pribir were justified in blowing up SkyPower, or was it the pribir?
Was Lillie herself still in there somewhere?
“Good night, Uncle Keith. Mr. Romero, Mrs. Romero.”
“Good night, honey.”
The three adults looked at each other. Carlo said suddenly, fiercely, “She’s still our daughter!”
Keith nodded. To his own surprise, the nod was genuine. She was still Lillie. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did.
And he would do anything to keep her safe.
Life settled, incredibly, into a routine. A schedule was set up for the kids to meet, separately, with both doctors and politicians/military types. Between appointments, youth counselors organized basketball tournaments, library trips, educational software, video-games contests, movies, dances. No child ever left the base and no child was ever unaccompanied outside of the temporary-housing area. The parents went places with their kids, vaguely embarrassing and unwanted presences on the sidelines, or met with “counselors” that Keith suspected were CIA agents.
There was talk of organizing a proper school, but the kids spanned three different grades and forty school systems. Also, no one wanted to admit they would be here long enough to create a separate school. Schooling on base along with the resident “military brats” was not even mentioned.
The pribir did not choose to communicate anything.
The president did not try to shoot down the alien spaceship, assuming that was possible.
Lillie reported to Keith that there was this boy she sort of liked, Alex, and he told his friend Sean who told Donald who told Theresa that Alex sort of liked Lillie, too, but Lillie didn’t know that for sure and did Uncle Keith think she should ask him to dance on Friday night or would she look like a fungal bonus?
Hysteria, fanned by the press, mounted throughout the country.
An additional Army unit appeared on base, which now had a totally sealed perimeter.
The pribir did not choose to communicate anything.
Lillie said she was missing too much algebra and would get too far behind and so would Uncle Keith download an algebra program for her at the library, since no kids were allowed at the terminals?
Keith realized the children were not allowed on the Net to protect them from the hate screeds he found there daily.
Theresa broke her thumb bowling and was treated at Malcolm Grow, where medical tests on the kids had shown nothing different from what all the medical tests elsewhere had shown.
The pribir did not choose to communicate anything.
And then, ten days later, they did, and everything changed again.
CHAPTER 5
“I need a big piece of paper,” Lillie said, coming inside their temporary housing with a bag of corn chips. PX privileges had been extended to the base visitors.
“Do we have any big sheets of paper?” Theresa asked, bursting in the other door.
Keith and Carlo, who had been using handhelds in vain attempts to do their respective jobs from hundreds of miles away, looked at each other. Rosalita was out shopping.
“Oh, there’s this shelf paper your mother bought,” Lillie said, rummaging in a kitchen cupboard. “Here, Tess.”
Both girls efficiently cleared the bungalow’s one table, spread out a hunk of white shelf paper, and began to draw. Keith and Carlo rose at the same time to stand beside them. After a few minutes of silence, Keith risked, “Is what you’re both drawing a message from the pribir?”
“Yes,” Lillie answered. “Do we have any other color pens besides blue?”
Carlo said, “Do you … do you want to use the handheld?”
“No, thanks, Dad,” Theresa said. “This is better.”
Why? Keith wondered but didn’t ask. He found he was holding his breath as he watched the girls draw. They both drew the same thing, although it was obvious that Theresa was the better artist. Lillie’s drawing was fairly crude: a human eye. Then she drew a mouse and heavily circled its eye. Then some sort of flying insect, with its
Was Lillie herself still in there somewhere?
“Good night, Uncle Keith. Mr. Romero, Mrs. Romero.”
“Good night, honey.”
The three adults looked at each other. Carlo said suddenly, fiercely, “She’s still our daughter!”
Keith nodded. To his own surprise, the nod was genuine. She was still Lillie. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did.
And he would do anything to keep her safe.
Life settled, incredibly, into a routine. A schedule was set up for the kids to meet, separately, with both doctors and politicians/military types. Between appointments, youth counselors organized basketball tournaments, library trips, educational software, video-games contests, movies, dances. No child ever left the base and no child was ever unaccompanied outside of the temporary-housing area. The parents went places with their kids, vaguely embarrassing and unwanted presences on the sidelines, or met with “counselors” that Keith suspected were CIA agents.
There was talk of organizing a proper school, but the kids spanned three different grades and forty school systems. Also, no one wanted to admit they would be here long enough to create a separate school. Schooling on base along with the resident “military brats” was not even mentioned.
The pribir did not choose to communicate anything.
The president did not try to shoot down the alien spaceship, assuming that was possible.
Lillie reported to Keith that there was this boy she sort of liked, Alex, and he told his friend Sean who told Donald who told Theresa that Alex sort of liked Lillie, too, but Lillie didn’t know that for sure and did Uncle Keith think she should ask him to dance on Friday night or would she look like a fungal bonus?
Hysteria, fanned by the press, mounted throughout the country.
An additional Army unit appeared on base, which now had a totally sealed perimeter.
The pribir did not choose to communicate anything.
Lillie said she was missing too much algebra and would get too far behind and so would Uncle Keith download an algebra program for her at the library, since no kids were allowed at the terminals?
Keith realized the children were not allowed on the Net to protect them from the hate screeds he found there daily.
Theresa broke her thumb bowling and was treated at Malcolm Grow, where medical tests on the kids had shown nothing different from what all the medical tests elsewhere had shown.
The pribir did not choose to communicate anything.
And then, ten days later, they did, and everything changed again.
CHAPTER 5
“I need a big piece of paper,” Lillie said, coming inside their temporary housing with a bag of corn chips. PX privileges had been extended to the base visitors.
“Do we have any big sheets of paper?” Theresa asked, bursting in the other door.
Keith and Carlo, who had been using handhelds in vain attempts to do their respective jobs from hundreds of miles away, looked at each other. Rosalita was out shopping.
“Oh, there’s this shelf paper your mother bought,” Lillie said, rummaging in a kitchen cupboard. “Here, Tess.”
Both girls efficiently cleared the bungalow’s one table, spread out a hunk of white shelf paper, and began to draw. Keith and Carlo rose at the same time to stand beside them. After a few minutes of silence, Keith risked, “Is what you’re both drawing a message from the pribir?”
“Yes,” Lillie answered. “Do we have any other color pens besides blue?”
Carlo said, “Do you … do you want to use the handheld?”
“No, thanks, Dad,” Theresa said. “This is better.”
Why? Keith wondered but didn’t ask. He found he was holding his breath as he watched the girls draw. They both drew the same thing, although it was obvious that Theresa was the better artist. Lillie’s drawing was fairly crude: a human eye. Then she drew a mouse and heavily circled its eye. Then some sort of flying insect, with its