Reconquest: Mother Earth

Chapter III

Chapter III 

Mitch took a deep breath as he followed Amato out of the conference room. He was in a no win situation. Since he was only temporarily in charge, whatever actions he took would be heavily scrutinized. He did not know how to deal with aliens. Up until an hour ago, he did not believe they existed.  

Wearing his naval uniform with his tightly cropped brown hair, Amato was stone-faced as they left the building. Mitch coughed as soon as he stepped outside. The atmosphere had changed. The air was both darker and denser.  

As they walked past the training facility and firing ranges, Mitch said in-between coughs, "So tell me about the visitor, Amato."  

"This one's very different from the first two, sir."  

Mitch waited for him to elaborate. "How different? Size, color, appearance, smell? Give me some specifics." 

"Physically this one is smaller than the others, and it is different in the aspects that you mentioned, sir. But it's more than just that." 

Extracting information from Amato was like pulling weeds. "Be specific." 

"This one actually talks, sir." 

Mitch raised his brows.  

"I guess the other two speak in their own language, but the new alien can communicate in English." 

"Hmm. Did you speak to it?" 

"Briefly, sir. I think it was trying to gain information from me. I told it that I would be right back. I couldn't get myself to talk to the alien." 

"That's all right, Amato. If it's any consolation, I'm not sure what I'm going to say to it. So, how did it get here?" 

"I don't know, sir." 

"What do you mean, you don't know?" 

"From one moment to the next it just appeared, sir." 

"It materialized out of thin air?" 

"That's affirmative, sir." 

As they rounded a corner, Mitch spotted a small, floating fur ball behind the fence. His heart beat rapidly and sweat dripped from his forehead. He could hardly believe that he was about to speak with an extra-terrestrial being.  

Mitch had never seen anything so peculiar as this third alien. Even the first two looked normal in comparison. It was less than three feet in height and was suspended in the air. It did not have wings, but kept itself afloat. It had two narrow, raccoon eyes that were deep black with white circles around them. Dark gray fur covered its body from head to toe. Mitch had a hard time discerning its facial features, which were masked by fur. It had four short limbs with long, razor-sharp claws attached to them.  

Mitch jumped back when it moved like a lightning bolt from one side of the motor pool to the other. It moved so quickly that it seemed to disappear from its original spot and reappear in its new location.  

Mitch stood at the fence, not sure of what he should say or do.  

"Greetings, my friend from Earth." The alien spoke in a low and monotonous tone as if it were concentrating on getting every word right.  

"Hello, I am Lieutenant Mitch Grace of the naval branch of the military of the United States of America of the planet Earth." Mitch felt foolish going through this lengthy introduction. He figured the alien had knowledge of the planet. The fact that it knew the language was proof enough. "As a representative of both my country and my planet, I welcome you."