The Battle (2 page)

“But it's right over there,” she said pointing straight ahead.

Rusty grabbed a pair of binoculars and held them up to his eyes.

“Wow,” he said with surprise. “There is an octopus out there—but I can barely make it out—even with the binoculars. How are you seeing that?”

“It looks really close to me,” she answered.

Rusty made his way back to the cockpit and guided the vessel into what looked like an enormous underwater cave. Once fully inside, he brought the ship to a halt.

“Now, we wait,” he said.

“Wait for what?” Max asked.

“Not for what, but for who,” Rusty replied with a wink.

Suddenly the ship lurched upwards, as if a giant hand had just grabbed it from underneath and was lifting it up, up, up.

Tim could see they were indeed rising, like being on a supersized elevator.

After a few moments, they came to a stop, and the water around the ship began to lower.

“They're here,” Canary said as he turned to Rusty.

“Wait . . . Rusty,” Max whispered. “Do they . . . um . . . do they look different from us?”

“Well, Max, I do have to mention something very important,” he replied. “Whatever you do, don't look at their third eye. It's actually a laser beam that can turn you to mush.”

“What!” Max yelled out.

“He's kidding with you,” Luke said with a laugh. “Man, you are so gullible.”

Canary turned to Max and gave him a playful push on the shoulder.

“They look just like you—ugly as sin.”

Rusty walked to the hatch and began to enter some sort of code.

They heard a loud banging coming from the outside.

“Come in,” Canary jokingly called.

Tim felt a wave of panic rising in him. After all, he didn't know anything about these people. What if it had been a mistake to come here?

A few bells sounded, and the hatch began to rise slowly.

Luke stood in front, alongside his father and Canary.

Instinctively, Tim, Max, and Emily all reached for each other's hand.

As the door rose higher, Tim could see there were at least ten people outside it.

They were all dressed in white, clinical-looking medical jumpsuits that covered their heads. The whole suit actually covered their entire body.

“They're dressed that way for safety,” Luke said in a hushed voice as he turned to look back to his friends.

“Whose safety?” Tim whispered back. “Theirs—or ours?”

Before Luke could answer, one of the men boarded the ship.

“Welcome, everyone,” he said. “Welcome to Earth.”

This is going to be a huge shock for them.

“What is?” Tim asked as he looked at the man.

“I'm sorry young man, what did you say?”

“You said, ‘this is going to be a huge shock for them,' I just wondered what you meant.”

The man just stared at Tim with a confused, sort of surprised, expression.

Another person came onboard—this one looked more like a woman.

She walked past the other man and stood in front of Tim, Max, and Emily.

Up close like this, they could all see her face clearly now. She took a moment to look at each of them warmly and then softly spoke.

“Welcome home.”

Earth.

What a weird place.

One sun in the sky, green trees everywhere, and the bugs were so small, they actually gave Tim the creeps.

And everywhere he went, he kept thinking people were speaking to him. But when he would turn to look at them, they were not talking.

He was beginning to think he could read their thoughts. But that was crazy, right?

This planet was definitely going to take some getting used to.

Since their arrival a few days ago, Tim, Emily, and Max had been given a crash course about Earth. There were many similarities to Indus. But all Tim could see at the moment were the differences.

The group had been staying on a huge compound that consisted of one large glass building and other various structures that housed some of the planet's military operations and offices.

The glass building was where he and his friends were staying. Every single wall was a window, but you couldn't see in from the outside—Tim had tried. The building almost blended right into the sky.

They each had their own comfortable room there with a huge bed and a private bathroom.

Everyone was being super nice to them, treating them like they were extremely special. Tim was beginning to believe they were.

Just one thing bothered him: the place seemed to have an awful lot of security. There were guards everywhere, all across the compound, throughout the building, and outside every door—including his.

And if he had to find one other thing wrong with the whole set up, he would have to say the food. They ate strange things here on Earth. The things they called “hot dogs” bothered him the most. They were just gross. And peanut butter and jelly was beyond disgusting—the bread here was so sweet, like cake. Soda was strange, too. He imagined it was exactly what the acid tasted like in his school science experiments.

Each day they had been here they had attended some sort of class where they learned about their new planet. Max called it Earth School.

They had learned a lot already.

Tim couldn't believe that the planet had around 195 different lands, called countries. And each country had its own individual territories. America alone had fifty separate places that they called states.

What a difference from Indus and its five regions.

Earth also had a lot less water than Indus.

Water covered about 70 percent of the surface here.

Today's session was about the customs here.

One thing that Tim had already noticed was that everyone says hello like they are familiar with you—even when they don't know you at all. They learned that this is a nationwide phenomenon in America. You could be greeted by dozens of strangers as you walk down an average city street here—all smiling and waving at you—and not know a single one of them.

The speaker, whose name was John, also explained to them that when someone you don't know says, “Hey, how you doing?” it's more of a greeting than a question wanting an answer.

Max had raised his hand on that one.

“So you mean as I'm answering this person's question, letting him know how I'm doing, he's already gone?”

“Yup,” John had replied. “Long gone. It's basically as if he's saying ‘hi.' He most likely does not really want to know how you are actually doing.”

He also told them about holidays, which all seemed very odd to Tim.

Max couldn't get over the fact that in America, they stuff themselves with a crazy looking bird named Turkey.

Emily loved the whole story of Christmas but didn't understand how a pine tree with presents underneath was connected to it.

Tim was blown away at the one called Halloween where kids dress up as goblins and demand candy from strangers. It seemed like people on Earth trusted strangers a bit too freely.

With the session over, John looked exhausted. They had asked a lot of questions and still had more.

“I know there is a lot left to learn about Earth,” he said kindly. “But you will learn most of what you need to know firsthand—by living your new lives here.”

Tim liked John a lot.

He was patient and reassuring. Tim felt like he could really talk to him—trust him.

He quickly realized he had just admitted to himself that he now trusted a person who was basically a stranger.

Wow, he thought. I've barely been on Earth a week and I'm already acting just like them.

The facility had a huge yard in the center. Trees, grassy hills, and a lake right in the middle complete with fish and a few mean ducks.

Canary had stopped by Max's room earlier and asked him to meet him outside after lunch. As Max made his way outside, he could see Canary though the large floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the park area. He was tossing a ball up in the air and catching it with a big glove.

“Hey,” Max called over to him as he walked outside. “What's up?”

“Hey, yourself,” he said as he quickly threw the ball over to Max.

Max tried to catch it, but it whizzed right past him instead.

Canary threw another ball and this time Max caught it—but then it popped right in his hand.

“Whoa little man—you're strong!”

“I can't believe I just broke your ball—I'm sorry.”

“Sorry? Don't be sorry!” He laughed. “Haven't you ever had a catch before, man?”

“Uh, no. I guess not.”

“So there's no baseball on Indus?”

“Baseball . . . no.”

“Well, Max, today I'm going to teach you all about America's pastime.”

Canary picked up the bat and motioned for Max to move farther away.

“Okay, I'm happy to learn. But I have to know —what is your real name? It can't be Canary.”

Canary laughed.

“I don't share my real name with anyone. But I'm going to make an exception for you,” he said. “It's Spike.”

“What?” Max laughed. “You're kidding.”

“Yeah, I am. Now go stand over there and get ready to hit this ball with that bat.”

Max held the bat up and when Canary threw the ball, Max hit it—hard.

The ball flew out of the park and over the highest building.

“Max, you have quite the strength—you're like Superman or something.”

“Super—who?”

“Ha, never mind Max, just get ready for the next one, okay?”

He did what he was told, and when the afternoon was over, he realized it was one of the best days he ever had.

•••••

Emily was the last one left in the cafeteria.

Everyone eats so fast here, she thought to herself. She couldn't wait to see her sister Isabelle. She had missed her so much, and she was told that tomorrow they would get to see each other. Emily was so excited.

“I see you are the last customer,” a woman said from behind.

“Oh, hi, Stacey,” Emily said. “I'm sorry, I'll go now.”

“No, Emily, please don't,” Stacey pleaded. “I'd . . . I'd really like it if you stayed.”

Emily looked at her for a moment. It was strange. Stacey seemed sad, but also happy—all at the same time.

“Stacey, are you alright?”

“Yes, honey, I just thought maybe we could talk awhile. You and your friends have been through so much.”

Emily thought a moment and realized she did need to talk—and not to boys. She missed her mom on Indus terribly and being with Stacey made her feel a bit better.

They began to talk. The words came easy. And before either of them knew it, several hours had passed.

It was nice to have a new friend, Emily thought.

They would all have special visitors today.

Family was coming to see them—real family.

Emily and Tim joined Max in his room to talk about it.

Max nervously paced back and forth.

“I'm not sure how I feel about this,” Max said. “I mean I'm not sure I want to meet them.”

Tim had to admit that he agreed.

“I know what you mean, man—we don't know these people at all.”

Emily jumped up off the bed where she was sitting and walked to the huge pane of glass overlooking the lush gardens below.

“I'm excited,” she said with a huge smile. “I get to see Isabelle today.”

Tim and Max walked over to her.

“We're really happy for you,” Max said. “Group hug?”

Emily laughed out loud and grabbed them both around the neck for a squeeze. They hugged her back.

“Ouch, Max,” Emily teased. “You have a really strong grip.”

Then there was a knock at the door.

Max walked slowly over and opened it.

John was standing there.

“Okay, guys—it's time.”

“Two guys and a girl,” Emily chided.

“Oh, of course, Emily,” John laughed. “It's a saying here on Earth—saying ‘okay, guys' can refer to both girls and boys.”

Emily chuckled.

“Okay then, let's go, girls,” she said gesturing at them.

“Um, well, it doesn't really work that way,” John said. “Like I said, there's a lot more to learn.

They all laughed.

The three friends followed John down the long hallway to the elevator. They got on and took it to the highest level where there was a large meeting room.

When the doors opened, they entered into a beautiful sitting area with a waterfall in the center.

“This is our stop,” John said as he exited.

Tim, Max, and Emily didn't budge.

John turned to face them.

“I know this is hard, but I promise it won't be as hard as you think.”

Something about that statement made them all feel better, and one by one, they stepped off the elevator.

John led them over to a comfortable set of couches and motioned for them to sit down.

“Okay, here's how this is going to go,” he began. “Someone will come and take each of you to a separate room where you will meet your parents.”

“My sister, Isabelle, is here, right?” Emily anxiously asked.

John smiled.

“Yes.”

Max put a gentle hand on Emily's back, and then turned to John.

“How long will we be with them?”

“It's completely up to you,” John responded. “No one is being forced to do anything they are not comfortable with. You will remain here at this facility, and if you want to go stay with them for a visit, that is encouraged. The goal is to eventually let you go back home—to live.”

“Home?” Max said wistfully. “Home feels pretty far away right now.”