The Alien Way of Life - English Version

3. The Invasion Theory

Earth, New York, 04.11.2059

Darian had learned by now that Lyra didn't like chairs, so he had laid out a cozy carpet with cushions in front of his window.

"Look, I cut my hair earlier," he said.

Lyra was still not in the best mood but tried to muster a friendly smile. "Nice, how short is it this time?"

Darian ran his hand over the fresh stubble. "Back to 9mm."

"How original," thought Lyra, saying, "Yeah, looks good."

He handed her an iced tea. Seriously, she had mentioned that she liked tea... and then he gives her iced tea.

"So, what's the problem? Is it about History?" she asked to speed up the meeting.

Darian pulled out his pad. "Well, I hope it's okay for me to ask you because..."

Lyra tilted her head. "Get to the point, Bro," hoping it wasn't going to be a declaration of love.

"Mrs. Taylor assigned me the founding of AWAL as a topic for my presentation, and I found a text mentioning a 'Leipzig Initiative'. You're from there, right? Do you know anything about it?"

Lyra breathed a sigh of relief internally. "It's quite simple, on January 16, 2037, people in Leipzig published an appeal for all regions of the world where the population has built structures not based on the exploitation of humans and nature to collaborate more closely. The text should still be publicly available."

The last sentence was very diplomatically phrased; it really wasn't difficult to find the document. Sometimes she wondered why she was discriminated against as an alien while many humans seemed to be living under a rock.

"Oh, and what did the aliens... I mean, Tarumani have to do with it?" he asked, to her irritation. She looked at him questioningly, and he continued somewhat uncertainly, "Well, wasn't AWAL founded because of the first contact... or?"

Lyra took the pad from him and drew a timeline. "You're mixing up a few things there, but it's nice that you've already done some research independently... so: the Leipzig Initiative received positive feedback, in December, the Leipzig Conference took place, and after that and the Tokyo Conference were successful, the founding of the 'Alliance of Worldwide Autonomy and Liberty' was already on the horizon. That was the reason for us, the Tarumani, to make contact with humanity at the Tirana Conference - one could argue that our arrival might have accelerated the founding a bit, but it would have happened anyway."

She finished her short lecture and was glad she hadn't blurted out the truth. In reality, individual Tarumani had indeed been involved even before the first contact on Earth, and her alien parents had also been involved in the Leipzig Initiative. However, they had made it clear to her that Artur and Anna would be very upset if that were to come out. Even though she was starting to suspect that Artur and Anna were a saying from their youth, she could still understand the motives for secrecy.

"Don't you like the iced tea?"

Lyra decided to increase her quota of honest answers. "Yeah, it's too sweet for me."

He went to the kitchen and called from there, "well, we have beer and wine..." he paused in his list, hoping she would say yes. When she didn't, he continued "... milk, vitamin juice."

"Yeah, juice is good." Apple spritzer would have been better, she thought.

With fresh drinks in hand, they sat facing each other again. "So, what do you like to eat?"

Lyra thought for a moment. "Well, Esary, you know my Tarumani parent, makes really awesome gnocchi, pizza is also cool."

Darian said, "I like pizza too. If you want, I can show you a great pizzeria... you should get to know the city."

Lyra was starting to feel less uncomfortable. "Yeah, sure, I'm looking forward to it."

Darian pondered, "You know, what else I wonder... surely Lukas and the others will ask about the Invasion Theory after the presentation, what should I answer?"

Lyra took a big gulp as her throat tightened. "Really, have they been discussing that?"

He sighed. "They often talk about it when you're not there."

Lyra wondered if she should get upset, but she was actually incredibly tired.

"Man, that's just so lame. These people think we're all-powerful masterminds, yet they believe it would take us 20 years to take over the Earth, lol."

Darian nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think they're confused because the Tarumani cooperate so closely with AWAL."

Lyra poured herself more juice. "Yeah, I've read about that in those stupid 'Humanity First' protests... you know, they march through American cities by the thousands, through cities that only exist because we ended the war between China and the USA... and why invasion? AWAL stopped climate change - believe me, most of us would really appreciate a few more degrees."

Darian was diligently taking notes. "I understand what you mean, I also wonder why they think that way..."

Lyra picked up speed. "Because if they declare us evil space imperialists, they also elevate themselves to freedom fighters at the same time. That gives them a feeling of strength and clarity, a feeling they otherwise don't have in their everyday lives, where they're bossed around by the boss, insulted by the neighbor, and disappointed by their spouse...."

Darian had stopped taking notes and was looking at her fascinated. "Wow, intense, I hadn't thought of it that way before," and he looked at her. "What's your history presentation topic anyway?"

Lyra, who had only taken a breath to continue her rant, replied, "the Spanish Civil War... stay tuned!"

Darian turned off his pad. "I'm done for today, shall we go get pizza now?"