Scientific Crescendo - Book 2: The Genetics Project 🪼✔

39 - Heard It Through the Phone Line

I had no idea how I was going to get Sim into the car since it wasn't very big. I decided to just get an ambulance and hook him up to the machines in there to at least keep him stable until I found a way to keep him from getting captured. I turned the radio on to see what was going on.

Top news today: it seems our visitors from space are nothing more than the typical dominating race coming in to try and take our planet. What seemed like a peaceful maneuver to be in contact and learn from these alien visitors, whom are called the Maclara, has turned into a world domination plan indeed. This is a live feed from the conference that the world news had with the leader of this race, Prince Alax Shinoux.

"We have come to this planet for breeding purposes. We have discovered that mixing Maclara blood with human blood makes for brighter and stronger humans as well as helps our race as well. We are not trying to 'invade' the planet and many have the notion but are trying to expand our ways."
"Prince Shinoux!"
"Yes?"
"But if you aren't invading our planet, then why have you ordered some scouts to invade homes and also invaded hospitals in some cities of the northwest?"
"I sincerely apologize for these vicious acts that have been done. I have heard about them and I plan to punish the ones who did this. My only order was to check the homes and to look over the people in the hospitals to seek out potential candidates. We have invaded other planets before but that is not our intent here. I fear the scouts I sent have reverted back to their military ways and have done things by force; they will be severely punished for the crimes that have been permitted."
"Prince Shinoux, what kind of breeding were you needing between humans and Maclaran?"
"The prince doesn't have to answer that."

And that's from the New York City town hall in New York. From recent reports, the prince has kept true to his word and has had his units pulling out of homes and has told officials that he will pay for all the damages done and reimburse those who lost loved ones in the confusion of the scouts that were sent. Many protest the Maclara coming here, calling it a 'clichéd and outrageous invasion of our planet'.

I turned the radio off, shaking my head of the news. It was making me depressed and I could tell just from the way he talked on the radio that this guy was definitely a fake. There was no shred of sadness in his voice for doing this and I knew that he was doing it because he wanted to. He had invaded Earth and was taking advantage of that... what he wanted with my family was beyond me but he had been looking for us for definite. I don't who else he was looking for but the only thing I believed about his speech was that was using humans to help breed.
Prudence suddenly began to cry and I smelled something rank in the car. I looked over at her as Northern still stayed asleep. She was pretty quiet the whole time but she was still breathing so I didn't kill her with all the running around and such but I knew that I would need to change Prudence's diaper and probably North's too at some point. Whatever that prince guy had been planning, I think he abducted everyone he could find from my hometown because the streets were completely empty, almost like it really had been left by zombies.
I found an abandoned Walmart and parked in the fire safety lane (because really, are they going to arrest me?) and I pulled Sim's bed from the back, setting Prudence in one crook of his arm and Northern in the other so that I could use the bed as a buggy. I felt a little bad for that but I figured why not. I went in and grabbed another buggy to drag behind me and stocked up on baby clothes, diapers, formula, electronics, food for me, clothes, baby food, parts for the car, and anything else that I could get into the buggy or on top of Sim. Northern finally woke up and made some sort of sound from being buried under a pile of clothes.
"I'm sorry, sweetie." I said, looking around the bed at her. "I'll get you and Prudence changed as quickly as I can and we can go find a new place to live."
My phone suddenly went off and I stopped dead in my tracks. I pulled the phone out and turned it on, not talking into it.
"Where are they? Where are the babies that those two had? And where's the other two Leodas?"
"I'm sorry, sir but we couldn't find the other two and they won't talk."
I heard footsteps. "You, tell me where your sons are."
"I have no idea." I heard Dexter say. "If I hadn't been tazed like some sort of criminal, I might have been able to do something for you."
I heard a smack and yelling but a gunshot went off and everyone quieted.
"Hush, all of you. Leoda, you are and your sons are the key to the mixing of our races. We need your bodies to do our experiments but we need all three of them. We also need the babies to see how they turned out, now, where are they?"
"I. Don't. Know."
"You are pretty stupid for an advanced alien race." I heard Ichor say. I was so happy to hear his voice again.
"What?"
"I mean, you can't catch one kid and two babies? I mean, our brother was in a coma and you couldn't even get him from the bed? That's pretty retarded. If you're so advanced then what's making you unable to detect him?"
"Our machines are capable of detecting everything, through anything."
"Actually, sir, we have run into a problem with our detection system."
"What?"
"We can detect anything that has been manmade or redirected from man but if it's natural, we can't detect anything."
"What do you mean?"
"Houses, cars, computers, etc, we can get a read on everything and use the electromagnetic waves that each thing gives off as bouncing points. But the more natural and less touched by man an object is, the less waves it gives off and we can't detect anything."
"So what if he's in a forest or in a cave or something? Looks like your technology just doesn't beat nature, does it?" I heard Bay say and I knew he was smirking.
I looked at my phone and saw that it was Ichor who had called me. He was letting me listen in and provoking the aliens to give me a clue on where to go. God, I loved my family sometimes.
"What's more, sir, if there were any underground facilities, their equipment would respond to the rocks or wherever they are and would be virtually undetectable."
I looked up, a revelation and an idea hitting me all at once. Ichor and Bay were telling me to go to the cave that was in the woods a little ways off. We found it when we were younger and so we used it as the secret hideout for a while until we got older. But it was a huge cave and not many people know it's there. I smiled at the phone and looked at Prudence and Northern, who were both ready to get their diapers changed.
"Your daddy and uncle are the best in the world, you know that?" I whispered, heading to the bathroom and changing the girls.

************************

I drove through the forest, listening on the phone as I heard what was going on up there above me somewhere in a spaceship. Tamari was up there along with Ace and I heard Bay tell Uncle Tarot what happened to Leilani. He cried so hard and Ace was crying too. I pulled up to the cave and looked at the opening of it.
"Jai?"
I looked down at the phone and licked my lips.
"Jai, I know you're there. Just make a bird sound or something." I hooted. "Did you get all that?" Hoot. "Good. Look, Ichor said he hid Sim's nanobots somewhere up there. He knew that they were looking for him and made sure to grab his experiment and notes and stuff. He saved it all and put it somewhere in the cave. My battery is dying but I'll keep you on the line. We don't know where Miller and Aunt Lotti are but the aliens know. Keep the kids safe, keep Sim safe, and when you get the means to do so, come and save us too. We aren't holding you to it because we know it will take a long time but everyone is counting on you now."
"I will save you all." I whispered into the phone.
The line went dead and with that, all that was left of my family was me, my comatose brother, and my nieces. Only four people were left from the Leoda line.