The Human Insurgency (6 page)

What in the world did you say to an alien from
another galaxy when all you could go by were vague mental images
and even more ambiguous emotion?

I knew what I wanted to ask, in a perfect world:

Please, Mr. Alien, can you give us a ride home back
to Earth? Oh, and while you're at it, can you get all your people
to stop killing us?

Instead I did the next best thing. I focused my mind
on just the one memory I wanted him to see. I stepped in front of
him and waited for him to make contact, anxiously hoping for his
mind to probe mine.

An interview by Tanya Westenridge, live on the CNN
Underground Network:

Q:
"Mr. Kinkade - "

A:
"Please, call me John. We don't need
formalities here, Tanya."

Q:
"OK. John...tell us your theories. I know
our listeners are mystified by the events of the past year. We had
isolated reports of alien abductions, most of which were dismissed
as hoaxes. Then a few months later our planet was suddenly and
brutally attacked by an alien species."

A:
"Indeed, and we are still under imminent
threat. None of us should forget that."

Q:
"John, there are many experts who believe
that the aliens, ruthless as they are, have not used their full
firepower on us. That they've held back. Do you think this is
true?"

A:
"Tanya, let's look at the facts. The
reports I saw showed that the Invaders came at us with nearly 100
carrier-sized ships and probably tens of thousands of fighters, not
to mention transports and the troops they've already put on the
ground. Now look at what we were able to do. The victories in
China, in the Middle East, some promising defensive triumphs in the
U.S. Look at the string of fortress towns the Americans were able
to build along the Colorado Rockies. Even the British are rallying
with an insurgency against the Invaders, who have gone from
occupying 90% of England to a mere fraction of that.

"Given the Invader's technology though, given how
useless most of our conventional weapons have proved to be against
them, the question that most of my listeners have asked me is
'Why?' Why didn't they simply wipe us out?'"

Q:
"So do you claim to know the full answer to
that question?"

A:
"Surprisingly enough, I think I do. I think
that the aliens abducted some of us and had an inkling for what we
are capable of, wanting to study us, maybe even cultivate us as
slaves or subordinates. I think they knew that if they tried to
take us by raw force we would launch our nuclear weapons and make
this world uninhabitable before we'd give it up. So instead they
practiced a strategy of attrition. They thought they could grind us
down, make us think we were going to survive...like a toad being
slowly cooked...until it was too late and they had conquered."

Q:
"So, in a way John, you're saying that they
underestimated the resilience of the human race?"

A:
John shakes his head
. "I'm not going
to go that far, Tanya. We're not out of the woods at this point.
Look at South America, Africa, big chunks of the Middle East, not
to mention eastern Russia. They still have ground forces, they're
still a threat. We have a lot of work to do before we can safely
call this planet 'home' again."

Q:
"That may be true, John, but if I may, I'd
like to play back the broadcast I did yesterday, and get your
perspective on it."

A:
"Sure, go ahead."

The big screen behind them shows Tanya Westenridge
reporting. A huge crowd, tens of thousands, waves flags and chants
slogans in Tiananmen Square.

"This is Tanya Westenridge reporting live from
Beijing, China. It is official. We have confirmed what no one
thought was possible. Of the four huge mother ships orbiting our
planet, two of them have changed course, one has been destroyed,
and the last appears to be in full retreat."

"Residents in more than half a dozen countries have
claimed that abducted people are returning to their homes. It's
been hard to piece together anything definite, but our sources seem
to confirm that two, I repeat, two of the mother ships are in
rebellion against their own kind. These rebel mother ships
initiated hostilities with the other invading ships."

"One hostile mother ship has been badly damaged and
seems to no longer have any propulsion ability whatsoever. The
remaining hostile mother ship appears to be heading away from
Earth's orbit. All across the globe we have seen jubilation. The
remaining carrier fleets have drawn back even as some Invader
forces still remain active on the ground. All signs though, as of
this moment, point toward hope. Toward an actual future. As you can
see, the crowd behind me is celebrating V-Day in China..."

Q:
"Do you think that the worst is behind us,
John?"

A:
John smiles ruefully, wagging his finger
at the reporter.
"You know, Tanya, reporters are good at
goading people like me into saying stupid things. I'm going to take
a pass on that question. I will say this, however; we have a long,
long way to go. We have an entirely new species with whom we have
no idea how to interact. If the aliens in those two rebel mother
ships represent an intelligence we can work with, that's great. I'm
hopeful. But so many barriers persist.

"I am, though, more than anything encouraged. And I
have a few last words to the hard-core skeptics out there. The ones
urging us to wipe out every alien we find, mercy be damned, ally or
foe.

"The truth is, what has happened only goes to prove
that the aliens are like us in many of the ways that count. They
have factions just like we do. Who knows why they originally came
here? Maybe they didn't originally come to attack us. Maybe they
did. None of that should be the focus now. What matters, no matter
who was behind the coup on those mother ships, is that this means
that the aliens don't think as one. I'm betting that they have a
peace faction, a neutral faction, a pro-human faction, whatever you
want to call them. And I'm guessing that one of those factions
somehow gained power. We owe those aliens our very lives in a way,
much as it damages our pride to admit it."

Q:
"But John, wouldn't you say that we've
contributed just as much to our independence? The Battle of
Seattle? The Battles of Beijing and Shanghai?"

A:
"There's no question that you're right,
Tanya. We did our part. Perhaps if we hadn't fought so hard for so
long, then none of the aliens would have entertained second
thoughts about the destructive course their species had chosen.
We'll never know."

Even after an alien invasion, some things never
change. Being newlyweds, Jobe and I did certain things that
newlyweds tend to do. I moaned Jobe's name as we reached ecstasy
together, and then I collapsed on him in a sweaty heap. Myla and
the others had a tent next door, and I could just imagine the looks
we were going to get in the morning.

We were in a refugee camp in northwestern Turkey, and
the story of getting to this point was one I hoped to write. Even
if my tale wasn't earth-shattering, from a long-term view it was
startling. I'd survived one of the most momentous events in human
history.
Don't count your chickens until they've hatched,
Skye
. When I wasn't feeling giddy just having two feet on
planet Earth, I felt proud that we'd leaned on each other's
strength to survive.

And you didn't do all the leaning, Skye
.
Don't forget that
. I'd never forget standing on the bridge
of that ship before I had the boldness to approach the alien leader
who had rescued us. I knew that he could somehow, some
way
get us back home to Earth. I'd focused on one frame of thought.
Being home. Being in Dad's arms and feeling my cheek against Mom's
shoulder. The alien had probed my mind and I think part of him
understood.

He had kept us on the ship for over a week while he
consolidated his control and fixed damage to the ship. We were put
in holding rooms with many other abducted victims, but that had
been a relief once we realized that the new aliens in charge didn't
mean us harm. Myla, Oliver, Kane, Jobe and I had grown very close,
but for so long we'd felt isolated and ashamed as a group. When the
five of us lab rats had become twenty, thirty, fifty, and more,
then we went from feeling ashamed to having solidarity. Among
others who'd experienced what we had, we could feel almost
normal.

The friendly Glowing Ones on the mother ship couldn't
exactly beam us back to our home addresses. So we just took the
ride we were offered, not knowing where we'd end up. The aliens had
loaded us onto a transport ship and dropped us off on the Turkish
coast.

We now lived in a refugee camp which often smelled of
unwashed bodies. The elements brutalized us through the measly
fabric of clothes, blankets, and tents, all of them made of poor,
mass-produced quality and even then, there weren't enough to go
around. The waiting was the worst part...sending out messages,
knowing that you were just one among millions trying to get word to
a loved one. Hoping you might hear something back, and wondering,
when you didn't, if your loved ones were dead.

A note from Mom and Dad finally arrived, the best
piece of paper ever made as far as I cared or knew. Jobe had gone
to the enormous trouble of acquiring a frame for me to hold my
sacred letter by exploiting the refugee camp's thriving black
market. I kept it close. Tonight as I snuggled up against Jobe,
ignoring the sweat freezing along my arms, I inspected the
lacquered frame in the swaying lantern-light. I re-read what was
inside it for the trillionth time:

Dear Kitty-Kat. Your mother and I are overjoyed to
hear that you are safe and sound. I'm almost too overwhelmed to
write. We love you so much. Please share this with your sister if
she hasn't received the letter we sent. Tell Myla how much we love
and miss her. Details can wait. Just tell us, when are you coming
home?

Home. The idea of it had become something bigger.
This whole planet we called 'Earth,' maybe that was the best
definition of 'home.' Humans, despite a cruel situation, had begun
treating each other like family. The war wasn't over yet, and who
was to say that this feeling of universal kinship would last any
longer than the alien threat? But the very idea that it could exist
gave me a feeling of hope, like a girl about to dip her head
underneath a waterfall on a scorched afternoon.

Humans might not be the noblest of creatures, but
under crisis we had formed a unique alliance, and not just between
ourselves. Jobe cocooned me in his warmth as I shifted in bed. I
daydreamed, realizing that the face of that alien leader on the
mother ship remained deeply etched in my mind. Would we meet again?
Curiosity and hope won out over fear, and dreams seemed rimmed with
possibility.