"He won't do it." Horace thought after seeing the face of the man on tv.
One can learn a lot about the person who's speaking by just looking at how they present themselves, or how their face is set. If one's moving too much, they might be nervous. If one's avoiding eye contact, or has a glassy look in the eyes, they're lying. If one's avoiding certain questions, or acting evasive, they're keeping something back. For the man on tv, most this was present. The glowing, golden-yellow eyes, that had a single, black pupil in their centers, were very glassy; they were also darting all over the place. The face, which was half dark blue and half yellow, looked close to sweaty. The big body, while still behind the podium, was giving off an aura of uncertainty. And the one who owned all of this was either refusing to answer certain questions or avoiding them by speaking of something else. Even though this was being seen by him, the man was still going on about how he was planning to make settlements on the major continents of the eastern hemisphere.
Despite his belief on what he just thought, he didn't speak. The apartment around him was quiet. If not for the heater being on, he would of felt cold; it was sure cold during the periods where the temperature dropped between September 12 and 15, and then again between the sixteenth and yesterday. Even though he and his wife had jobs, and worked during the peak daylight hours, they still experienced the erratic weather that happened last week. The weather this week, so far, was taking both a similar and not similar route. He couldn't help but feel an extra drag because of it; the weather being back to unpredictable, he and his family's living situation, and what was going on overseas was making him feel depressed and he couldn't do anything to stop it.
If he had spoken his depression to one who didn't know who he was, or what he went through from May of last year to January of this one, he would of heard the usual. Oh, you and your family have just gotten through in getting settled in a new place and have to get use to regular routine. Oh, you're just blue because you've yet to find your niche here. Oh, you just came home from work and are just coming down from the stress that your job throws you. In reality, he would of told the ones who said any of that, his depression was a lot more dense than that. Deep down, he knew it came from his former career and his knowing that his people were suffering and that he could do nothing to help them.
Last year, he was called the President of the United States while, this one, he was called a simple postmaster. All day, he delivered mail and drove a truck from one residence to another; the idea of getting a job for one of the country's governments had come to him but, with his back issues, he knew he couldn't do so. Why get a job in government when you can't keep up, or are so fraught with pain that you can't come in or do what's expected of you? Yes, with his experience in being a senator for Kentucky, and a Navy officer, he would be an asset to Germany's government but why bother when his back was giving him the issues that it was.
He had only just started acting as the CEO of the United States when that bastard Vile swooped into the shield then sent him, and most of the people who worked the capital, into hiding. He and his family, and the ones who fronted the Legislative and Judicial branches and their families, went into hiding in the catacombs and bases that were under Mount Rushmore for nearly a year before deciding to move after seeing that their safe haven was being encroached upon; after being helped into Germany, they were given a medical check-up before being given fully furnished and stocked lodgings and then some money to get on their feet. Some of them found jobs right away, while others were either slow in doing so or decided to retire. Some of them stayed in Germany, while others moved to some other country then settled in to living there. While the temptation was there for him and his to move after them trolls started flooding the shields, then fighting the German military, he decided to keep them here and continue as is. While his wife, who worked previously as a dress designer, was back to her old trade, and the girls were back to being in school and learning what they needed to survive academically, and seemed to be happy with their lives, it took him a while to find work and he was now no longer happy with how things were going.
"The welfare of my people, and what's going on with them now that they're being ruled by that alien, was on my mind earlier this year... after the man decreed that others in the Universe could move in, then settle in among the ones who I use to govern over, and then abandoned them to everyone's mights, it started to be felt more." Horace thought while leaning back in the chair that was in the apartment's living room.
Winifred, his wife of eighteen years, was the one to call him over when Master Vile declared that the Americas were open for alien inhabitation. While he watched what was being shown on tv, and started worrying about both his people and the ones who were to move in among them, his wife shook her head then sat beside him. Their daughters saw the news the following day and felt the same as they did on what was to happen with the continent, and its neighbor, that they use to live on. It was very much like they were attending church when the broadcasts were done on the aliens that moved in—once something was seen on the news pertaining to the Americas, they sat before the tv then said not a peep on what they were seeing until after it was over. From what last night's news claimed, there were around fifty-five alien families, and about ten single-living aliens, in the Americas now; each were not able to leave and were being subjected to constant abuse by the ones who didn't want them on their soil. Master Vile was putting more concern in on the structures that were built during his reign; he didn't seem to be showing a care towards either the ones who moved into the Americas or the ones who he ruled over initially.
"If it was I in his place, I'd of stop all of that from happening. The ones who move in would be welcomed warmly, would receive some sort of help if they found themselves as struggling, and wouldn't be subjected to what's going on. Granted, there would be some who'd disgrace them, and want them nowhere near them or have any association with them, but most everyone else would be cool and calm towards them—a steady leader would help them, where one who's more focused on material things wouldn't." he thought after the first dozen alien families moved into the Americas then started experiencing the stresses that the ones who lived around them were throwing them.
With no way to gain the United States back to his control, he couldn't help a soul who lived there. All he could do was do as he was here then watch what was broadcast on the news on what was going on overseas. According to President Leinart, a man who he had spoken with twice before finding himself as having to move to Mount Rushmore, and who he met once just after winning the bid for his country's presidency, all of what happened on the eastern hemisphere stayed on the eastern hemisphere—the ones who lived over here could see and learn about what was going on overseas but the ones overseas couldn't see or learn about what was happening here. While Master Vile knew he was here, he couldn't get in to retrieve or cull him and he couldn't follow up with anything that he threatened the various governments over here with. All of what he said was hot air; nothing but, which was why he was taking this new declaration of alien settlements being made with the intention of integrating the European, Eurasian, and Island peoples with the ones of non-Earthly descent so lightly.
"Don't suppose you have a system here where, after the usurper passes, or decides to up and abandon the areas in his control, the oldest descendant of the one who was formerly in control of them areas can come in then assume command?" he remembered the one who his planet's heroine was married to saying.
"People from the olden times did that, yes." he recalled replying.
"I'd resurrect that practice, teach it to your children, then either in-act it yourself when my nephew looks to be growing bored with the Americas or have one of your children's descendants do it."
His trip to see the Irene's was mostly done to see if he could gain a powerful ally who'd help him in getting the Americas back to the control of the ones who had them last. All while driving to Elchesheim-Illingen, he coached himself on how to speak to the man, and how to present himself towards him; while he told himself to expect some opposition, and maybe some back-talk, he also convinced himself that if the man was his heroine's husband then he was good and would help him. What he got when he got to the residence that his heroine and her family lived in was far from what he expected—the alien refused to help him, and he also told his wife that she could no longer step in to help the ones who saw her as their heroine. All while driving back to the apartment that his family lived in, he wondered if the alien was really married to Miss. Irene, or if he was working in Master Vile's favor by telling her what he did. Some husbands were so dominating that their wife's literally jumped at their every word for fear of being abused—Miss. Irene looked to be in good health, and had not a scratch or bruise on her; with her being who she was, he doubted if she was letting herself succumb to the fear of a probable abusive husband.
Miss. Irene's husband claimed to be living on one of the planets that were in Master Vile's control... this, in itself, didn't sound right. Why was the man living on a planet that Master Vile had control of, and why was he moving his family to said planet? Yes, thanks to his daughters, and Jose Garcia's oldest son, he knew of the impending move and, yes, he was saddened over it and concerned for the ones who were to be apart of it—along with worrying about the alien being too overly dominating towards the ones who he said were family to him, he worried that he was to force them into being citizens of Vile's and then force them from being the good people that they were.
It took him three days to go to the library in Karlsruhe and then look up the information on past rulers who descended from one who was usurped by someone. He was surprised by what he found. While he knew that Oliver Cromwell usurped Charles II after Charles's father, Charles I, was beheaded, he didn't find a single thing on it in the books that he looked at. Oliver Cromwell was one of the key figures who put Charles I away; it was said that he took to being Lord Protector, or ruler of England, Scotland, and Ireland, soon after Charles was beheaded and that he had little trouble in saying yes. Oliver was also said to of prevented Charles II from returning to power; Charles lived in exhile in mainland Europe for up to nine years before returning to England then being given his inheritance—the crown. Charles II only regained the crown after Oliver's death and his son abdictated the position that his father succeeded him. Even though Charles had several children, none ascended the throne after their father died—most were by illegitimate means, while the ones bore to him by his wife were miscarried; many years down the road, after the son of Queen Elizabeth II died, his oldest son, William, who descended from two of Charles's illegitimate sons, was crowned king of England.
Even though he knew this, he found nothing on it in the library. Due to the events of the third World War, where certain solidiers had a field day in going into librarians or other structures where documents were held, then took and destroyed what they found of what the scholars who did vast research on the olden days created, hardly anything from back before the seventeen hundreds was known anymore. With this known to him, he sat back then lavished on the chore that he was told to do and that he didn't want to do; when he left the library two hours later, he felt ten pounds heavier and ten years older. It took him a few weeks to tell his daughters what was going on and that one of their descendants might need to take over where he left off before Master Vile came in to mess things up. Of his daughters, it seemed that Ashleigh was the one who looked up to the part in doing this—he overheard her one day saying that she wasn't to change her surname when she married and that she was going to do her best to get her children to retain her name over that of their father's.
"Didn't the guy who came over here a few days ago shake his head at the area that was wanted to be flattened of what was in it then leave?" Rebecca, his oldest daughter and child, who was closing in on eighteen, asked after the news broadcast ended.
"Yeah... Odd fellow, who seemed to be just as nervous as he was short." Ashleigh, who just turned fourteen, replied.
"The other men who he sent to this side of the planet to get the areas that they looked to be assigned in flattening, and preparing for construction, left either soon after seeing what they appeared near or did a little bit of work on what they were given before shaking their heads then leaving too." Winifred, his pretty Hawaiian wife, who Ashleigh took after most, said.
"Which makes me wonder why the man doesn't come to facts in leaving this side of the planet be. It's very apparent that no construction will happen here, and that no aliens will be moving over here." Horace said.
The man, from what he could tell, was free-picking the areas and then throwing out instruction for them to be worked on. The areas that he chose to be worked on were in steep valleys, near certain water sources, close to where the shields were, and on mountain peaks—all that were topographically unstable for any form of steady living. He wondered if the man was frustrated over hearing that his contractors weren't able to clear or fix them up, or if he was plain ignorant to the fact of their not being able to sustain a suitable living space for any degree of people to live on or in for any span of time. From what he was able to discern on the news last week, the man was intent on "starving" the nations in the eastern hemisphere—the tunnels that Miss. Irene made many hundreds of years ago, which connected mainland Europe and Eurasia with the island nations, were under "heavy" seige by his troops. They were using this submarine like thing to fire at them, and make them cave in on themselves; so far, they were holding up and repelling what was being cast at them. Pretty much everyone agreed that anything the man did to "starve" Europe, Eurasia, and the eastern hemisphere islands was for nothing, himself and his family included.
"Maybe the continuous issues that are happening over here, in his not being able to go with his "ambitions" in turning some of this part of the planet over to the ones who aren't of this world, will cause him to raise the flag then leave." Horace thought before shutting the tv off then turning to tell his family it was time to go to bed.
Surprisingly, between the hours of October 18 and the morning hours of the following day, there was a change of either mind or heart going on with Master Vile's plan. According to the news, Master Vile dropped his interest in wanting to make any type of settlements in the eastern hemisphere. The man just said that he'd deal with it on another day when the question was presented on when he'd go for another try. The man was to now "concentrate" on the issue that was happening in Canada and New England—while details were vague, the reporter did say that it was medical in origin. This caused him to think that some of the aliens were bringing strands of unknown viruses to the planet and then letting them spread by normal, innocent means—coughing, sneezing, etc.
Following the consumption of breakfast, then watching the news, they got ready to go to work and school. Naturally, the apartment was locked up when everyone left; after doing two hours of early-morning mail deliveries, and worrying about the funnels that were dropping from the sky only to return to their source, he decided to go home and see what was going on with the fridge. When he saw that they were low on some things, but fine on others, he nodded his head then left to continue delivering the mail. About thirty minutes later, he found himself as stopping the mail-issue truck that he was given then getting out—he started following the two men that he just happened on... one that he knew while the other he didn't.
Even though he hung back from them, he kept himself within hearing distance; who knew, maybe they were talking on something that he needed to know, or that needed to be known by someone who had better pull where he was.
"You sure we should be out here? With the sky looking the way it does, and them unstable twisters forming—" the taller alien, who had dark blue skin, and wasn't wearing a tuxedo, started asking his companion.
"Been three days of our experiencing them funnels; think with the weather being the way it is, nothing will form or cause any damage. We should be safe." his planet's heroine's so-called husband replied.
"Been keeping my eye on the sky since the sixteenth... Think I'm about to get jiggy-legged with all the weather changes that're taking place." the first alien said.
"Know what you're saying. Feel the same way." the second one replied.
Which was only accelerating his need for wanting his family from the planet. While the weather on Moas was sometimes annoying—the near-constant, nine months out the year seventy to seventy-seven degree temperatures were good, but the two to three ocean storms that blew in made a mess and did cause one to lose some sleep—, it was better than what was happening here. Least the ones who lived on Moas didn't have to worry about the sudden change in the weather, or about changing their plans because of its erratic behavior. The same went with the ones who forecast the weather; least they didn't have to worry about their predictions being wrong, or their not being able to keep up or do as they were employed to do.
For the last three days, his family had stayed home and "cooped" up. Even Angel was staying home, which was a good relief to him and Efagti—the last they needed to worry about was if one of the unstable funnel's actually touched down, became stable, then went straight for her workplace. Angel was doing her best to keep Eshal busy, while the boys were doing well in doing the same. Books were being read, tv was being watched, the models were being built, music was being listened to, and, of course, Hazaar was keeping a good eye on the window nearest him. The only one in the house that wasn't preoccupied, or keeping things to a low during this stressful time, was his brother. Efagti, while cooling out towards the boys on the sixteenth, returned to snapping at them for the strangest of reasons—for going down to use their Cave's weights, for playing the game systems in the living room after receiving permission to do so, for talking simple things at the table, and for leaving certain things lying about in the kitchen and dining room. Efagti had actually gotten on Guyunis the other day after he stepped on Sabine's tail—there was no cause in his doing that, since it was his fault in doing it. Seeing as things were getting a bit out of hand with his brother, and that Angel was now talking about sending him home, he decided to take him for a walk in the nearby city of Karlsruhe and then discuss with him what was wrong.
He agreed with Angel. Efagti wasn't being himself. Both he and his wife had pinned the issue on different things; Angel claimed that it revolved around what was going on with his father, while he said it was more mental and physical and based around his present living conditions. Cheshire, from what he read in the papers, and heard over the phone, was doing well—he had recently shown proof of his innocence over what happened with his mine, and was close to having the court cases between him and the families of his deceased workers be worked out. The man was, more or less, turning most of his attention towards the one who jipped him on some cash and tried to make it seem that he was the guilty party. By the time he and his family left Earth, Cheshire would be back to mining, and his overseer might be seeing jail-time.
The house wasn't ideal for a family of nine to live peacefully in. While everyone was co-existing, there were tensions that he thought a bigger residence would even out. The personalities in the house were different, yes, which was normal, but for them to clash like they were for the last month wasn't. Efagti was using his phone to talk with his parents on a twice daily basis, and his portable computer to keep some sort of conversation going on with his siblings once a day, and was getting spell-sent mail from his friends who knew where he was and what he was doing; with this being known, he knew that the issue didn't lie in his plain missing home, his family, or friends. Judging by how some of Bile and Lhaklar's pornographic magazines were found in the room that his brother was given to sleep in, he thought the issue lie in simple stimulation—Efagti wanted to, but was keeping himself from doing it and, thus, putting himself through some stress.
"If that's the problem, I'll have a hard time in not laughing." TazirVile, who knew nothing of his or his brother's follower, thought.
It wasn't hard to imagine the stress that his brother was going through if that was what was wrong with him. On the twelfth, when he decided to take him out for a simple stroll of the house's neighborhood, he was treated to seeing some of what he thought was going on. The women were eyeing him, and two came up to speak to him—they forgot all about him, who they probably knew was married and unavailable, but they took a keen interest in his brother, which he thought was hilarious in a twisted sort of way. The human females were showing their curious side, which was only natural. He wondered if the ones overseas were experiencing this, or if the humans were completely oblivious of their curiosity because of the vast hate that they felt over someone who wasn't of their own kind moving in among them; with the way things were over there, he wouldn't be surprised if the latter was happening. Things were so out of hand over in the Americas that he was shocked over Vile's decision to both concentrate on making places over here for peoples of other worlds to move into and cripple the nations that he couldn't get into by removing the underseas trade routes—while one was now no longer being done, the other was. Vile was intent on hurting the eastern nation countries and was using up a lot of fire power and resources to do it.
"Take it that you didn't notice the light that went on downstairs last night?" Efagti asked.
"Light? What light?" TazirVile replied.
"A red one." Efagti said.
"No. Never noticed it. Once I was in bed, I went to sleep."
"It was red, and quite vibrant, which makes me believe it came from your wife's hair."
"Which is absurd. Angel, like myself, fell right to sleep right after after getting in bed." TazirVile said.
"You sure she didn't slip out undetected?" Efagti asked.
"With seeing how my arm was around her when I went to sleep, and it still being around her when I woke up, yes."
Even though they had only just resumed sleeping in the same bed, he knew his wife's habits well. Once she went to bed, she stayed in bed. She didn't get up to use the bathroom, get a drink of water, or do some exercise after finding herself unable to go to sleep. If they had sex, or did any playful actions, she stayed where she was; he didn't know what his brother was talking about and, honestly, he thought he was seeing things. The house was quiet last night, and all of the children were in bed and doing as they should, and so were he and his wife. It seemed that the only one to not be doing as he should, which was sleeping, was Efagti.
This didn't come as a surprise to him. Efagti was known to be a light sleeper, and to make the decision to either sit up after finding himself as unable to go to sleep or move around some. Maybe a car, that had red headlights, pulled into the neighbor across the street's parking space and he saw it or something—up to that moment, he had heard nothing of no one seeing any red, vibrant lights in the house.
"Lazeer told his friends that you and yours are to move next month." Efagti said, jogging him from his thoughts.
"Yes, I know." just before the funnels started being seen as forming, but not touching down, his youngest son called his friends then told them what was to happen to him and his family in November. He couldn't be happier of his boy; instead of begging him to let him keep his friends, or have some sort of way to keep in contact with them, he was telling them that they'd have to go on with life without him. From what he could tell, the Kassmeyer twins took the news well. Mr. Mendelsohn, on the other hand, did get a bit emotional when the news was broke; Eli got over his hysteria, and agreed to continue being friends with Lazeer until the move was made.
"Have Bile, Lhaklar, and Guyunis done so?" Efagti asked.
"Think Lhaklar gave his friends the news on what's to happen in November yesterday. Guyunis is too attached to Giovanni to tell him, and Bile's friends found out through Hazaar what's going on." TazirVile replied.
"Going to talk to Guyunis about how he is with Giovanni, and how he'll need to forget him when the move's made?"
"In the coming days, yes."
Horace gasped, then ducked behind the tallest thing that could obscure him after one of the two men turned to see if they were being followed. TazirVile, after seeing that the street behind him and his brother was empty, turned back then continued walking. Once the issue on the boys' friends being told that they couldn't keep being what they were with his sons was disclosed, he and his brother spoke on something else. Efagti focused on Vile next, then on the funnel that was seen as forming to their east, which went back into the sky before it could settle on the ground, then again on Vile before going quiet. They spent around ten minutes of saying nothing to one another; they just walked, and took in the sights, and the funnels that tried to form but only failed to do so, before he decided to ask what he wanted to. Efagti, as was only natural of a man who was discovered of something, jumped after his question was asked.
"I don't mean to get on everyone as much as I am. I'm only trying to help out, and do things to keep my mind off things." his brother said.
"The women of this planet seem to have a good eye for you. Noticed enough when we were walking through the neighborhood that the house is in—they like you, and are curious." TazirVile said.
"I don't necessarily like them as in wanting to date or marry them, but I've felt a pull in wanting to try one before I leave next month." Efagti confided.
"Why don't you? Maybe it'll help—you're stressed out because of your need, and are letting it show on your family."
"I really don't mean to be the way I am with the boys, Tazir. If you were in my shoes, would you engage one of the women on this world or muster through your troubles and then take care of them after moving back home?" Efagti asked.
"If I was single, and had no children to worry about, I would consider it. Some of the women on this planet are right attractive, but none compare to Angel." TazirVile replied.
"Gave me a scare there until you mentioned your wife's name."
"There's just no comparison to my wife when another woman's involved."
"Take it that, if I do it, you'd want me to speak none of it to no one, yourself included?" Efagti asked.
"I see no wrong in you speaking small bits on what you do with who you choose to take your curiosity out on, but, do please, keep it between us and leave Angel, the boys, and Eshal, in the dark on it." TazirVile replied. "Might need to do the same with your parents, and siblings."
"Alright. Think, when the weather shapes up, I'll see who I can find then go with my impulses."
"Do her good, but use a condom... or the spell, or potion. The last you need is a hybrid child from one of these people."
"True that!"
Horace, who had heard enough of what the two men, who he thought were perverts, were saying, turned then went back to his truck. In his mind, he was appalled by the notion of the Irene boys being forced into forgetting their friends, and of their friends forgetting them, and of his heroine's husband thinking that he had enough pull to make both parties do this. Why, when he and his family were moving after he won the presidency, he made sure that his girls retained their friends and had a way to see and interact with them. Winifred was given the same opportunity, and right, to keep and see her friends. While people did move away, and establish new friends, and either grew distant from their old ones or dropped them, most did have a wish to keep their old friends and were allowed to make ways to keep in contact and see them; he saw no reason in the Irene boys not being allowed to keep their friends, or being allowed to stay in contact with them. If anything, he thought he just witnessed a form of what his planet's heroine, and her children, had to face when the eventual move to whatever planet the alien was moving them to was done.
While the thought of alien-human hybrids disgusted him, and the thought of what could befall the woman who the one alien decided to have a go with both during the deed and after the could-be pregnancy was noticed and then came to a close concerned him, he was more disgusted by the air that the husband of his planet's heroine carried around him. He shook his head after getting in his vehicle then cursed himself for thinking that the guy might help in him getting the Americas back—after hearing what he just did, he wanted no help by him in anything.
"Wonder if all them non-Earthly ones think the same way as he." Horace thought while continuing with his mail route.