by Sarah Carter
Xander jumps into the conversation. “We were floored by what we saw. Humans were nice. It wasn’t what we had expected. We thought we would have to come out fighting. The only aggression we have had was from the Neturu because we were afraid The Collector sent them. We didn’t suspect the council. What we were taught…isn’t anything close to the truth.”
“We stole some books on history from a book store,” Ariel says. “We wanted to know the truth.”
“I picked up a ton of magazines,” Aurora adds on. “Everything from parenting, to fashion, to gossip, to science. It was so enthralling.”
“The first month we did nothing but hide out and read. It’s so foreign. All of it,” Xander states. “You have no idea what we have been through. What we have been told. To come out into a world that is completely alien to us…”
Claire leans in over the table. “Well, we are aliens,” she whispers.
Xander laughs, “But we are in more ways than just one. Like your house, we couldn’t have imagined a place that nice. We are used to metal and the minimum for accommodations.”
“Our room is so beautiful,” Aurora sighs. “I can’t wait to fall asleep in there and then wake up to the sun shining.”
“Umm, those curtains will be closed and if you wake me up to look at the sun, I will kick your ass Aurora,” Ariel promises.
Aurora scoffs and waves her hand at her sister. “We all have class in the morning,” Claire says. “I need to go to this one.”
“We are going to be left by ourselves!” Aurora gasps. “What if The Collector comes? What are we going to do?”
Damien puts his hand on her. “Don’t worry. I will have more guards put around the house. Nothing will get to you.”
“I want Claire,” Aurora says. “She’s scary.”
“Rar!” Claire playfully gestures. Aurora glares at her. “Listen. My class is only an hour and a half. I will sit Alex in front of your door. He will take care of you.”
“Is he a fighter?”
“One of the best,” Damien replies. “He’s part of an elite fighting force within the guard. He also went through a year of training. He is quick and very skilled. His aim with our guns is extraordinary. Plus, Claire has a communicator implanted in her. We will be able to contact her if something goes south.”
“South? What? Why would we go south?”
“It’s a saying. If anything goes wrong, she will be notified. Don’t worry Aurora. You are very important and will be protected.”
Seeming to relax a little, Aurora says, “That’s good to know.”
“So, on that note, get Alex here,” Claire states, looking at Damien.
“He will be here within an hour,” Damien replies, taking out his phone.
“So, Kayla, Jackson, tell us how you met,” Ariel says, before taking a drink of soda.
Jackson bursts out laughing. Damien groans, “Oh great, here we go…” Fifteen minutes later, he is scowling. “You can stop laughing now,” Damien draws out.
“You poor man,” Xander laughs.
“Listen, they were meant to be together and if none of that happened, I wouldn’t have been in the right mind frame when I met Claire. I would have just tried to get into her pants.”
Claire smiles. “Little do I know, that has been your ploy this whole time. Oh, baby, let me be romantic and say I love you…”
“Yes darling,” Damien chuckles. “You have found me out and now my plan has backfired and I am stuck with you.”
“You’re what! Oh, okay, fine, why don’t I talk to one of the hundreds of guys that check me out every day? I bet I could get some phone numbers. Better yet, I will get Corey’s phone number.”
All the humor drains from Damien’s face. “Who’s Corey?” Xander asks.
“Corey Jefferson,” Claire explains. “The youngest son to one of the four families. He goes here. He’s cute I guess, but that doesn’t matter because he has a big crush on me. It drives Damien nuts. We haven’t completely come out publicly, so Corey hits on me every time Damien isn’t around. So, that being said, I’m going to go hunt him down. See if he wants to go on a date…”
“Knock it off Claire,” Damien growls. “I hate that punk. The way he looks at you…it makes me want to punch him in the face…hard.”
“Well, you are the son of the merjyet line. If anyone can get away with it, it’d be you,” Xander notes.
Shaking her head, Claire says, “No, because then it would end up in a fist fight and if Corey gave Damien one bruise, I’d step in and that wouldn’t be pretty.”
“I can handle my own,” Damien scoffs. “I don’t need you coming in on a white horse.”
“Wait,” Aurora interjects. “Why would there be a horse there?”
“I’m sorry again, it’s just another saying,” Damien answers.
She shakes her head. "These are the things that will make us stick out. How would I have a conversation with the waitress if I have no idea what she's talking about. How are we ever going to fit in? This sucks so badly."
"We will educate you as quickly as we can," Claire assures her. "You need to watch a lot of movies and shows. The sayings will be there. You just need to dive into culture."
"Well, we have been trying to do that as much as possible. We have been reading whatever we can get our hands on. Then we talk about it. We want to learn more. We want to know all of it."
"I have all my old textbooks," Damien says. "You can look through them. We have a lot of resources for you. Don’t worry, you will learn fast.”
Xander sighs and says, “You know, it’s the younger kids that I worry about. They aren’t old enough to understand. It will be a shock to them.”
“Once they are acclimated we will find them good families to go to. We will take care of them. We will take care of all of you. I promise. The council will do whatever it takes to make you happy, because that is what you deserve, happiness.”
“We have never known true happiness,” Ariel whispers. “I mean, even in our best times, the worst was looming in the background. When are we going to be beaten next? When are the next drills that we get pushed so hard you feel like you want to die? That was our life. During down time we could be together, but the kids didn’t really have that many toys. They weren’t allowed to play outside. Some of them have never seen the sun. Can you imagine pulling them out of there? How scary that is going to be to them.”
“I will contact to Dr. Galliger to gather our best therapists and come up with a game plan, so we are ready as soon as we get them.” Damien pulls out his phone. “I will actually message him now.”
“How far off is our psychology from humans?” Aurora asks.
He shrugs, “That’s a tough question. We are by far a more advanced race. Our intellect is much higher. We develop much faster also. I mean, we are all roughly around the same age, but compared to humans we are in our mid-twenties. Why it’s not out of the norm for us to be talking about marriage. We differ than them. Why are you asking?”
“That’s something I would love to do if I can’t be a super hero,” Aurora states. “I would like be a counselor…for us, for the…” She bends over and whispers, “Neturu.”
“That is something definitely achievable,” Claire says. “Listen, my mom is one of the top historians, I can ask her to send some material for you to read. She has some stuff that you can start off with.”
“I know a lot about the Neturu,” she replies. “It’s the science behind it.”
“Maybe you should still read up a little bit,” Claire suggests. “We don’t know if what you were taught was true.”
Xander finally interjects, “Kind of like how you are off about the Kenga.”
Damien looks at him. “We aren’t off. You are. They destroyed our planet.”
“They all weren’t on board with that,” Xander says. “There were Kenga who wanted to come with us and the council said no.”
“Says who?” Damien gasps.
“That’s what w
e were taught,” Xander replies. “Not only were the Kenga not so bad, some Neturu were married to them.”
Laughing, Damien says, “That’s preposterous. We can’t even mate.”
Raising an eyebrow, Xander counters, “Yes, we could. Like I said, the offspring didn’t live too long, but they could. We’ve seen video. Not them doing anything, but of their anatomy. We could and did.”
They stare at each other for a few seconds, with Damien’s eyebrows raised. “I think, as the future ruler of our species, that I would know if that were true. Top secret or not, I know nothing of those videos or ideas. Why would we hide that fact?”
“Because you forced Neturu to leave their loved ones behind.”
“Now, we did not do that,” Damien scoffs. “We wouldn’t separate families. Who did we leave behind? And how would anyone now-a-day know that? That was hundreds of years ago.”
Xander shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know. This is just what we were taught.”
“How would The Collector gotten ahold of videos? We lost them nearly 200 years ago. Last time I checked, no one is still alive from back then.”
“Don’t ask me. I’m just telling you what we saw,” Xander says, putting up his hands. “We were taught something completely different than you guys.”
Damien furrows his eyebrows and shakes his head. “This is preposterous. I would know something. Nothing is hidden from me.”
“So, you know every secret that there is?” Aurora asks, with a grin.
The corner turns up on Damien’s mouth. “For the most part yes. One, I am a council member and two, I’m going to be leading our race. I have access to every piece of information that we have.”
“Could you really tell us if our information was right?” Xander asks. “Wouldn’t that be a breach of some sort?”
He looks up to the ceiling. “You know, I guess you are right.”
“Because you could be lying to us right now. We could be telling the truth and you couldn’t say anything.”
Opening and then closing his mouth, Damien says, “That’s true, but I can promise you, I’m telling you the truth. We could not mate with the Kenga. Even if someone chose to marry one of them. There is no way for us to be together, so why be in that relationship?”
“They had the right parts,” Xander says. “We promise you that.”
“I will look into this, but I don’t know why we would lie about it.”
“Because you made all Kenga stay behind.”
“We are a peaceful race. We left so no one else would get hurt. Why would we alienate people? It doesn’t make sense.”
Aurora finally chimes in with, “The council may not be what you think it is.”
Damien gives her a dead pan stare. “Aurora, I am part of the council. I’ve been going to council meetings since I was 15. I am privileged to know everything. I think I know what the council is about.”
Xander replies, “What if the council isn’t what it used to be. Like you said, that was hundreds of years ago. None of those people are alive. Maybe things have changed. Maybe being around the human race has changed things.”
“We are a peaceful race. We have always been a peaceful race. We left so the planet could be saved.”
“Was it saved?” Kayla asks.
“What?” Damien replies, turning to her.
“Didn’t we leave anything behind to tell us if it died off or not? Wasn’t anyone curious?”
He shakes his head. “Not that I know of.”
“That seems weird.”
“What is with all this questioning? We don’t lie. The only thing we hide are top secret things that could cause damage.”
“See!” Xander says. “Right there. You hide things.”
His shoulders slump. “That’s not what I meant Xander.”
“But think about it. If the council back then thought it was important, they would have hidden it.”
Damien puts his hands out and says, “Why though?”
“Because,” Ariel interjects. “You made Kenga stay behind.”
“This is ridiculous,” Damien laughs. “How are we even here in this conversation? I would know about it, if any of it were true. I would honestly tell you if it were true. I don’t see it as something we would have to hide.”
“You don’t think you would have to hide that you broke up families.”
With a thud, Damien puts his head on the table and says, “Oh my god.”
“That had to hurt,” Claire whispers.
“We didn’t break up families and we aren’t hiding anything. I promise you that. I don’t know what you saw, but it wasn’t real. Think of all we can do. Creating a fake video is something a 12 year old Neturu can do.”
A heavy pause sits in the air, and then Aurora says, “That’s true.”
“See,” Damien exclaims sitting up. “I promise you, we are a peaceful species.”
Ariel shifts in her chair. “I’m not totally convinced.”
“Well, maybe one day I can prove it,” Damien replies.
Barely whispering, Xander says, “Maybe we can, too.”
Damien looks at him, but nothing else is said. Everyone makes idle chit chat about the history of humans. Xander and the girls eat up every word.
Finally, the waitress shows up. She smiles Aurora, and Aurora bashfully smirks. That makes Xander smile. He always felt bad that Aurora had no one to connect with. Now, there’s hope for her.
The waitress starts to put the wings down. “Wings,” Aurora exclaims.
“Yeah,” Claire replies. “Be careful. Some of them are really hot.”
“That’s the whole point.”
Claire looks at the waitress. “Can we have a pitcher of water and a glass of milk?”
“Sure.” The waitress puts all the wings down. “I will get that for you. Your other food should be up momentarily.”
“Thanks.”
Aurora leans over. “What’s the milk for?”
“In case you try them and it’s like a nuclear meltdown in your mouth. You’ll be happy you have a glass of milk,” Claire says.
“Whatever, watch me,” Aurora states, grabbing a wing.
“We’re watching. Don’t worry,” Claire replies, hesitantly.
Grinning, Aurora takes a bite and chews. Quickly swallowing, she exclaims, “Oh my god.”
“Here,” Claire says, grabbing a glass of water. “Drink this.”
“No way! These are awesome.” Everyone stares at her as she quickly eats the wing.
Jackson grimaces. “I can’t even eat those.”
“You can’t because you are a sissy,” Kayla states. “I can eat them.” She grabs one and takes a bite.
“Me, too,” Claire says. “What a pansy.”
“I will eat the honey BBQ. Those are my favorite,” Damien says, grabbing one.
“Pansy,” Claire coughs.
The waitress comes back with another waiter. “Here’s your food.” She hands it all out. The waitress looks at Aurora. “Enjoy.” She grins and walks away. Aurora watches her go a little slack jawed.
Ariel looks down at her food. “Forget the wings. I want to eat this entire bowl of whatever this is.”
Claire says, “It’s mac-n-cheese with chicken, bacon and lots of veggies. It’s awesome. I’ve had it before.”
“Me too,” Kayla chimes in.
With raised eyebrows, Ariel takes a bite. She swallows and says, “This can’t be real. We never had anything like this before.”
“Put some on a plate for me,” Aurora demands.
“It’s so good,” Ariel says. “So much flavor.” She puts some on a tiny plate and hands it to Aurora.
Aurora eats it and moans. “Oh my god, you aren’t kidding.”
“Damien needs to make you his mac-n-cheese. He puts lobster and shrimp into it,” Kayla says, before taking a bite of her burger. “This is so bad for me, but so good,” she chews.
“I know the lobster and shrimp sound nasty but it melts
in your mouth,” Claire says.
“I will cook you anything you want to try,” Damien declares.
Pointing to her bowl, Ariel says, “I want to concentrate on this. It’s outstanding.”
Xander looks down at his steak. “This looks good.”
“They have good steak here, try it,” Damien urges.
Cutting off a piece, Xander chews. The flavor is like a rush in his mouth. He has never had anything like steak. “It’s incredible. This is cow?” That’s when they see a girl give Xander a weird look as she walks by.
“Yeah, so are the burgers. Have you never had beef before?” Damien asks, before taking a drink.
He shakes his head. “No, we only had chicken or fish. Sometimes kinta.”
Suddenly, Damien spits his water out in shock. “What do you mean you had kinta?” Damien gasps.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Xander says, “Kinta, kind of like chicken.”
“There are no more kintas alive,” Damien exclaims. “That’s impossible.”
With a shrug of his shoulders, Xander replies, “It’s darker than chicken, richer flavor.”
“The last one died fifty years ago. They stopped reproducing. They’re extinct. How do you have kinta meat?”
“No clue.”
“This gets more and more bizarre,” Damien mumbles, shaking his head.
Xander shrugs his shoulders again. “I didn’t realize they were gone.”
Aurora pipes in. “I’ve seen them. We had a bunch of them, like a lot. That’s how we ate the meat. They are bird like. Blue with red tipped feathers. Bigger than an eagle, but more like a chicken. I can turn into one later and show you.”
“You can do that?” Damien replies.
She nods.
“How do you have the equipment to…produce you and have kintas on top of it? It makes no sense. How would we know about this person? They have to have some education. We have to have some record of them. People aren’t just born that way, that smart. How do our scientists not know how to do any of this but some random person does? It makes absolutely no sense.”