had to work twice as hard as their colleagues just to gain the opportunity to show what they were really capable of, yet they always seemed very proud of their achievements. Also, they always demanded the same attitude to both me and my little sister Lyra.

There had always been another oddity which puzzled me since when I was a little kid: why didn't anyone know much about the past of sixamians, why was everyone resigned to that present and wasn't wondering what brought us to that situation?

We all knew that a few generations back the sixamians tried to conquer this planet by employing despicable methods, they planned to replace the human population to make room for their people after learning that their planet was about to became uninhabitable. 

Humans seemed to fear us because they gave for granted that we had to be the same as our ancestors, but was that really the case? From the little I knew back then, I couldn't feel any resemblance to those scary alien invaders, to be honest...

Things started to become a bit clearer when my uncles finally decided to share with me the files from the old archives they found during their years on Sixam, during which they tried with all means to retrieve the knowledge and technology left by the original sixamians before abandoning the place.

The answer to many of my concerns was actually quite easy: the reason why I felt to resemble humans more than those old sixamians people feared was that, indeed, we really were more similar than different.

From a biological standpoint, the original sixamians had to genetically engineer the sixamians who would have moved on Earth with the aim of maximising their odds to survive in the new environment. The description of the original sixamians are vague and fragmented, but what's clear is that they weren't at all like us. Actually, they had to introduce more than the 90% of human genes in our genetic makeup, meaning that the residual resemblance with our sixamian ancestors is limited to the colorful skin, able to mutate into a different appearance, our telepathic abilities, and our peculiar glow associated with strong emotions. But was that really everything separating us from them, or was there some more subtle difference I wasn't aware of?

Long story short, I was fascinated by all what I was learning, and I was not the only person curious of this topic.

In our high school, there were several people at our age who didn't seem to care much about the fact that some of their schoolmates were sixamians, we were just some other kids who grew up alongside them. Among them, there were also a few who seemed to be sincerely curious about us, and not scared at all. And the greatest example was Serena. 

We always talked a lot, mostly comparing how it was to be a human and a sixamian. Reading it on my uncles reports was one thing, but with her I could test those notions to another level. Sharing all our doubts and thoughts, we soon realised how our brains didn't seem to work that differently after all. The genetic engineering process our ancestors went through gave us a brain wired to think and reason just like humans do, and all those decades spent living on Earth alongside humans did the rest: we could actually feel emotions just the way humans did, we could create strong bonds with others just like them, and we had the same ethical values as well.

Talking together we soon realised that there wasn't anything substantially different between humans and sixamians. All the divides we observed every day seemed to derive from societal constructs and preconceptions more than anything else.

I was captivated by those afternoons spent talking together with her, but I can't say that it was purely for the sake of the conversation. Actually, I have to admit I had quite a crush on her at the time, we also dated for a while.

Infatuation made me naive, I guess, because for a moment I almost hoped that the situation could have improved after all, that with time humans and sixamians could have learned how to live together without the need to set boundaries between them. But I was wrong, so terribly wrong...

My mother was candidate to the Presidency of the Sim Nation at the time, against a conservative opponent known as Mr M. She wasn't really surprised when learning that she had lost the election by several points, yet not even her could expect her opponent to propose such laws. 

At home we weren't really exposed to it, we were wealthy enough to have a comfortable life far away from the troubles of the outskirts of Sim City, where the protests among the sixamian inhabitants frustrated for the unfair conditions they were obliged to live in were causing discontent also among humans.

The new President, Mr M., always openly pointed at us as a threat to the stability of their society, and those protests were just the pretext he needed to act. He claimed that a peaceful coexistence with us was impossible, and that "in the best interest of everyone, aliens should have moved to a province dedicated to them". Deportation, this is how this would be called in a civil country, but so that it was about us very few people protested. 

There wasn't a way to avoid the new law without starting a conflict, and so we couldn't do anything other than obey and move to the new houses assigned to us, in the desertic area surrounding the town of Strangerville.

At the time I was surprised by how smoothly everything went, but then I learned about the plans of some underground sixamian groups promising that this could have been our chance to gain the independence and rights that we always deserved. 

There was a referendum among us, with which it was decided to demand the independence of our province from the rest of the country. The new country was then named New Sixam, and I had the chance to follow its genesis closely as my mother was concurrently elected as the first President.

At that point, we would have had a chance to seek for revenge for all we had to endure when living in the Sim Nation. We could have closed all our relations with humans, forbidding any form of contact with them, or we could even have started a war against them.

But I'm very proud of what my mother decided to do, when setting the foundation of this new Country. In her opening speech, in fact, she decided to try to break the cycle of hatred, reminding everyone of how the generalised suspicion and grudges against a whole species were exactly what led us to the current situation. Thus, she decided to avoid the isolation, and kept open the diplomatic channels with the other countries.

Yet, foreign leaders didn't seem to be as far-sighted. The infamous sixamian technology returned to be a threat to them, so no one dared to attack us. However, none of them ever accepted any dialogue with us either, later intel we collected then showed how they even mobilised their troops to guard the borders. They didn't trust us yet, and a simple speech would not have changed that after what had just happened. 

So the months passed, and we were more and more isolated from the humans. What could have been the long-term consequences, I wondered? Could the relationship with humans ever be retrieved, or from that moment on that would have been our permanent geopolitical asset?

Moving to New Sixam was a particularly difficult moment for me. I was starting to organize my notes about all that I learned about sixamians from my uncles' reports and my further research, I had just entered a good university to study history and anthropology, there was Serena, and the day after everything was gone. 

Sure, now I realize that my relationship with her was not that solid, with time it would have been over anyway. And I could just enrol into the university that just opened in New Sixam and keep studying the subjects I liked. Yet, possibly because my interest in study was our history and the relationships with humans, the situation felt particularly unsatisfactory to me. 

I spent a quite long period mostly closed into my room, studying for my courses and researching on my own, but I wouldn't say I was happy. To be honest, I suspect I could actually have fallen into depression at the time. And, sometimes, I find myself thinking that, if I didn't get any help, I could still be there to this day.

And this is when I met Misty.

Well, it's not like we didn't know each other before. She was a close friend of both my sister Lyra and Serena, after all. Yet, we had never really talked much before. 

She was (actually, she still is) a very energetic and genuinely good person, and day after day she managed to bring me out of the cave where I was trying to hide. We talked a lot, she was the first one reading my drafts and also the one convincing me to publish my first book, the one about the history of Sixamians. 

She is such a frank person that it felt so easy to speak with her about everything. We didn't just talk about politics, work or books, but also all those little things that made us being, well... ourselves. It is hard to describe, but in those years I realised that the new life in New Sixam didn't seem so scary anymore, if I could make that journey together with her. And also that, I don't know exactly when, I fell in love with her.

We moved in together soon after in one of the houses quickly built upon the mass transfer to New Sixam to accommodate all its inhabitants, we were almost 30 and with very little money at the time.

Everyday life had been quite rough in those first years in New Sixam. Many infrastructures were still in construction, there weren't many job opportunities, and many households were very crowded because the constructors couldn't keep up with the building requests. Yet, the situation was improving day after day, and optimism for our future was predominating among people.

We didn't think that the situation was perfect, but we were inclined to look at the positive side of the situation as well. Soon after, we decided that it was about the time to start a family of our own.

Then, our daughters were born, Cassy and Venus. They have always been very smart and sociable, we couldn't be prouder of them. They also had a way more carefree life than any of us could have ever imagined before and, above all, we felt so much relief when our everyday life confirmed that they wouldn't have had to endure all the hardships we passed through it our youth. 

They were just two little kids who only have to worry about what toy to play with next and to learn, just like childhood is supposed to be. 

In brief, by living in New Sixam it was so easy to forget about the place we came from and all the discrimination we faced in there. Yet, probably also because of the careers I and Misty chose, for us it was almost impossible to forget the greater scheme of things.

I started to work at the local library soon after we moved in our house, and I kept to use every free moment in my day to research data and write new books. If my first book was limited to tell the story of our ancestors, from the few information I could collect about their life on Sixam to their attempts to conquer the Earth, my second draft was about the evolution of our relationship with humans, from the day when sixamians removed their disguises for the first time to the foundation of New Sixam.

And, if possible, Misty was even more involved in the strained diplomatic relations between us and the humans than I was. 

She entered the military soon after we moved to New Sixam, it was one of the few jobs providing a good wage and offering many job places at the time. In the beginning, they were mostly involved in the construction of basic infrastructures such as hospitals and schools. She liked her job, albeit the very harsh schedule she was very proud of the help she was giving to the community with her work.

Then, promotion after promotion, she went closer and closer to the real deal of the New Sixam's army operation.

We never aimed to attack other Nations and proclaimed our availability to open diplomatic relationships with them, but we weren't so naive either. We knew that many human nations kept a close eye on everything we did in fear of an attack and moved their troupes to be able to defend themselves in case of attack, and in response we just did the same.

There never was any open hostility between us, but the secret service activity was fervent. And, soon enough, Misty was involved too.

She had just been promoted as a secret services agent, when the fallen airplane was discovered.

Misty had to work very hard to investigate the accident. A couple of fake soldiers were presidiating the wrecked plane, by intercepting their conversations Misty and her colleague quickly found out that they were spies coming from the Sim Nation, they didn't considered the force field defending New Sixam and their aircraft had fallen.

Hybrids were the only people with some sixamian blood who were allowed to remain in the Sim Nation, as they didn't have anything different from humans other than their skin color, yet many of them decided to move out together with us. This meant that they were the only ones who could move around both the Sim Nation and New Sixam without drawing any attention to them. And this made them the perfect spies.

Misty worked very hard for months to understand their motives. Apparently, the Sim Nation was wary of the potentialities of our technologies, and wanted to steal enough blueprints to be able to copy them in their labs. Teleport, matter recomposition, advance medical practice... These are extremely versatile and advanced technologies, whoever had access to it would have been one step ahead of everyone else. And they didn't want to lose their dominant position in favour of that annoying little country of New Sixam.

Everything seemed to be going according to Misty's plan, they found out all they needed and could proceed with arresting the foreign spies, but then the unexpected happened.

At the same time, those spies had managed to intercept the communications between Misty and her superiors, getting important intels about the organization of our army, and they also managed to run away before being captured. The fault fell on Misty, who was then demoted to troops trainer again. 

On the one hand I was relieved, her job had been so dangerous for months and she had been removed from that position before getting injured, or worse. Yet, I could fully understand her frustration as well. Her job was fundamental to maintain the stability of our country, she gave her best for months and that wasn't enough. Everyone would have been humiliated in such a situation, and I and the girls did our best to try to cheer her up a bit. 

Also, after this event, we found ourselves reasoning about the absurdity of our relationship with humans. The separation between New Sixam and the Sim Nation, the complete closure of the dialogue, all those spies trying to gather intel on us... Those were all consequences of previous events, but which were the original causes of such  a situation?

My second book had been on the book stores shelves for a while, I had to reason a lot on that question to finish it. And, after all that time, I thought to have find my answer.

I thought that the only way to move the situation would have been to act on the foundations of that divide. And, after so much time, both I and Misty thought that the time had come act. Even if that meant to break a few rules.

We took my old great-grandfather teleport machine prototype, we wore a human disguise, and we went to Sim City to meet with an old friend we were sure would have listened to us. 

Serena seemed just as frustrated as we were about the situation, and explained to us about how the local propaganda kept telling everyone how dangerous we were, and how important it was to be cautious towards a thread as the New Sixam country could be for them. 

Also, we agreed on a plan of action. As simple as it can seem, it was evident to us all that the reason why human feared us so much was a complete ignorance about us sixamians. So, we decided to fight ignorance with knowledge, and I handed my books to Serena so that she could try to publish them also among humans. 

So many things could have gone wrong, but we were lucky instead. There were more humans interested in learning about us than their government wished for, and in a few years both my books were widely read also all around the Sim Nation.

Serena visited us in New Sixam a few times, showing to her fellow citizens how similar and normal life was among us. 

At that point more and more humans were following the information she was sharing, and the fear towards us was being slowly replaced by curiosity. Also, human tourists are becoming more and more common as I write. All these changes are putting a lot of pressure on their government, we expect them to open some sort of diplomatic channel with us soon enough.

Meanwhile, I became old and my beloved daughters are adults already, they are about to move out to college. 

Now it's the turn of their generation to continue from where we left, they will be the ones to decide which direction to take regarding the relations with the rest of the nations of this planet from now on. 

They have lived comfortable lives in New Sixam and don't really know of the treatment we received at their age. To be honest, I have the impression that they mostly consider the Sim Nation as the boring and backward neighbour country. Yet, I think to have taught Venus and Carry well, I'm sure they won't turn their back to anyone just because they may look different or have a slightly different culture. 

I have hope in them, and I'm sure that they will be able to do great things from now on.

From now on, my dear diary, I don't think I will be writing as often anymore. My life is becoming so calm right now, it would just be a boring report of normal everyday life. Yet, I saw that both my daughters still spend a lot of time writing their diaries. So, if any historian ever found this diary and was curious about what happens next, I suggest them to look for their diaries next. They are very ambitious girls, I'm sure that their diaries will be filled with a lot of great achievements worth being read.

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