15

'I still cannot believe this happened!' exclaimed the general, shaking his head at the tabloid set on the table in front of him. 'This has got to be the most CARELESS slip-up in my entire career!!'

'Relax, General!' said the colonel slyly. 'No one will believe this, anyway!'

'It does not matter!' boomed the general. 'How could we let this happen?! And what if people do believe this? It's been almost two weeks already, and we're about to initiate something no man has attempted before: an invasion on an alien-infested planet! At such a crucial time, we do NOT want public interference in this!! How could we find out about this damn tabloid so late anyway?!!'

'Well, it's happened now, Sir,' sighed the colonel, thinking how much better suited he was for the general's position than the agitated personality in front of him.

'This cannot be taken lightly,' said the general. 'The two writers behind this, they must be brought to the headquarters ASAP!'

'I was thinking the same thing, General,' nodded the colonel. 'They must be gotten rid of before they cause any further trouble!'

The general frowned at him. 'No, you foolish man! What I meant is that we must convince them to write something else now, unless they wish to suffer a lot...'

'But what, Sir?' said the colonel in surprise.

'Look, the damage has been done now. The moment we release the news about what we're doing, everyone may go against us or panic thanks to this report. Now, we must make sure that when the public finds out about our invasion plan, they do not have an ounce of sympathy for these aliens. You know all these damn activists and journalists, making a big deal out of everything we do. We must make sure they are on the military's side! So we will get this same duo to write another report that says we have evidence to prove that these aliens are evil and the military is doing everything in their power to protect humanity. Yes, that will be our stance!'

'Excellent, Sir!' exclaimed the colonel, genuinely impressed. 'I couldn't have done better myself!'

The general glared at him. 'Indeed! As if you can think of anything except, "kill", and "blow up"! There's a reason why I'm at this rank and not you!'

The colonel gulped and walked towards the door to hide the growing anger he felt for the man in front of him despite knowing that he was wiser than he was. 'Well, I'll arrange for that duo, then,' he said.

'Good. We'll settle this today.'

*  *  *

Shen-ja was walking towards the door of Xiennan's temporary home when he stopped short; he could hear his companion talking to himself inside.

'I shouldn't have done it... should have stuck to tomatoes and rice! I'm never trying this again!'

Shen-ja opened the door and made Xiennan jump up with a start before he realised who it was.

'Oh, hello. What are you doing here?'

'I should ask you that! What are you doing?' said Shen-ja in surprise.

'I'm trying to cook eggs, but it was a bad idea,' said Xiennan frustratedly. 'I wanted them like the first day I ate them with Airi, but it's no good. I broke two eggs and put them in boiling water the same way I cook rice, but it doesn't work!'

Shen-ja stared at the pot of boiling water with bits of broken egg floating in it and shook his head. 'It's a weird planet; weird food, weird cooking... Anyway, forget all this, it's your time to go back tonight — I got a message from your father this morning confirming it.'

'What?' said Xiennan, looking rather crestfallen. 'Oh...'

'Am I imagining it, or are you actually uncomfortable about leaving?' said Shen-ja with a frown.

'No, why should I?' said Xiennan, as if in a daze. 'Of course, I'm going home, right?'

'Of course!'

'And it's been two weeks...'

'It's been a hard time for you, my friend,' said Shen-ja, but Xiennan shook his head.

'No, Shen-ja... it's been the best time of my life.'

*  *  *

Kenji stood in the meadow he had landed at on his first day. It looked different and somewhat lonely at midnight. The moon — there was only one on Earth, not two — shone its gentle light and looked beautiful, but in a melancholic sort of way.

At length, a bright light shone in the sky and grew larger as it approached the ground. It was a lightening pod, but this one was twice as large as the one he had been sent here on. It opened and he stepped inside.

The moment he had settled in, it snapped shut, and Kenji could feel the vehicle shooting upwards at once, making him feel uneasy and barely holding it together as the pod whizzed on.

Kenji wondered during the journey what he was supposed to feel, but he couldn't make up his mind. He felt blank, that was all. His eyes closed as he fell asleep.

Almost abruptly, the pod crashed on a rough, stony surface, and clanged open, waking him up with a jolt. Kenji felt too numb to move. In fact, he could barely hear the voices around him as a group of his fellow people helped him out before the pod exploded. He opened his eyes and saw the familiar pinkish sky and the beautiful landscape of his home planet. It felt as though his time on Earth had all been a dream and he had only just woken up.

'Xiennan!' boomed his father, rushing towards him, and Kenji felt his senses coming back to him as he steadied himself and took a deep breath before looking at his father with a smile.

'I'm home,' he said.

'Oh, it's good that you're all right now! Come with me.' said his father. 'So, sit down and tell me everything from the start. The whole report. Xvie here will note it all down as you narrate.'

Kenji looked at his father thoughtfully. 'I will do that, but...'

'But what?' said his father impatiently, as he signalled Xvie to get ready.

'Did you miss me, Father?'

The simple question seemed to take his father aback, and he stared at Kenji as though he had grown a pair of wings, or worse, as though he had transformed into something strange and unsightly and despicable.

'What kind of foolish question is that?' said his father at last. 'Of course, you are my son, my heir, so your presence is always necessary, to render me assistance whenever I need it.'

Kenji frowned. 'But, did you miss me, Father?'

'I see that you have carried out your job quite well,' said his father coldly. 'A little too well, I think, haha. You are acting strange and emotional like a human, but I assure you, my boy, you are back where you belong, and you can resume acting normal again.'

'Normal? ' exclaimed Kenji. 'Is this normal to you? I asked you something that anyone on Earth would know how to reply to, but you...'

'What is this insolence?' said his father, his eyes glowing a bright shade of gold as he spoke. 'I'm asking you important information and you're busy in acting out your human sap! It's over now! You're back! Drop the act!!'

'I see,' said Kenji, rather bitterly. 'I'll get straight to the point, then. You see, Father, when I arrived on Earth, I believed that all humans were as horrible as you've always taught me. Indeed, I encountered such people, such phenomena, that only ascertained what I had known. But then, I met a girl named Airi...'

'Well?'

'And she made me think otherwise.'

'I see. A master of deceit, then.'

'No! She was a genuinely good person! She was kind, and she was sweet, and she was—'

'Sweet? What do you mean by sweet?'

'It means that she was good-natured and friendly and nice!'

'Sweet things are bad for the health, and so is this girl. I hope you used the Force on her and moved her out of the way!' said his father in casual coldness.

Kenji stared at him. 'No, I didn't. She didn't do anything to deserve that! And after meeting her, Father, I wondered if maybe we were wrong all this time about humans and their nature. Maybe they don't deserve to be attacked. Maybe we just need to get to know them better!'

His father sighed in exasperation. 'Just what I feared... you've gone and failed this, too...'

Xvie looked up from his notes. 'Should I leave, Commander? If you please...'

'No!' said the commander firmly. 'Stay right there! And what have you been writing, anyway?'

'That some humans are kind and friendly as well, and that—'

'Scratch it out!' barked the commander, and Xvie flinched at his unusually loud voice.

'I'm — I'm sorry, I was just writing down the research...' he said nervously.

'Research!' spat the commander. 'Just look at you! Weak and gullible! And you—' he turned towards his son again, who was looking at him in a strange manner, 'what are you trying to prove here? That I have been wrong? That humans are some sort of perfect, sweet race and we should just abandon all the intricate plans we've been carefully putting together for the last six weeks while you were wasting time with this girl instead of doing what you went there for!?'

'What did I go there for?' said Kenji. 'You asked me to find out more about humans, and I did. Now, because what I found out does not match what you believe in, you are accusing me of not doing my job, when in fact, I did my very best! My mission was to learn about them, but never to sabotage them!'

'Well, now it is!' declared his father. 'The attack will take place, whether you like it or not; and unfortunately, since you are the one whom I sent already, it's safer to send you back to complete the next half of my masterplan...'

'Send me back?' said Kenji, his heart lightening at the thought.

'That's right. But this time, your mission isn't to learn about humans; it's to help Shen-ja and, in your words... sabotage them!'