I didn’t ask to do this. I wasn’t planning on going to Earth on a special mission that might save my entire species. You know, no pressure. It’s not even like humans know we exist. Contrary to popular belief, we’re not green with antennas and big black eyes. We may be called aliens, but we’re more similar to humans than they think. We actually share ancestors, but the U.S. government keeps us a secret in order to “protect the citizens,” as if our existence immediately puts them in danger. Everyone else who was aware of our existence has died and didn’t bother to pass on the secret.
The map to Earth is kind of useless because of how easy it is to spot with all of the lights. This expedition is already boring with all of this space travel, and I doubt that it will get more interesting. I start to think about what Earth might be like based on what I’ve learned from the ancient texts that my ancestors brought to Cryotheon. I wonder how different it will be compared to how it was one hundred years ago. I refocus on my flying now that I’m getting closer to Earth, hoping this trip will end soon.
My target landing place is on the outskirts of New York City, purely because of how populated it is. I slow down the ship to prepare for landing while taking in everything around me. Hoping the cloaking device is hiding the ship, I land and turn off the ship. I brace myself for everything that’s about to happen by thinking about how much good I’m doing by just trying to act like a human. Can’t be that hard, right?
Exiting the ship, I’m immediately bombarded with a cacophony of sounds from people and what seems like spaceships on the ground. I try to imitate the humans, but I think I’m failing due to the number of strange looks I’m getting.
I look around, trying to decide where to go before it’s time to go back to my ship. The most intriguing place is something called Starbucks. I have no idea what that can mean, and I head inside and see a lot of people with some kind of drink. There is also a counter with a sign with words that I have never seen before. I slink into a chair, hoping to blend in. I look around, watching the humans to think of a plan. A lot of people are talking to each other, but then I notice someone sitting all alone, looking like he’s hoping someone will come over and talk to him.
I shuffle over, hoping I’m not misunderstanding the situation and totally making a fool out of myself. I slip into the chair across from him and try to start a conversation. “So, you like the ice that’s in your drink?” I ask, realizing that I sound like a total idiot who hasn’t spent a day on Earth. “That was a stupid thing to say. I mean, uh, hi, I’m Zephr—I mean Zeke. I’m Zeke,” I say, trying to save myself, but I fail pretty hard.
I start to leave when he reaches out and lightly brushes my arm. “I’m Troy. It’s nice to meet you, Zeke. And yes, I like the ice in my drink,” he replies with a laugh. I get fully back into my seat, accidentally knocking over Troy’s drink and spilling it all over the table.
“Oh my god. I am so sorry. I would offer to buy you another one, but I don’t have any money, and I don’t get out often and see other people, and I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” I babble on. I wish my mouth would stop, but no matter how hard I try, it doesn’t work.
“Hey, it’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to knock over my drink, and I get it. It’s hard to talk to people, but I don’t want it to be hard with me.” Troy reaches over the table to touch my hand. His touch lingers until he pulls away, blushing. “And besides, I also don’t get out often, but I think you’re pretty cool,” he murmurs.
“Okay, well, I should probably get going and head back to my sh—I mean, my home. Yeah, my home. But, uh, it was nice to meet you, Troy,” I stammer. Standing up, I collide with Troy in an instant. I stumble over my feet, trying to grab the table to stabilize myself. When we’re both fully steady, I look up and meet his steel-blue eyes. Muttering something incoherent that I can’t even understand myself, I rush out of the cafe onto the busy sidewalk of the outside world, reminding me where I am and that I am not alone with that—well, I don’t know how to describe him. I try to remember the way back to my ship when I hear someone calling out to me. Part of me believes I’m hallucinating or that no one is looking for me, but I turn around expecting nothing. Absolutely flabbergasted, I’m face to face with that beautiful human being that I barely even know.
“I—you, uh, left something? Okay, I can’t even lie; I just wanted to see you again. If you don’t have any plans today, you could maybe hang out with me?” He rambles on, “I mean, like, you don’t have to, but—”
“I’d love to,” I interrupt, hoping I’m not messing this whole thing up.
“Okay. Cool, cool,” Troy replies, trying to suppress a smile, but failing miserably.
“We should probably decide what we’re doing so we can get out of the way,” I say, stepping out of the way of oncoming foot traffic.
We decide on trying to hit all of the big tourist attractions while also getting to know each other better. I try not to disclose much personal information in hopes of keeping my cover, but also contributing to the conversation. I learn his favorite place in the city is Grand Central Station. His favorite color is blue, and he’ll only talk to someone if spoken to. We ditch the idea of going to big tourist attractions in exchange for people-watching in Grand Central Station. We sit and observe everyone in silence.
Breaking the silence, Troy asks, “You know, we’ve been talking all day, but you haven’t told me much about yourself. Like, I don’t know why you’re here or where you come from, and whenever I try to ask you any kind of somewhat personal question, you try to deflect. You either ask me a completely different question or just pretend you didn’t hear me. I don’t care where you come from; if you’re ashamed of your past, I just want to know you.”
I look at him, truly look at him, while I try to understand what he said. He doesn’t care about where I’m from. “Okay. I’ll try to be better about this, but it’s going to be crazy and you’re not going to believe me. We should probably leave now so I can show you something before it’s too dark. And no matter how much I want to, I can’t risk telling you before we get there, okay?” I try to sound calm, but I don’t think it’s possible.
We walk toward my spaceship in silence. I try to plan how to say this, but there isn’t a good way to tell someone you’ve known for a day that you’re an alien. I stop us from going into view of the spaceship and pull him aside to a small, secluded outside cafe. “I figured it would be best to do this here, and before I freak out and run away. But, um, you’ll probably want to sit down for this,” I say while pulling out a chair.
“Okay,” he answers, short and sweet, as he takes a seat.
“I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out a good way to say this, but I’ve never had to do this before. Troy, I—I’m an alien, and my name is Zephron, not Zeke.” I search his face for any kind of reaction, but it’s blank. I stumble on before I lose any more confidence and say, “And believe me, I know I sound crazy, but I’m not from Earth. I’m not a human, even though my ancestors were. And if you don’t believe me and think I’m insane, then—”
“I believe you,” Troy interrupts, leaving a deafening silence. “I believe you. I agree that it sounds crazy, but my gut is telling me to trust you, and I do.”
I jump out of my seat and rush to his side to hug him and thank him profusely. “I mean, I have a bajillion questions, but we have time for that,” he insists while I sit back down, laughing. “And while we’re here being honest and truthful, I’m kind of freaking out about this whole thing. I mean, my whole life, it’s been said that there’s no such thing as aliens, and I started to believe them. Yet here I am, believing a guy that I just met today is an alien!” Rising, he continues stumbling through his words, mainly talking to himself to get his thoughts in order. “And it’s been a truly wonderful day, but I just never pictured this, you know? I mean, I thought that I was going crazy, developing feelings for this person that I met this morning and know nearly almost nothing about, and it’s all because he’s an alien!” He catches himself, realizing everything he said. Embarrassed, he starts to walk away.
“Wait! I, uh, I don’t think you’re crazy!” I shout, trying to make sure Troy heard me, but I think it’s too late. I run down the path, looking for any trace of him, and then I see him. He’s crouched over on the ground. My first thought is that he is looking at something, but then I realize he’s trying not to cry. I bolt to his side and try to comfort him, but I don’t know humans that well. “Hey, it’s okay. You can cry. I’ll admit I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I want to figure it out with you. I mean, of course, if you don’t mind—”
“I’d love that,” Troy responds, while wiping a tear off of his face.
“Okay, cool.” We walk to my ship in virtual silence. The rest of the night passes by in a blur. I wake up thinking that yesterday was a dream, but the guy curled up on my floor tells me otherwise. I decide to let him sleep, so I leave the ship to find something to do.
I try to think about what humans might like when I remember that food exists. I walk through the city looking for food that looks somewhat edible when I feel this kind of presence. Kind of like someone’s following. I’m going crazy; this is just what it’s like to be in a city, right? I walk into a dark, secluded space so I know that I’m not being followed. I turn to face the street, but before I can complete my circle, everything goes dark.
I wake up to lights shining brightly in my eyes. My head pounds while I try to center myself. I look around to try to figure out where I am, but I don’t recognize anything. I start to freak out once I realize I’m strapped to some sort of table when something catches my eye. Wait, not something, someone.
“Oh, good, you’re up,” says this strange man wearing all white, matching the room.
“Where am I? And who are you?”I try to shout to make myself sound threatening, but I tremble on each word.
“Those are two very good questions. You are in my lab, where I do all of my experiments, and I am Dr. Evans. You are here because last night I heard something questionable come from your mouth, and I would not be a good government employee if I just ignored it.”
“I’ve never seen you in my life! What do you mean you heard me say something questionable?”
“Oh, I know you’ve never seen me. If you did, well then we wouldn’t be in this predicament, now would we? Fine, you want to play dumb? Then tell me you have no idea what this is.” He pulls out some sort of tape, and then it starts playing. It’s my voice. It’s me from last night when I told Troy that I was an alien, and now the government knows.
“Where did you get that?” I yell, mustering all of the courage I have because there’s nothing else I can do.
“So, you’re not denying it? This part may have been easy, but, oh, it will get harder. I’ll be back.” Dr. Evans turns and leaves the room. It’s totally normal to freak out in a situation like this, right? I try to steady my breath, but it’s no use once I hear what’s coming from the other room. It sounds like some kind of motorized saw. My mind races with thoughts of what to do, and what is possible in this moment, and I know what I have to do. I have to accept my fate.
Trust me, it’s not what I want to do, but this is what’s best for my planet and all my family and friends back home. I have to do this. I will not break. I see Dr. Evans come back into view when I see someone behind him. I’m not able to fully process what happens when I hear this large clank. The doctor falls to the ground, and above him, I see Troy. He rushes over to my side, and I struggle to say “Wh-what are you doing here, and how did you find me?”
Untying my wrists and ankles, he replies, “Well, uh, about that. Not to sound weird or anything, but, um, I followed you here. I saw you leave your ship this morning, and tried to call out to you, but you didn’t hear me, and after a few tries, I just accepted it. So, I followed you out, hoping to catch up with you when you stopped. But then, when you stopped in that alley, I knew something was wrong, and then I saw your limp body being carried out. So, I did the only thing I could think to do, which was follow you here and then knock him unconscious when I got the chance. I wouldn’t blame you if you think I’m insane, but—”
I silence him with a kiss before quickly pulling away, but before I can apologize, I get pulled in closer. As our lips separate, I touch my forehead to his. “We better get out of here while we still have a chance.”
We rush outside of the building, and Troy leads us through the streets of Manhattan back to my ship with our fingers intertwined. We board the ship, and as I start everything up, I can’t help but steal glances at Troy. We fly mostly in silence, but I catch him looking at me in the mirror, and try everything I can not to smile.
I land the ship as I try to prepare Troy for everything that’s about to happen, but I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen next. I navigate us through to our leader’s headquarters, trying to ignore the stares that Troy’s getting. I open the doors and hear him fail to suppress a gasp at the intricate interior. I cross to our leader, Bolton, and ramble through everything that has happened since I left.
“…and then Troy came to save me, and now we’re here. I understand if you’re mad at me for sharing our secret, but if I hadn’t, well, I’d be dead, and there’s no way for me to repay him.”
I look into Bolton’s eyes and hope that I’m making some sort of positive impact on his thoughts.
“I’m not mad at you, son,” he says. “In fact, I’m so proud of you. I didn’t think you could do it, but you proved me wrong. We’re all in this together, Zephron. And I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this after your trip, but after what they did to you, I can’t imagine not doing this: We have to declare war.”
