Chapter 6

Visitors

Part 2

Author's Note: Well, this piece has a bit of prophecy in it. I didn't intend for there to be prophecy, but sometimes these pieces write themselves!

Okay, so here are some details for the next few chapters. Chapter 6 will end next installation with THE kicker. Yeah you're going to have to wait a little more for it. Chapter 7 will start the stage set for what Melissa will be doing for the rest of the story. Chapter 8 will be featuring a totally new story with totally new characters which will be entering the main story well into the future, same with 9. And then Chapter 10 will be featuring Christopher Johnson talking to the leaders of the home world. You will be getting front stage seats to a catastrophic mistake he makes.

So there is something I really, really need feedback on. The next few chapters will be really long, each one. They cover vast spans. Chapter 8 alone will be documenting almost two decades of the lives of the new characters from early childhood to the present. So…. Do you want really long chapters or would you prefer what I did for chapter 6, which is cut it up into parts? Both will take about the same time to write, but with pieces you'll get it quicker. However pieces can be a bit cumbersome and it may seem like it will take forever to get to the end of a chapter. Nah, forget it. I'll just put up the entire chapter after chapter 6 because cutting things up will just confuse me too much. So expect some really long chapters in the future. I hope you enjoy this installment!

Two cars were driven from Melissa's apartment to Emmie's apartment. Melissa thought it would be best to pick up her mother separately from James picking up his sister so no confusion would occur. Melissa did not want to give Amanda the impression that she got a new boyfriend. While James felt no problem with giving Melissa's mother such an impression (something he kept to himself) he did not want Miranda to scrutinize her. When they arrived at the apartment the first task was to change the comforter on the bed. Emmie had a light gray comforter, and preferred lighter colors, while Melissa was drawn to darker ones. The gray was replaced with a rich, purple one and Emmie was allowed to rest on her bed.

Then Melissa and Japes started cleaning. A load of laundry was put in the washer, and Melissa set out to clean the bathroom and instructed James to wash the dishes, sanitize the counters, throw out any expired food in the fridge and sweep and mop the floor. James complained, asking how it could get this bad if they had only recently moved. The answer was they were only in and out so nothing was cleaned, things just piled up.

Melissa asked him what his sister was like and why he abandoned the family profession and hose to become a doctor. He explained that his family expected the children to go through the academy and become officers in the Army. From the civil war on his ancestors, with a few exceptions, always followed this protocol. His father expected both Miranda and James to become officers, and taught them strict discipline. Their rooms were orderly and spotless, their GPA hovered from 3.8 to 4.0 and they were active in ROTC, athletic competitions, debate clubs, and other extracurricular activities. Their destiny was written before they were born.

But one day when James was 17 the course was diverted. That morning James had been late getting up. He stayed up until two studying for the SAT. Even though the practice exam placed him in the upper 1400s he wanted to place higher. He slept through his alarm clock and when he got up he only had a half an hour to get to school. This morning he drove a little less cautiously, a little faster. He had a presentation that made up a quarter of his grade and being late had grave consequences attached to it.

At an intersection a few blocks away from school he was struck by another vehicle. He waited for the green light, impatient as the clock counted down for class to start. The light turned green and James slammed on the gas. As he went through the intersection another driver went through a red light and crashed into the passenger door of James' car. The momentum carried the vehicles several yards, yet James was able to open his door and walk out. He called for an ambulance, he called the cops, he called the school, and his father. He saw that there were people in the car, a man and two children.

In the back he could see a little girl. He couldn't tell if she was pinned or not, but he saw blood running from a gash in her head. He did not know what to do. Crash the window and try to stop the bleeding? She looked five or six, and she suddenly looked at him, and he wondered why she did not scream out in terror. He saw the pain in her face, and he waited. Where was the ambulance? The fire engines? She cried, and swallowed a lump in her throat. He watched as she died, fading as the seconds passed. By the time the ambulance arrived the man was in critical condition and his two girls, 7 and 9 years old were already dead.

The man lost his job three years ago and stayed home, looking for a job while his wife worked. After a year she disappeared, left the country with a man she worked with. He desperately looked for anything that would pay for rent, for food, and ended up with a paper route and a job as a gas station cashier. He worked eight hour shifts during the day and had about 150 deliveries to make every morning working from 1am to 6 or 7 am. He did everything to make sure his kids were provided for. He took them to school between jobs, made sure they were safe afterwards, tried to make sure their diet was healthy and their clothes were clean and new. But after two years that morning he fell asleep while driving them to school. James followed up on the man a year later. He spent a month in the hospital, lost his work, lost his children, and landed over $100,000 in medical bills. A few months after his release from the hospital he jumped off a skyscraper and died.

The little girl hunted James. She was in his dreams, and in the faces of children he saw walking by, their hands in their parents as their parent talked, played and scolded them. He told himself there was nothing he could have done. The light was green, the other driver was asleep, the ambulance took too long. But he thought about his destiny: to protect the interests of the United States by ordering troops to kill people. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, and undocumented battles kept from the eyes of the citizens. He would be creating more and more corpses, more children bleeding to death in the street. James dropped out of ROTC and began studying for medical school.

Unlike James, who was involved in a tragic accident, Miranda took everything her father taught her to heart. Obedience, loyalty, and discipline were her creeds. Unlike James, Miranda's vision to her destiny never wavered. She had a goal from her childhood, and she went after it relentlessly: to keep her feet off of the ground and to swim in an ocean of air. She did not care who got in her way, or who she would hurt to gain the privilege of getting onto an F-22 to perform whatever her masters, the government, wanted her to do. Her father wanted her to become an Army official, but she kept course to her own goal. Because she kept to her vision, even though she became an Air Force officer instead of an Army officer, she achieved one of the highest accolades in the land: one of the first female pilots to man the F-22, the most advanced human designed aircraft on the planet. Though her father was disappointed at her choice, he felt it was her calling because she excelled at it. She was the pride of the family.

There was something strange going on: the United States Air Force was deploying one of its best pilots to South Africa. The US and South Africa were preparing a buildup of forces in anticipation for the return of Christopher Johnson and forces from his home world. As James explained what was going on Melissa felt her lungs contract, and felt as though she couldn't breathe. No wonder James expected the aliens to be hostile; his own father was drawing up the battle plans for their arrival!

When she woke up she found herself on the couch in the living room. James had finished with the living room and was vacuuming the floor in the bedroom. A third load of laundry was drying and the garbage was stacked high with used paper towels and expired food. Melissa felt juxtaposed, her mind washed with vertigo. She should be cleaning the apartment and getting ready to pick her mother up from the airport, such a thing was difficult enough. But there were alien warships on the way, or there weren't, but humans were preparing for them. What could she do? Could their armies fight against another planet? They were taking a hostile stance when they should be preparing for a diplomatic solution. They couldn't fight a race capable of traveling the vast spaces between galaxies! She felt as though James' father would be ushering the extinction of their species.

James had worked silently while she slept on the couch. The only thing left was to put away the clothes and dishes, take out the garbage and switch out pictures and memorabilia to hopefully convince her mother this was indeed her home. Once the stage was set she and James left for the airport with just enough time left over to greet the visitors at the gate.

James and Melissa arrived at slightly different times, since they both left in separate vehicles. Melissa planned on taking her mother to the apartment to set her things aside and then take her to breakfast. James was going to meet Miranda and the fact that they would be at the same airport picking up relatives at the same time would just be coincidence.

But as she made her way to the baggage carousel she found something truly strange and her hands started trembling in utter shock. Her mother was there and Melissa felt a surge of joy to see her again even though only weeks passed since the last time she saw her. But Amanda was not alone. James was talking to her and a woman who Melissa instantly knew was his sister. So much for keeping things simple. Melissa approached them and as her mother noticed her approach she gasped and said "here she is." Amada embraced her daughter warmly whispering, "My love, good to see you again." Amanda was not a doctor but a healer, someone who did not simply work with symptoms but touched the very soul of her patients and healed them. She was approaching her mid sixties, her hair short and white and hanging in ringlets around her face, but she still radiated an energy that defied the ages.

"Miranda, James, this is my daughter Melissa. Melissa, I met Miranda Elsmann on the plane, she is an amazing pilot working for the military. This is her brother, James, working as a doctor for MNU." Melissa shook their hands, James scrunched up his face in a grimace. They were not just on the same flight but seated next to each other. Someone was just screwing with them.

As Melissa examined Miranda she felt overwhelmed at the figure. Miranda Elsmann had her long blonde hair swept up in a sophisticated bun. She was striking, her bearing was straight and her hazel eyes showed her determination and assurance. As they shook hands it was firm and deliberate. Miranda dressed professionally, she wore a dark knee length jacket intended to protect her from the New York chill. Her pants were grayish white with black heels. "Your mother told me about the amazing work you've taken on as a new residential doctor at MNU. Do you and my brother work together?"

Melissa lied to save some face, "Perhaps we do. Right now we are taking intensive orientation classes to become familiar with the alien anatomy. There are several classes and I am assuming he is in one of the other ones."

Miranda smiled, "I see."

Amanda then said, "It was a pleasure to meet the both of you. We have to leave, but I hope you can join us for dinner tonight. Especially since it looks as though you two are working in the same field."

"Indeed, perhaps we could study in the future as well." Melissa said dryly. Yeah, James would make a great tutor, the thought made her choke.

As they left Melissa's head felt in a whirl. She saw the future and did not like it. Melissa could tell Miranda questioned nothing, and felt her place in the world was as certain as the orbit of the moon. Miranda was unequivocally one of the top fighters Earth had and her place in the future conflict was assured. Would there be a conflict? Was this build up the US was staging a sort of Plan B? Melissa hoped diplomacy would win, but with CJ telling the story it was highly unlikely the Poleepkwa would choose diplomacy as their first response. Miranda was one of the best Earth had, but would that be enough?