Seven In a Thousand

Prologue

       Maria Green spent every night with her eyes turned upward to the stars. She enjoyed the vastness of the night sky, the simple look of the oh-so-complicated balls of gas burning millions of miles away. They were beautiful. And, in a way seen by Maria, perfect.

     If each star could easily be the size of a planet, and there were simply billions all throughout the one galaxy that known humans existed in, each with millions of miles of space between, then how large must 'space' itself be?

      Everything about the blackness brought with the night was inspiring to young Maria, who was, on this night, lying across the roof of her house. Then she saw something that changed her life.

      One of the stars growing bigger and bigger, glowing as if forced its way through the protective atmosphere towards the luscious lands of earth. Maria stood up, her eyes not leaving the star as it fell closer. Her heart quickened as she realized- this was no star.

      It looked like a meteorite, but she doubted a meteorite would fall in such a way. It zig-zagged through the air, veering away from the populated city around her, and she gasped as it slammed into the lake on the other side of the city.

      She didn't know it, but she was one in thousands dialing a number into her phone, calling the police to report the phenomenon she had just seen. The falling star, meteorite, or whatever else it may have been, had intentionally moved. Or so it seemed.

      The fiery stone must have been something... alien. And these were the fears she confessed into the phone to the nice man on the other end of the phone. For a teenager living alone, the comforting voice was a salvation to her panic.

       It was also quite possible that the police officer on the phone with her would have written the call away as a disrespectful prank, but there were dozens, maybe more, other calls coming through, reporting an alien 'spaceship' plunging from the night sky.

      Little did Maria know at the time, but it wasn't just her own life that was changed forever. It was also the world's.

      She didn't know at that time that the inhabitants on the 'spaceship' were indeed aliens, humanoid aliens with odd features. There were hundreds of them- all confined on the spaceship as they escaped their burning planet.

      The news blew up despite all the government tried to do to keep it quiet. It wasn't long before every newspaper, every broadcast on television, and every channel of the radio filled with news of these 'aliens'.

      Story after story began to arise, the curiosity of every being expanding with each wild and spastic new tall tale of the happenings. The aliens were taken away to a government facility, but there was nothing the government could do about their secrecy.

      Each new theory of the aliens' arrival grew more outlandish and astonishing, more twisted and unlikely, until the government decided to put a stop to it.

      Thus, after two entire years of the aliens' landing, word was released publicly. Soon, the entire world new of their plight.

      Story had it that an emperor and his army from a far away planet, from the rim of the Milky Way galaxy, had come to claim Litoria, the alien's original planet. They had been slaughtered in droves, chased out of their own home, and those that survived had escaped on the ship. The emperor had caught them and blasted them from the sky after a long pursuit. The ship had managed to go into a hyper jump, which had landed them outside of earth's atmosphere.

       From this tale arose sympathy for the foreigners, and people began to see their existence inside of government 'hospitality' was a form of slavery. A prison. Thus, as of 2050, a government law was passed. The aliens were released to mingle among the humans, joining them in their neighborhoods, factories, and ways of life.

      At first, the transition was peaceful. The aliens, different as they were, were treated with respect and hospitality. They were far from ignored though, and there were several instances of fear between the two races. Even so, it flowed well around the continent. That is, until 2057, when a riot broke out.

       Galzvik Crier, one of the many aliens, began to start a 'revolution'. After merely years of being an official citizen, he began to inspire others of his kind that they were superior to the normal Earthens. He created a gang that grew to be tremendously feared. They were thieves, plunderers, and on the occasion, murderers. Fear began to take the place of respect. The alien gang, known as the Meliora Sunt, gathered its alien members one by one, growing in its terrorism and name.

       All of a sudden, aliens could not be trusted. They were no longer respected, but feared. And all humans respond to fear in one way- they feel the need to control the situation.

       The government passed a new law in 2071 after the fall of Galzvik Crier. In fear of another bout of terrorism, the law stated that aliens must be separated from each other- no meeting for collaboration, no recruitments or secrecy possible.

        It was almost like a repeat from the past- the aliens began to be restricted from normal civilization. Their numbers had significantly grown since their arrival on earth back in 2047, going from 2,087 to 8,473, the population still on the rise. But now they were mistreated, shunned, and looked down upon. The world seemed to have forgotten the polite treatment of these foreigners given two decades previously.

       The treatment grew worse after the next decade, growing downright harsh and cruel. A alien could not set foot in a normal civilization without being attacked, whether mentally, emotionally, culturally, or physically.

       The uneasiness only spread, all throughout the country and through even the entire world. A unanimous agreement was made inside of the government, and more laws were passed. Litorians, which was what the alien species was called, were suddenly freed up again. They could go certain places, were allowed to speak publicly, and didn't have to hide in their homes anymore. It was now illegal to assault a Litorian.

       Even so, the world was uneasy for this new law. The population of Litorians began to climb again, bringing with it the growing fear that numbers would take over the continent. Killings began, the climb of Litorian deaths rising at a massive rate. Then, when their kind thought they could stand no more, the government created the Litorian Protection Act.

       By 2090, over forty years since their coming, their existence finally was accepted. Even though these killings still happened every so often, the aliens could live out their own lives. Even if that meant being less than the humans around them.