SIMON
“Because the air is toxic.” She said. Two-Thousand-Thirty-Three waved an elegant hand at the airy genera around us. Her black suit shined under the fluorescent lights, a glimmer ran along the movement of her arm.
“What about that documentary? Aren’t your organs the same as ours?” The Greys On Earth documentary had been streaming everywhere for two years. Everyone had seen it. It reignited the Right to take space discourse, waning now, but still insidiously dog-whistled throughout media.
“They are.” She smiled, a patient but tight thing. 2033 joined her hands behind her back in a practiced posture. The gleaming patent leather of her body-suit flashed with each movement.
“Then why can’t you breath the air?"
“I can and it is toxic.” She nodded slowly in line with the phrase. Her smooth helmet was as reflective as her slim uniform.
“What would happen?” I tried to politely maintain eye contact, though her face was difficult to make out through the tinted visor.
“The same thing that happens to you, rapid and widespread oxidation.”
Her words stunned me. I could only, “Uhh” in response. Her smiled widened in sincere humor.
“It’s natural. Your species uses that statement to justify continued exposure.”
“Why wasn’t that part of the documentary?”
“I prefer not to speculate.” She stiffened.
“I’ve never seen a human in one of those suits.” I said to both of us. The oxidation comment was still running through the grooves of my reasoning. She seemed to pick up on my subtext regardless.
“Have you asked each one?” A knowing chide was set in her tone, underneath the lilt of her maternal guiding.
I didn’t respond immediately. She was suggesting there was an entire subset of humans, dressed as ‘aliens’. Her words inferred a subculture existed in my species that media had refused to acknowledge, successfully. They ‘landed’ (or surfaced, depending on lineage) 3 years ago. Of course, some of us would start dressing like them, in retrospect it was painfully obvious. I was a victim of propagandic insinuation. I had been blinded by the volume of alternative facts and discourse.
TRISHA
“Let go of me!” I shrieked.
The scream reverberated off of the dirty grey and red bricks of the alley. It was dripping with filth in a light rain. The raindrops promulgated the fragrances of the refuse they fell on. Old lettuce, cat piss.
They held fast. Their black bodysuit squelched against my efforts to be released. I started to kick in my panic. This caused them to stand, grab my shoulder with the opposite hand. They were strong, and at least seven feet tall. I looked up into their visor, dappled with moisture reflecting the grey sky, like compound eyes.
“Your designation is a single digit!” He said, releasing me.
“I took three steps back, toward the street. I shook my head at him, my eyes a question.
“You are a treasure of history, for your species.” He explained. I took another few steps back, raising my hands defensively as he leaned toward me again. “Your designation is 7. Your constellation has been reincarnating since the first seven humans.”
“I- don’t believe in stuff like that.” I scoffed, moving onto the more visible sidewalk outside of the alley
“Your genome is priceless.” He begged.
At that, I ran across the street without looking back.
SYDNEY
“Just do it, I can’t believe you haven’t already.” Jessica teased in her bratty voice.
“What’s the point? It’s nonsense.” I insisted. I brushed my hair back, my rose conditioner made me feel cheap as its fragrance wafted with the movement.
“Aliens, from outer space, with crazy technology, say it’s real.” She argued.
“Exactly, from outer space. They aren’t from here. They didn’t even know what reincarnation was until they got here. It’s a human idea.”
“They just call it something different. Did you not watch that documentary?"
“I didn’t.” I responded in a flat tone, offering finality.
“You need to stop watching the news, it’s all propaganda.” She chided.
“The NEWS? The news is what’s happening, Jessica. It’s more real than getting irradiated by masked weirdos and told ‘you’re your grandma!’ Give me a break.”
I love the title for this. I'll be thinking on this one for a bit... Very interesting.