Well, I don't have much to say... other than a new chapter has arrived!

Kira rushed into the basement to find Sam frozen in complete surprise.

"U-uh... K-K-Kir-ra..." she stammered.

"Sam..." Kira said. "...like I said earlier... can you keep a secret?"

Sam looked at her. "This is what you wanted me to keep secret!? Are you out of your flippin' MIND!?"

"Look, you really need to trust me... they're not aggressive!" Kira said. "They're actually a lot like you and me!"

"What does that even MEAN!?" Sam asked. "These things... they're Xenos! They live to KILL!"

"But Aster has been genetically-engineered with human DNA, and it's made them docile!" Kira said.

"Aster? You seriously named them?" Sam said.

"Why wouldn't I? Aster's my mate... and the little one, Star, is my... daughter." Kira said.

Sam looked like she had just finished watching a circus freak-show.

"Uh... say what now?" she asked.

"It's true..." Kira said. "...Aster escaped from the lab he was at, where they performed torturous experiments on him, and he found me, specifically because... I was the only one who could understand what he says."

"What do you mean...?" Sam asked.

Kira cleared her throat. "Turns out that my brainwaves are identical to a Xenomorph's. It is a rare trait, but some people in the past have exhibited it, and the few who may have come across Xenomorphs, however... might not have been able to hear what they were saying, since native Xenos don't speak in any Earth languages."

"From weird to weirder in a manner of seconds..." Sam said.

"After a little while, we both came to be quite fond about each other... and I learned that I love Aster. I know it sounds weird, but it's the truth! It took me almost losing him to realize it! A short time after that, we... kinda..." Kira blushed. "...'went-at-it' with each other... and on the following day, there was an embryo developing inside me rapidly... and I didn't even notice until it started birthing on it's own."

"So... that's where..." Sam look at the Xenos. "...Star, is it... comes in?"

Kira nodded. "And ever since then, we've been living in peace and isolation, and I do whatever I can to keep them happy."

"But HOW are you so fine-and-dandy with the fact that you are the mate and mother of a pair of monstrous aliens!?" Sam said.

Kira looked at the floor while fidgeting with her leg.

"...I guess I could say that I've always had a knack for making non-human friends..." Kira said.

Sam raised a brow. "What do ya mean...?" she asked.

"When I was little, I was really shy and never wanted to interact with other students at school." Kira said. "It was always awkward for another person whom I was paired up with during certain activities."

"Sounds kinda like my li'l bro..." Sam said, obviously still very uncomfortable.

Kira continued: "By the time I entered middle school, I had fantasies about meeting the perfect guy. Of course, I was still pretty young, and under the whole 'dreams-do-come-true' illusion thanks to all the fairytales I was exposed to as a kid. Hell, I always thought I would be a princess when I grew up, and that I would marry a 'Prince Charming' sort of guy, and have our own castle. But still... I avoided people like the plague, which always led me to disappointment that I could never find a guy who returned my feelings. I always found myself getting along with animals better for some reason.

"Most of the time, I spent my free time in an empty park near my house... and there was always this stray dog that was wandering around. A black Labrador. After being careful with approaching him, I found out that he was actually quite gentle. He really loved to lick my hand and face. He didn't have a collar, so I assumed he was a stray. I named him Licorice. I would always carry a plastic bag at dinner sneak a portion of my food away with it, and give it to him whenever I visited the park after eating.

"After a little while, though, Licorice disappeared... and I didn't see him ever again. Needless to say, I was quite sad... and I hoped that he ended up with a good household, since my parents didn't want any pets in the house. But still, whenever we visited places with animals, like dogs, cats, horses, et cetera... my parents always remarked that I had a special gift with animals."

"Okay..." Sam said.

"So, what I'm trying to ask..." Kira began. "...could you just give me a chance to show you what they're like?"

"...W-well..." Sam stammered. "...I-I guess..."

"Okay. And Sam... please try to keep an open mind. I promise that they're not dangerous." Kira reassured.

Sam took a breath. "Alright..." she said.

With that, she started taking shaky steps towards the Xenos, and Star slowly approached her. Sam tilted her head slightly to examine the female Drone. Star did the same, almost mirroring her movement. Then, Star brought her head down a bit closer to Sam, and the human girl hesitantly raised her hand, reaching for the Xenomorph's head. She was extremely nervous about touching Star, and held back a few inches, but then Star leaned forward and nudged her hand.

Star crooned softly as she nuzzled her head into Sam's hand, and even started purring. Sam herself slowly began to rub Star's head as her eyes widened in surprise.

"Ahh... this feels nice..." Star said.

Kira smiled. "...I think Star's taken a liking to you." she said.

"Wow..." Sam said. "...she is pretty nice. Heh, she's almost like a cat!"

Aster stepped forward.

"Hey, don't I get a turn?" he asked, even though it was apparent that Sam could not hear neither him nor Star.

Sam shifted her eyes toward Aster as he knelt down with the top of his head facing her. She started rubbing his head as well, and he folded his hands while pressing her hand to his head. Petting both of the Xenos, and seeing them behave like common pets, was something that Sam found to be quite cute... even though she knew deep down that these creatures were meant to be feared. Regardless, she was not scared anymore.

Sam was effectively calmed down... especially with a bit of help from Aster, telepathically reducing her brain's stress-induced waves through mild hypnosis while she was petting both of them. Kira merely watched, overtaken by how adorable her mate and daughter were behaving.

Eventually, Sam returned to reality, and looked back at Kira.

"Wow..." she said. "...never imagined that Xenos would be so... nice."

"Yeah. Pretty cool, aren't they?" Kira asked.

"Totally!" Sam agreed. "So... you still want me as a flatmate? I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, and I'll keep that promise."

"Okay. But... could I get that in writing in our flatmate agreement?" Kira asked.

Both of them laughed.

"Well, if it's alright with you... I'm just gonna go run to my place and grab my stuff. And then I need to let my lease manager know that I'm moving out so I can get an estimate of the security deposit." Sam said.

"Okay so, see you soon?" Kira asked.

"Yep! In fact, I look forward to coming back!" Sam responded.

Without much more talking, Sam was off, driving back in the direction that they came. Kira was a bit excited to have a flatmate, given how little human contact she has had outside of school and work. This might be a good thing, she thought.

"So, I understand that you have accepted to have that individual as a resident of your household, correct?" SORIA asked Kira suddenly.

Kira looked back at the machine.

"Yeah." Kira said. "She needed a place to stay, so I figured I would let her have a look around... and take the risk to see if she was comfortable around Aster and Star."

"Have you not considered the fact that she may expose your secret to the outside world?" SORIA asked.

"Well, I mean... she promised not to tell anyone, so..." Kira trailed off. "...what do you think, SORIA?"

"From the speech patterns I recorded from her, as well as body language, breath rate, and pulse, I estimate a ninety-two percent chance that she was telling the truth." SORIA said.

"Well... I don't know how you could record all of that without special equipment..." Kira said. "...but that's good. At least I can rest easy about this."

"You cannot do that, Kira; there remains an eight percent probability that Samantha is lying." SORIA stated.

"Yeah... and that pretty much means she's not lying; a ninety-two is a solid A-minus. Besides, she knows how Aster and Star really are now." Kira said.

"Understood, Kira." SORIA said.

Kira looked off into the distance of the sunny sky.

"Really... I think this could be a good thing. I would definitely want someone else around besides just Aster and Star all the time. I mean, I love them both with all my heart, but... sometimes a little variation is nice." Kira said.

So, at least Kira was able to clear things up concerning Sam, right? But how are things gonna play out from here? Especially concerning that newspaper article? Well, guess we'll have to find out later on! Catch you all later! Keep holding on...