I am practically thrown into the backseat of the large black vehicle. I squeeze into the back just as Joon and Remulus are forced inside as well.
With his towering height, Remulus has to bend over uncomfortably to avoid the ceiling. He hunches over, his face an indecipherable dark mask. I can't tell what he is thinking only that he shut off the moment the officer wrapped the hand cuffs around his wrists.
He has been silent ever since.
My hands have been cuffed as well and I shift around trying to find a comfortable position. Who knows how long this journey would take.
The officers that took us in sit around us, they're gazes unmoving as they stare at us from head to toe.
After struggling to convey a message in a language that they clearly do not understand I have given up and remain silent as well.
I study each of their faces, humans who have lived on Earth their entire lives. Are they divided into categories like us, meant to serve only three purposes? Or do the humans here do as they please?
A tall, tanned officer with dark eyes like Joon's stares my way. His hair has started to grey by the sides and there are subtle wrinkles around his eyes. He looks to be around the same age as my father was.
He shifts slightly under my scrutiny and I watch his hand move towards the gun strapped to his side.
Does he think I'm the enemy?
I swallow my discomfort and look away quickly. I stare out the dark windows of the van and my eyes widen with awe when I see the towering grey buildings that surround us.
In a way it reminds me of the city centre in the North city of Pluto. There are brilliant neon lights that form colourful images, plastered on large screens that are scattered everywhere. The language is unfamiliar to me and I guess it to be Japanese like Joon said.
We pass by vehicles of all shapes and sizes but they remain rooted to the roads by four wheels unlike the gliders that levitate on Pluto.
I watch the sidewalks, all piled up with people of all colours and sizes. The variations here are tenfold of what we had in the slave quarters.
I see tall dark skinned individuals walking in professional looking suits, they walk alongside fairer counterparts with silky straight dark hair and the same almond shaped eyes that most of the officers in this van have. And then there are those pale skinned people with striking blond hair that remind me of the Plutonians.
However, most of the people here have coloured their hair the most unique colours; pink, grey, silver. I see a group of young humans, who look to be around my age. Some hold small sticks to their lips, puffing out smoke as they breathe.
They carry backpacks and wear uniforms with short skirts. They laugh and talk to each other, not a care in the world for their surroundings.
I have never seen humans look so carefree before.
Something about them causes a stab of pain to pierce my gut and I turn away. I can't help but think that that could have been me if I hadn't been taken when I was seven.
"Look there's a family," Joon murmurs. He is transfixed on the people by the sidewalk as well.
In Pluto it is normal to see Plutonian families walking hand in hand in the city together but humans are not afforded the same luxury.
My heart skips when I see an older man hold on to his daughter's hand while they cross the street. The mother does the same with her son and I am reminded of my family immediately.
The impatience gnaws at my insides but it is slowly replaced by apprehension as we exit the city and turn down a two lane road that seems to be going no where. The drive feels like an eternity with no one talking, just staring and then I see a large white winged vehicle at a distance.
I notice there are many of them parked idly across the tarmac and a surge of panic rushes through me as I wonder if these are ships to transport us back to Pluto.
One of the officers talks into a small black, very crackly communicator device and I barely recognise the words she is saying but some ring a bell.
'Prisoner'. 'Alien'. 'Transport'.
That's all I manage to get out of her message. Remulus said the English I used to speak would start to ring a bell soon and I'm hoping the soon would come quicker.
It was extremely frustrating to not be able to talk to them.
They pull us out of the van and take us to a small stair case styled ramp that leads up to the large white ship. It has a huge oblong body with large wings that project from it's centre, spreading out its sides like wings. I've never seen a ship like this.
My feet dig into the ground, causing some resistance as the officer holding me tugs on my arm. Everyone points their guns at me immediately and I freeze.
"Are they taking us back?" I ask Joon and Remulus in panic.
"I don't think this is a spacecraft. Humans haven't evolved enough for space travel, remember?" Joon replies hesitantly.
His answer does little to comfort me as we are practically forced onto this large ship. There are two long aisles with plush leather seats bounded on either side. The dark haired officer forces me into one and straps me in like I did to Remulus before we landed.
Both Joon and I have an officer each to monitor us but I notice Remulus is surrounded by them. Almost six officers sit around him warily, unsure of what he is and how to deal with him.
Unlike us it is obvious he is alien with his pale skin, towering height and Plutonian features. The specks of silver hair that litter his head stand out now more than ever as he is surrounded entirely by humans.
A small screen by the wall lights up in front of us and I see an old grey haired man stare back at us. He is wearing a dull green uniform with medals decked across his chest.
"Welcome back."
I shoot up in my seat when I see his message translated into Plutonian at the bottom of the screen.
"My name is Maximus Evans and I am the Deputy Director of the Military Intelligence Corps. We head SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence division and I must say the pleasure is all mine to meet you."
I notice he looks at Remulus when he says this.
"Sir, with all do respect we do not have time for formalities. The aliens are going to invade planet Earth. We need to prepare. We need to save our families!" I cry out, relieved that a human can finally understand us.
"All in due time. We need to bring you back to the United States first," The deputy director dismisses me with a wave of a hand, not looking as bothered about my warning as I expected him to be.
"Just sit tight and brush up on your English. We will see you soon," He smiles at me and for a second it reminds me of Lazarus's smile when he first spoke to me during the introductory ball.
It causes a chill to run down my spine.
The screen immediately switches to images of plants and animals and all kinds of objects with words describing each of them below.
I cast a nervous glance at Joon and notice Remulus staring at me.
"They know Plutonian," He says and his words make both Joon and I shift uncomfortably.
We spend the rest of the flight watching the screens and brushing up on our forgotten language. After a while it comes back to me easily and I understand most of the words by the time we land.
I now know that the giant ride we took to get here was an aeroplane. We walk down the steps and I am surprised to see an entire fleet of army officers waiting for our arrival.
Unlike the sleek black uniforms with neon blue lines going down our sides, the officers here wear the same dull green uniforms as the deputy director who greeted us previously. Even though we are the prisoners here, they hold out their guns looking ready to fire on command.
It baffles me how wary every officer looks when we pass by, especially Remulus. They place us into a green truck and soon we are going down another lonely road into the middle of no where.
After a few hours of silence I make out a towering barbed fence up ahead. There is a large signboard bounded by the top, warning trespassers not to enter but the gates open for us without question.
It feels like another world inside here compared to the vast desert outside. There are numerous white buildings, all spotless, all heavily guarded by military personnel.
We stop in front of the square building right in front and are made to get out. The air here is dry and the dusty air stings my eyes. I have to squint to be able to see the small plaque attached to the wall by the door.
SETI
We are scanned from head to toe, made to walk through a disinfection chamber and then a young female officer guides us inside. Her voice is smooth and calming as she speaks English, the words clear as she tells us her name and that she will be taking us inside to freshen up and eat.
We walk along an endless tunnel of white with clear windows bounded on both sides. There are officers seated inside the rooms, they stare at us from behind their computers but no one moves.
We turn a left and then another till we reach a set of sealed doors.
"Aria, you may follow me. Both of you are to go that way," She points down the corridor to the wash rooms for men.
Joon stares at me for a long moment before he is ushered away by two male officers.
The female officer who introduced herself as Rachel gestures for me to follow. We pass by a set of showers and she hands me a fresh pile of clothes. She offers me some privacy and proceeds to leave but I grab her wrist stopping her.
"Can you help me find my family?" My words stop her short.
"I can find out about them but I doubt we'd be able to bring them here. I hope you understand," She says in a delicate voice, like she is addressing a toddler.
"I suppose," I answer in a clipped tone. I guess it's better than nothing. "My father's name is Alex Mabel Quinn, mother Angeline Quinn, brother Joaquin Quinn."
She nods her head. "Will get back to you on them."
She bids me goodbye and leaves me to my thoughts. I can't stop thinking about my family as the warm water cascades down my body to my feet. I dry up, put on the clothes provided to me and then exit the washrooms only to find Rachel waiting for me outside.
"You've found out already?" I ask her in dismay.
"It was easy to find their records. They were American citizens after all," She replies solemnly.
"Well tell me then," I urge, trying my best to keep my frustration out of my voice.
"Don't you want to eat first?"
"No, please I want to know now," I say stubbornly and she nods her head.
"I think it would be better if I showed you." She leads me down the white walkway, away from the dining hall and into a small cubicle.
She takes a seat and gestures for me to the do the same.
I sit down and glance at her hesitantly as she fiddles with a small contraption that sits on the centre of the metal table.
She presses a button and an image lights up the wall in front of us.
My heart leaps to my throat when I see a picture of my father just as I last saw him. All the memories that have faded in my mind over the years now come back to me like lightning.
My fingers tingle with excitement when I see my mother and then my brother.
Rachel clicks over and over again, replacing one image with another.
My eyes glaze over as I watch my parents smiling back at me but then I notice that the grey in their hair increases with every image and so does the hunch in their backs. The same goes for my brother.
The slides eventually end with three articles, each one an obituary, announcing the death of my family members.
My throat constricts so hard and my fingers clutch the table tightly in disbelief.
"I don't understand. It's only been twelve years," I choke out.
Rachel stares at me, a look of pity etched across her face. "Aria, its been twelve years on Pluto but almost seventy-seven years on Earth. Time works differently when you are on another planet. You are nineteen years old now but if you had remained on Earth you would be eighty four years old."
"No," I gasp, feeling lost and stupid and broken. Time works differently in space, I knew this and yet I've never thought about this circumstance before. "They're dead? All of them?"
"Your brother never had any offspring. They're all gone, Aria," Rachel tries her best to appear understanding but all she does is anger me.
I stand up straight, knocking the chair over and then I point at her accusingly.
"How do you know so much about this? How do you people understand Plutonian? What's going on?"
"Aria, calm down please."
My mind is scattered as I march to the door and twist the handle. I need to find Joon and Remulus.
I tug on the handle but it doesn't budge. The thing is locked. My body shakes as I start pulling and kicking at it frantically.
"Aria, calm down," Rachel repeats.
Just as I am about to turn around I feel something sharp pierce my neck and my vision goes blurry.
"I think it's time you met the deputy director," She whispers into my ears.
Heyy guys were any of you expecting the part about her family? I know some guessed it before.
Fun fact: In this story I'v calculated the time diff based on the fact that 1 Pluto day is equivalent to 6.4 Earth days which means Aria's 12 years on Pluto equals 76.8 years on Earth.
BUT
In reality we need to take Pluto's orbit into consideration. If we do that, 1 Pluto year equals 248 Earth years which means Aria is actually 2976 years older than when she first left Earth. If we consider Einstein's theory of relavity she would have aged at the same rate as on Earth and would have never made it to 1 year on Pluto. Anyway both scenarios don't suit my story so I chose to keep it at 76 years. Just a fun fact for u guys to know.
Take care guys and see u in the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed!