The low thumping vibrations of the shuttle spheres landing every few minutes no longer bothered Nisha. However, her ears were finely tuned to the sound of crunching desert granite sand under the oddly shaped bare feet of the alien children. The first light of day glowed in the sky. She opened her tent and watched the alien children examining a weather station uphill from her tent. At least 30 of them showed up on this morning, 10 more than yesterday.
“Rachel? Are you awake? Check this out,” Nisha whispered.
“Sure, hold on,” she said as she got out of her cot and walked over to the tent opening and looked out. “They’re curious. They want to understand everything they see. I wonder if this carries on into adulthood. How long do they remain children? How long are their lifespans? I have so many questions.”
They got dressed and walked cautiously over to the children. They were investigated from head to toe by the 10 new ones. Nisha and Rachel heard an odd electronic voice behind them.
“Hello Nisha and Rachel.”
They turned around but only alien children stood nearby.
Nisha smiled, sensing a prank.
“Okay, who’s that?”
She looked around and the alien children were glancing this way and that. The only sounds were the crunching of sand under their feet as they walked around.
Rachel watched each child. She walked over to the tallest one.
“Nisha look, the tallest one has colors which are vibrating more vividly than the others.”
“You’re right.” Nisha said as she gave the tall one a broad smile and walked over to him. She couldn’t believe she was playing with an extraterrestrial or that one had played a prank on her.
She spoke slowly and clearly.
“Did you say, hello Nisha and Rachel?”
At first, the tall one didn’t react with body language, but his colors gave him away.
“Colors are a part of their body language,” Nisha said. “I don’t know if this alien is a male, but I imagine it to be male. If they have sexes.”
They circled around him, smiling. Finally, he held out a little device.
“Hello Nisha and Rachel,” the device said again.
Rachel glanced wide-eyed at Nisha.
“You’re broadcasting video and audio, right?
“Oh yes.” Nisha said. “This is the first time they’ve communicated with us.”
She studied the tall one and his little device.
“Hello,” she said as she looked into his chameleon eyes.
He focused his eyes on Nisha and Rachel simultaneously. He was able to concentrate on two things at once.
“Do you have a name?” Nisha said.
The tallest alien didn’t reply for several long seconds.
“Yes,” it finally said through the device.
Nisha waited for a second and turned to Rachel.
“He answered my question in the strictest sense. Can you believe that?”
She turned back to the tallest one.
“What’s your name?” she said more precisely.
He paused again for several seconds.
“Bok.”
“Hello Bok.” they both said as they smiled.
Bok turned many shades of light blue with some light green mixed in. His nose wiggled up and down.
Nisha turned to Rachel.
“This is incredible. How did they manage to create this device and the software in just one day? Yesterday they learned words and how we write and speak the words. They had a crude translation device but now it’s much more sophisticated. How is he speaking the words? Is the device pulling them from his mind? I don’t understand. His mouth isn’t moving. And how—”
“Nisha,” Rachel said shaking her head back and forth in a humorous way. “You’re asking the wrong species. Ask Bok.”
Nisha shook her head back and forth as if she were shaking some sense into her head.
“Oh right, ask Bok.”
She smiled as she watched him.
“How does your device operate?” she said, thinking the question might be too complicated.
He unrolled the video monitor. Bok pointed to it with his top-most finger. On the screen, her question appeared as text.
It read, “How does your device operate?”
A series of unintelligible symbols appeared on the screen which was their written language. Bok motioned for Nisha and Rachel to come closer. They were hesitant, but with the entire world watching, they had to play along to avoid embarrassment. Bok put his fingers into his feather-like fur at the base of his skull and exposed a slight scar. Bok pointed to the text and to his scar.”
Nisha and Rachel glanced at each other and back at the scar.
“Is a device implanted in your brain?” Nisha said slowly.
“Yes,” Bok said, answering literally again.
“How does it work?” Rachel said.
“I made this device to convert your spoken words into your written text. Your text is translated into text in my language. My text is uploaded into my implanted neural network device. After that, my brain interfaces with my device so I can understand without having to read the text. I think my reply. My neural interface converts my thought into written text in my language, which is translated into your language. Your written language is passed into the human speech algorithm in the device. I based human speech on your voices from yesterday. Finally, the words are spoken audibly for you.”
Nisha stared at Bok in disbelief with her mouth slightly open. She then shook her head at Rachel.
“I hope everyone listening in can see and hear this,” Nisha said.
Bok thought, and his translator said, “Yes I know this is a crude device, but this is the best I could do since yesterday.”
Nisha glanced over at Rachel. They tried to contain themselves, but they broke down in nervous laughter. Bok didn’t understand and his bright colors faded to gray.
“I’m sorry for the mediocre performance of my device. I’ll improve upon it soon.”
Nisha tried to get back to being serious.
“Bok, your device works well. We like it.”
Bok flashed brighter colors and his tail wiggled a little. The others crowded around Bok and their tails wiggled too.
Nisha peeked at Rachel, and she said under her breath, “Aren’t those tails the cutest things?”
Bok’s sensitive device allowed him to overhear the comment.
“What is the cutest thing?” he said.
Nisha felt surprised he understood her little comment.
“We like your tails,” she said.
“I’ll lose my tail in two Earth years,” Bok said. “It’s shrinking now.”
“Why?” Rachel said.
Bok had technical trouble for several seconds, but he found a solution.
“Because when we become adults, our tails disappear. They are vestigial. We have no use for them. We had them many millions of Earth years ago.”
Rachel turned to Nisha and said, “That’s why the adults have no tails.”
Nisha turned to Bok and stared at his tail.
“How old are you when you lose your tails?”
“We’re about 30 Earth years old. We’ll lose them soon.”
“How long is your lifespan? Rachel said.
“Omanji live to be 400-500 years old. In the wild, we lived to be about 60 years old but with genetic modification and implants, we live longer now. On the way here, a technology was developed which may allow us to live indefinitely.
“How do you generate and store your power?” Nisha said.
We generate power using nuclear fusion, solar in orbit, and other techniques. After that, we store the energy for our use in the form of anti-matter,” Bok said.
Nisha could barely contain herself with excitement.
She turned to Rachel and said, “I have many questions. I don’t know where to start.”
Rachel smiled.
“Start at the beginning Ms. expert astrobiologist.”
Nisha turned towards Bok.
“Okay, I heard a word I didn’t recognize. Omanji. What is that?”
“We call ourselves Omanji because our planet is named Oma. We learned about how you reference ethnic groups on Earth.”
Nisha felt a rush of excitement. The translator worked well. She asked the biggest questions of her life.
“Where is Oma?”
The Omanji children all turned gray at the same moment.
“We must go, we’re being called. Goodbye,” Bok said.
“Goodbye,” Nisha and Rachel said.
They walked away.
Nisha turned off the audio portion of her eyepiece video broadcast.
“I can’t believe that timing. Just when I asked the most interesting question. Did you notice how their bright colors changed to dull ones when they were called away? They enjoy being with us more than with the adults.”
“Yes,” Rachel said. “You might be right. I’m frustrated too because you asked that question and they were called away.”
Rachel paused for a second.
“Hey Nisha, I got an update. 18 more spheres entered Earth’s orbit overnight and this morning. That makes 50.”
They both stood in silence for a long time as the children walked away.
“I think we’re beginning to realize the scope of this,” Nisha said. “If those 50 spheres in orbit contain one million passengers like the first few did, humans will be a 49% minority group in the state of California.”
“What if this is only the beginning?” Rachel said. “The pace is picking up.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to think about it. For now, let’s focus on today,” Nisha said. “So many unknown variables exist, that there’s no way to predict anything. I’m turning on my voice feed now.”
Rachel gazed across the expanding colony, glistening in the bright afternoon sun.
“There must be at least 40 completed towers now, and they’re preparing for more to be built. A couple of weeks ago, only desert existed here. As a child, I wanted to be an architect. I used to spend countless hours drawing buildings and cities. When I went to the beach, I used to build sand cities and defend them from the advancing tide. When I went camping, I used to build cities out of sticks and twigs. I used to imagine living in those cities of the future. I guess we’re living in the future right now. Do you see that?”
“What?” Nisha said.
“They’re preparing ground close to the public viewing area,” Rachel said. “We need to move people back and away from the direction of the colony expansion.”
She glanced over at Nisha.
“What are you smiling about?”
Nisha smiled and looked skyward as she turned the audio broadcast back on.
“Oh, I’m thinking I could use a few of these drones to help me remodel the kitchen.”
Rachel smiled back.
“I think we could all use a few of these drones.”
She focused on Nisha who seemed distracted.
“Nisha, what are you thinking?”
“I’m zooming in with my eyepiece. Human children are walking around in an enclosed area. They’re staying within some invisible boundary. I want to go talk with them.”
Rachel watched the children far off in the distance.
“Okay, let me get my things and we’ll go. We’ll go alone so as not to cause problems.”
They drove down about 2,000 feet in elevation. After that, they hiked down the hill for the last 1,000 feet to the main part of the colony. The sun and heat on that late September day made the hike strenuous. No rain had fallen for months which was normal. Even the widely spaced creosote bushes and cacti appeared parched. They reached the colony after about 5 minutes of hiking. The huge towers provided welcome shade.
“Nisha,” Rachel said admiring the view from inside the colony. “The towers are so tall that no direct sunlight touches the ground, but it’s bright down here because the towers are so reflective. The varying shapes make dappled light, like an impressionist painting. They’ve planned this effect. The patterns must change as the sun moves.”
“I like the design too,” Nisha said. “The buildings are so tall. If you stand here, you can watch the reflection patterns move on the ground as the sun moves.
She cautiously scanned the area.
“We’re being watched by those gray guys leaning against that tree-thing. It looks alive, but I don’t think it’s from this planet. They’re checking us out. Let’s keep walking because I’m getting nervous.”
They continued walking towards the area where they last saw the children.
“I wonder if this is like their planet,” Nisha said. “We’re surrounded by towers. It’s a self-contained arcology that needs little from the outside world.”
“You’re right,” Rachel said as she walked and gazed skyward. “It’s one thing to view this from the outside and something different to experience it from the inside. The light patterns are creating swirling patterns on the ground, which is made of some type of composite granite-concrete material. It’s smooth but not slippery. Those builder drones are spitting out more of this concrete stuff. They’re 3d printing a sidewalk and some beautiful forms. They’re blending art and the common space into something to be enjoyed by all.”
The ground shook.
“Whoa, what’s that?” Rachel said.
Nisha studied the towers; whose tops weren’t visible 6,000 feet above them.
“I’ve grown used to the ground vibrating from the shuttle spheres landing but this is something different. I think—”
The ground shook again more vigorously.
“Yes, that’s an earthquake for sure.” Nisha said.
“The towers are vibrating,” Rachel said.
The light flickered on the ground like dappled reflected light from a swimming pool. Rachel paused to experience the moment.
“The towers are settling down now. The vibrations are lessening. Hmm, that’s weird.”
“What?” Nisha said.
“That group of Omanji standing over there didn’t react to the earthquake,” Rachel said. “At all. They’re acting like this happens every day. Quakes might be common on their home planet.”
“That might be. The towers are flexible, and they didn’t seem compromised by the earthquake. If their planet is larger and has stronger gravity, the crust might be thinner and more prone to quakes. I’m wondering.”
“What?” Rachel said.
“Where is everyone?” Nisha said. “Millions of beings live in this colony but few of them are walking around down here. More than before but still few. Construction isn’t fully completed so they might be getting things organized. I imagine this is like one big moving day for them.”
Nisha looked around and behind her.
“I’m glad few of them are here. They’re following us at a distance. More of them would make me nervous.”
“More of them make you nervous?” Rachel said. “I’m nervous seeing one of them, especially the red ones.”
They continued walking. After about 20 minutes they reached an accessible area at the developing edge of the colony. At least 1,000 human children were walking around with no barriers in sight to prevent them from escaping.
“I’ve never seen so many children being so quiet in my life,” Nisha said. “I’m trying to see if Priya and Sophie are in the group, but nothing.”
They watched the children for a while under the roving eyes of a growing number of somber looking Omanji adults.
Silence.
“There’s something wrong with them,” Nisha said. “They aren’t speaking. I’m glad at least they’re playing games.”
“They may be talking silently right now with each other,” Rachel said. “It’s possible the Omanji implanted devices in their brains which are like the devices in Omanji children which allow them to communicate telepathically. Can you sense anything?”
Nisha stood for a while in silence.
“There is a buzz. I’ve been ignoring the background noise because I’ve become desensitized to all the sounds over the past two weeks. I’ve tuned them out. Let me listen for a minute.”
Nisha and Rachel stood silently for several minutes as they watched the human children. They were transfixed by their odd behavior which stood in stark contrast to the typical noisiness of a high school gathering. Nisha gradually seemed to snap out of her trance.
“I think I heard the voices of the human children. They sounded different than the Omanji voices I’ve been hearing for the past two weeks. I can’t tell what they’re saying. Everything is static. If I had an implant, I might be able to listen to them. We don’t know if the human children have implants. However, they stand around interacting as though they’re talking with each other.”
“Nisha.”
Nisha continued talking.
“Priya isn’t out there, but 25,000 children were abducted and only about 5,000 are here right now.”
“Nisha,” Rachel whispered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Turn around.”
A crowd of about 100 Omanji adults moved in behind them. They walked quickly and silently.
“I think we better go,” Nisha whispered.
“Good idea. Let’s walk right past them as though we think nothing of it. They’re gray, so they don’t seem to be emotionally charged. Okay, walk slowly and stay together. Keep talking and act natural. I’ll start. So how is Quinn doing with Sanjay in home school?”
Nisha looked casually at Rachel as they walked past the somber Omanji.
“Oh, he’s doing well. Quinn likes being at home and Sanjay isn’t being bullied anymore. The bullying is a big problem at his school. The kids that heard voices were bullied too. Kids can be cruel.”
“Yeah, so can adults,” Rachel said. “Have you read some of the comments people are making about you on Twitter?”
“No. I have no time for vanity searches,” Nisha said.
Rachel ignored the small crowd of imposing Omanji adults inspecting them.
“You don’t want to know what they say.” she said.
After a few minutes they walked past the alien crowd. They returned up the hill and back to their car. Later, the sun dropped into a red sky behind the ever-growing Omanji colony.
After dark, they walked outside to view the sky.
“I think that’s one of the Omanji spheres in orbit.” Nisha said.
She pointed to the southeast as the shiny point of light moved slowly into the distance.
“Yes, that’s no airplane for sure,” Rachel said. “The sphere disappeared into the earth’s shadow.”
They watched the sky for a while longer. Another shuttle sphere descended about 10 minutes later. They slept well overnight for a change.