Back from Earth

Interview

"Ross, come down, the seven-thirty is starting. Ross?"

"You don't need to shout honey, I'm right behind you." Moira jumped in surprise.

"I didn't know."

"They have that special interview they have been hyping all week today, isn't it?"

Ross sat in the armchair by Moira's side. She was already comfortably placed in front of their large plasma screen.

"Yeah, they just had an advert on it like five minutes ago. It's gotta be good. I wonder who they have in store."

"'Ending the war', they have been saying. It has to be good. But with such a hype, they can only disappoint."

In front of them, the evening TV journal theme tune had started. The bright logos were flying, shaped like kitsch hypersonic planes, all landing at the Channel 2 headquarters. Tonight, it felt particularly long, and Moira looked at Ross with question marks in her eyes. He looked back at her and raised his shoulders. Finally, the screen faded to a view of the studio. A man was sitting alone on a chair seemingly a mile away from the presenter who would be interviewing him. Something felt off, but both Maria and Ross watched in silence. The chyron at the bottom of the screen read: "Special interview: Prof. Iri."

"Good evening," the presenter began as the camera finally shifted away from his uneasy-looking guest. "Tonight, we have a special interview with Prof. Iri. Professor Iri is a specialist in quantum physics and has been working with the SAA armed forces for years. He is going to lift the veil on the SAA's most advanced weapons research and help us understand how this might change the course of the war."

The camera panned such that both the presenter and his guest were in the same shot. They seemed unnecessarily far apart.

"Good evening professor."

"Good evening," Prof. Iri replied with a thick accent. Moira and Ross looked at one another very surprised. Moira suppressed a laugh.

"Before we talk, let me ask a question that our viewers might already be asking themselves. Where do you come from Prof. Iri?"

"I am a ... huh," the professor looked somewhere off-camera. He was very uneasy, hesitant to even talk. "I am a Martian. I arrived on Earth a little over four years ago."

"May I ask what brought you to Earth, is it related to the war?"

Again, the professor looked off-camera. Moira and Ross both felt something was wrong. The uneasiness of the interview was coming out through the screen and into their living room. Having a Martian on Earth working for the SAA felt very wrong, even unsafe to Moira.

"I came because I wanted to help the SAA win the war." This time, the professor seemed to have found a rhythm, he was less hesitant, and his light stutter had disappeared. Still, his eyes were darting from left to right, to points off-screen.

"And why the SAA?" The interview continued. Moira had difficulties keeping her mouth shut. Ross could see she would intervene any minute.

"I just think they are fighting for a noble cause."

"Okay, I can't tolerate this anymore. What the hell is this bullshit?" Moira said. "They gotta bring some pawn from Mars. I can't believe it. We must be in so much shit for them to do this, if they even did this. Maybe he is a fake Earther."

"Yeah but look on the bright side, now we have some genius on our side."

"Oh so you can see this as a positive?" Moira was sniggering. "They couldn't find one single idiot on this planet to help us? They had to go to Mars? Who knows if this guy even knows what he is doing."

"He has the looks at least. He will be our saving grace. We have lost so many men on the Chilean front in the past weeks. Chile has been cut off the world, hasn't it? Maybe whatever this guy can do can help break the blockade, stem the stream of death. If we lose our foothold in South America, that's like the first domino. We're doomed then."

"Yeah, but what kind of weapon would even be able to break the blockade. Short of teleporting food and ammunition, or digging in the Earth's mantle, it's going to be a tough ask for anyone, even more for such a skinny nerdy man like this guy." She pointed at the screen and laughed. "Look at him, I could break him with my pinky."

"Why don't we listen and see what he has to tell us?" Ross said seeing Moira would soon be too far to be stopped.

"Sure, but the next time he makes me laugh, I'm changing the channel and writing my will. I'm not living under occupation, never."

"Fine honey. Fine."

"So professor, let us come to the interesting bits. You have been working on advanced technologies here on Earth?"

"In fact, my research started on Mars," the professor replied. He was suddenly much more at ease. His shoulders dropped, and he looked like he would speak endlessly. "You see, when I arrived here, I only continued the work I was doing on Mars. I had made great strides there, but it had stalled. Here on Earth, I have made a breakthrough that I believe will help the SAA put an end to this war once and for all."

"And I hear that this technology is harmless," the presenter cut him off. "It does not injure our enemies?"

The professor twitched in his chair. The uneasiness had rushed back into his body, and this time he stared directly off-screen.

"We are doomed," Moira said.

"Hold on," Ross replied.

"Yes ... I guess," the professor finally replied hesitantly. He paused for a long while, as if waiting for someone to approve his words off-screen. "The technology can help disappear our enemies."

Moira's jaw dropped.

"Where do they go?" She asked the TV, echoed by the presenter.

"It's difficult to say," the professor answered. "We don't really know."