The Alien Way of Life - English Version

6. Cake

Earth, New York, 05.11.2059

Lyra ran through the streets, facing hate slogans. How could she leave Sérgouin alone? She pushed the horror scenarios in her head aside and reminded herself of her biological advantages over the soulless lackeys of idiocy. Passersby stepped back in alarm, Lyra offered them a quick "srry," hoping not to be mistaken for a jogger. The hate chants "Stop the Invasion" & "Free Earth" grew louder. She turned into the next street and reached the scene.

There they were, the hordes with their mix of flags from the Southern Confederacy, USA, and the "Humanity First" movement flag. They had gathered around a storefront, working themselves into a frenzy. In front of the store stood helmeted policemen, and sporadically scattered around the crowd were police cars, apparently still deliberating on what to do.

Lyra was relieved that she was several streets away from the building with Sérgouin's art class.

Still, what were they doing here?

Two teenagers in black clothes appeared beside her. Lyra eyed them suspiciously. "Don't worry, we're not with them," said the taller one. The smaller one tapped frantically on his phone. Not much of his face could be seen, but you could tell he was furrowing his brow skeptically. "And?" asked the other.

"The store owner apparently sells green cake to attract aliens," he read aloud.

To that, Lyra could only emit a wow signal.

The crowd grew louder.

One of them turned and saw her. He tapped his neighbor and spoke to him. The neighbor turned around. "There's one of those creatures," he bellowed and ran towards her, ready to strike. Lyra pulled the pen from her coat. One of the boys stepped in front of her, but the man shoved him aside, clearing the way for... a fierce blow of the pen into his eye. Screaming and disoriented, he turned away. Now more protesters and police officers were running towards her. She breathed a sigh of relief, everything would... then one of the cops tackled her, others grabbed one of the boys in a headlock. The other boy caught her, "we have to go now, run," he ordered her. They ran. Closely followed by heavy, loud footsteps, gaining on them more and more. "We'll get you, alien scum!" shouted one of the protesters. Lyra stopped her new companion. "What's this?" he asked, alarmed.

She took off her boots and knelt in front of him. "Get on my back, Trust me."

Now he obeyed her. Not a second too soon. Lyra jumped up. "Hold on tight."

Then she climbed up the next skyscraper. The bald-headed pursuers with thick skulls almost caught her by her feet, from which long claws had now extended. With rapid speed, she climbed floor by floor. He clung tightly and looked down. Fifty plus meters below, the building was surrounded. This made him doubt the plan a bit... The doubts disappeared, but new doubts arose as the alien jumped to the next building. She knew exactly what she was doing. Esary had taught them this from an early age, while Papa initially stood worried below, before eventually developing trust in the genetic heritage of a species that originated from a rocky world and was hunted by aggressive giant mammals in times past.

The young man on her back didn't have as much time to build trust.

He accepted the situation as it was. Getting off wasn't a promising option at the moment anyway. So he took in New York from this unusual perspective. Below were millions of cars and pedestrians, congesting the city as usual on a Friday. He noticed how less stuffy it was up here at least.

He felt his pilot & mountain guide in one slowing down. She seemed to be looking for a specific window.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"42nd Street, there's a... friend here."

She had found the window. But he wasn't there. She wondered if she could retrieve her pen. Normally, it was no big deal to hold on with two legs and an arm - but normally, she didn't have 70 kilos on her back. Then she remembered that Darian had a sister named Mika. She was pretty complicated - he said - but definitely the best contact. She went to the next window. And sure enough, there sat Mika at the desk, working. Lyra knocked politely. Mika looked up, her eyes widened, but she quickly rushed to the window and opened it.

Lyra gratefully jumped into the apartment.