MISADVENTURES OF AN ALIEN(ATED) LANGUAGE TEACHER

Part 12

PART 12

"The Conciliation Force is a faction of our people looking for another approach to contact with humans", she started.

"You mean, other than using them for DNA experimentation?"

"Exactly. We want to build up a relationship of mutual benefit. But for the Conciliation Force to work, we need the outcasts. They are in constant contact with humans and can make the transition easier."

"So, this is just a project, you haven't made your move, yet", I deduced.

"There is a lot of work to do before we make our presence known to the humans. Our priority right now is protecting the outcasts that can form part of this, offering them assistance, education and training. We have a lot of doctors, instructors, even engineers that secretly work for us in the undercities."

"Wait a minute! Wait a damned minute! You mean I was protected all this time? You mean I do have access to medical attention, and teleportation training, and refuge from the secret police?"

"Absolutely. You have never been forsaken."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Your mother gave you my number, but you never called. I didn't want to interfere. Many outcasts prefer to experience human contact on their own, without our intrusion. They do not want us sheltering them and we do not want to force them, so we let them be. I thought this was your case", she explained.

"I'll be damned!" I thought out loud.

"Language, please!"

I smiled at the admonition, I welcomed it. It was so nice to feel I was part of my people again, to be here, with aunt Flora, lovingly scolding me.

"Now, tell me how the secret police was able to find you", she asked me.

I thought of telling her my list of five mistakes and their consequences, but I settled for a summary:

"I talked too much."

"You always have", she nodded.

"I know, you don't need to tell me: I should learn to shut my big fat mouth!"

"On the contrary", she said to my surprise. "It is your loquacity that is preparing the field for us. You should go on expressing your truth, unimpaired. Being who you are is what will help humans and aliens build a better future."

"Really? But I'm just a language teacher..."

"I see you don't realize it, but your job is very important. Our society has led you to believe you are a nobody, but you are not. Even in the long list of promising outcasts, you are at the very top, and that is because of the profession you have chosen."

"Are you kidding me?" I almost laughed.

"Of course not", she answered with a very serious countenance.

"So... what? I should go on teaching? Talking freely? What about the secret police? What about my failed loyalty test?"

"We can protect you from them", she declared.

"Can you?" I said with a doubtful tone.

"Yes", she sounded confident. "The secret police is not as powerful and thorough as you think. Of course, you should lay low for a while, especially now that your whole family is under investigation, but you can soon resume your work without impediments. You will need a new physical form and a new name, though."

"Wow, wow, wow! Stop right there! Why is my family being investigated? Is it something I did?"

"It's the other way around, the secret police grew an interest in you because of them", she clarified.

"What? How? I don't understand."

"Your old pals of the human protection rights movement became too bold, and bombed a medical exo-research facility. The fools got caught and they were executed. They weren't killed right away, they were tortured for information first. During their torment, your name came up."

"Holy shit! So it is my fault." She didn't reprimand me for the holy shit part this time.

"No, it is not. Let me finish. The secret police went to your house, looking for you. Your father showed them your banishment papers. He told them you had been an outcast for years and had never had any contact with the family or any of the undercities since your exile. Ergo, you couldn't have been involved in the bombing. They almost believed him, but you know how exhaustive they are: they ordered a full search of the house."

"What did they find?" I asked with a trembling voice.

Aunt Flora sighed.

"Pictures of you."

"Pictures of me? How does that...?"

"Very recent pictures" she clarified. "The alleged lack of contact was a blatant lie."

"But who took those pictures? How did they...? I never..." I babbled.

"One of them apparently went to the surface now and again to check on you without your knowledge, and took some furtive pictures to remember you by. That is a clear violation of the banishment sanction."

"It was my mum, wasn't it?" I guessed.

"No, your mum misses you, but she is not that stupid. It was your bibi."

"My bibi! Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But bi has always been so cold towards me... so aloof... I thought bi was mad at me because I didn't become an engineer like bim."

"You've got it all wrong. Your bibi didn't try to force you to become an engineer so that you would become like bim, bi did it to protect you."

"Protect me? I don't understand."

"Of course you don't, they worked very hard to conceal it from you."

"They? Who?"

"Your mum and your bibi. Your mum could clearly see your pro-human tendencies since you were a child, so she did two things: she asked for my advice, and she told your bibi. She didn't dare tell your father. He is too old-fashioned and completely blinded by his bigotry and his fanaticism for social rules and laws."

"Which was your advice?"

"Basically: get ready for your daughter's banishment, because it will occur sooner or later. I told her she should get as much human money as she could, save it, and give it to you when the moment came. I also told her to give you my contact number, and I promised to keep an eye on you, which I've been doing from afar, up to now. Your mum was resigned to your fate, she had accepted it, but your bibi was another story. Bi thought that bi could steer you away from your interest in humans, away from your vocation. Bi tried to direct your attention to engineering, to protect you, to keep you out of trouble, but bi failed miserably."

"So... my bibi is not disappointed in me?"

"Of course not. Bi knows it's not you who failed but bim!"

So the family that I thought despised me and hated me really loved me and missed me? I was very moved by this. I even had to quickly wipe a couple of tears before my aunt saw them and discovered that I was a softie at heart, instead of the badass outcast I was supposed to be. I think she knew, though.

"What about my dad? Is he still furious with me?" I asked.

"His anger has subsided with the years, but I'm afraid his temperament is as difficult as ever. He acts as if you had never been born to him."

I nodded. I had expected as much. He had always been intransigent in matters of family honour.

"Your mum and your bibi never forgave him for denouncing you, they even threatened him with a divorce a couple of times, but never got through with it."

"That's good", I said. "I wouldn't want to be the cause of the family destruction."

"You are not the cause of any destruction, darling. Nothing of this is on you. It was your dad's thick-headedness that brought you to finally act on your convictions when he enrolled you in medical exo-research and subjected you to see human suffering first hand. He triggered the whole thing, and then condemned you for following your soul, your truth."