Day 1

ㅤLaura watched the TV from the kitchen as she scooped Blue Moon ice cream into bowls for her and Xavier. He had just finished putting the kids to bed and was lounging on the couch.

ㅤ”We call it Janus” the telescope operator motioned toward the monitor, which showed a huge dark spot in the night sky, with warped stars around it.

ㅤ“The phenomenon is exhibiting wormhole-like properties, including enough gravity to pull our sun towards it at a detectable ra—” Laura clicked off the TV before she handed Xavier his ice cream. His eyes met hers.

ㅤ”Let’s watch a movie. I know you need to be prepared, but it’ll be okay. This is our night, not the wormhole’s.” she smiled at his worried face.

ㅤ”I am just worried for you and the kids. What will happen when they arrive? I don’t know if I’ll be able to protect you…” He said. He gave her a twinged smile and embraced her hand in his. “You are right. I need to have faith that God has a plan. Please pray for me when I am gone.” He wiped a lock of peppered hair behind his ear. Another replaced it. An exercise in futility, but she loved it when he kept trying.

ㅤLaura squeezed his hand: “Of course. Please pray for me and the kids. It’s going to be a confusing time for them. You know I’ll try, but…” He nodded, and she knew he would.

ㅤThey settled on one called Rescued By Ruby. It would be a late night, but for these hours Laura relished the relationships, the dogs, and the warmth their love through their couch’s blanket. She knew she would have to make this moment last in her memory. The next few weeks would challenge her spiritually and mentally, and she would have to keep her kid’s spirits up about the fate of Earth, but for now she was content.

ㅤDay 4

ㅤDr. Xavier Wendell had one foot in heaven and one foot in hell. It had always been a dream to instruct the Hubble, but the readings from the STScI (Space Telescope Science Institute) readouts and every other observatory showed the ships on route to Earth. Fast. The scientific community barely registered that photonic propulsion was feasible and in use before they realized the ships would arrive in… Xavier checked his smartwatch. Approximately five days, nine hours, and fifty-nine minutes. No time to waste.

ㅤOnly a few in the scientific community could comprehend the insane technologies and physics required to create the initial wormhole. Massless Gravity was a must; it was a theoretical stand-in for dark matter that Xavier himself coined in a paper years ago. He should’ve been more thankful for the opportunity that it had given him.

ㅤXavier jerked away from a touch on his shoulder. He turned and found a grinning Dr. Wood.

ㅤ”A little high-strung, are we? I was going to ask you if you wanted to go for coffee, but maybe you’ve already had some,” he chuckled and sat down in one of the office chairs. “What’s on your mind, Dr. Wendell?” Laura was, but really it was how to protect her and the rest of humanity.

ㅤ“How am I supposed to make headway in protection measures when our situation just seems to be getting worse and worse? Hundreds—probably thousands—of alien ships are on their way with technology to make a wormhole and decelerate with light. They could take over Earth as if it were nothing.” Xavier sat down in his office chair, desk between them. Dr. Wood picked up the glass block that displayed Laniakea—our home galaxy supercluster—off of Xaviers desk and looked into it.

ㅤ”Dr. Wendell, we have very little information. It is up to you how to extrapolate that into an interpretation. Try to think of all the ways this could turn out well,” He looked from the model to Xavier with an understanding look. “We have so little information…”

ㅤDay 9

Only half a day after the Scientifically Advanced Extrastellar Organisms (SAEsOs) had arrived, Xavier sat down late at a table in the French US Embassy building with the best generals, leaders, scientists, and translators in the world. They had started without him.

ㅤThe Russian man slammed his hands on the table and said ”Whatever they are, they haven’t reached out, and they have taken five Russians! These actions are malicious!” Victor, his multilingual nameplate read.

ㅤIn the fervor, Xavier thought about Laura and muttered a prayer asking God to give her wisdom, strength, and hope.

ㅤ”They haven’t attacked since the initial fifty. They’ve been doing… something else. We cannot act until we know their intentions,” said the Japanese prime minister, Hiraku, a small and expressive man.

ㅤ”They are clearly backup—a way to repropogate human life if their plan goes wrong. That’s the purpose of the genetic diversity of those taken,” a German scientist, Markus, remarked.

ㅤ”No, what they want is a more easily controllable population to study our civilizations with. That is why they have no interest in the wildlife of our planet,” a French voice down the table said.

ㅤVictor began searching the table. He eyed Xavier before asking “Dr. Wendell. Why are our nuclear bombs malfunctioning? You claim to have proof the SAEsO’s are at fault.” Everyone focused on Xavier.

ㅤ”Yes. Err.” He glanced at his skewed notes overlapping on his clipboard. “After hearing about what was happening around the world, we sent out a nuclear bomb with many sensors streaming data back. It failed. Of course. The sensors indicated that their satellites somehow have enough energy to sustain focused and directed beams of neutrinos. It’s amazing how many, we shouldn’t have been able to detect them. Anyways, the neutrinos are degrading whatever flavor of unstable matter at the center of the bombs, causing many smaller and much less explosive reactions.” Silence hung in the room for a second, and then cacophony began anew. Humanity was just doomed. If the SAEsOs had wormholes, photonic propulsion, neutrino lasers, and only God knows what else, why couldn’t they just get the invasion over with so that Xavier could stop trying to hope?

ㅤDay 20

ㅤThe world’s best scientists were at work on an impossible task. While the planar satellites were descending closer to Earth they were running simulations. When huge pillars anchored themselves to Earth to hold the satellites above the planet, they were calculating trajectories and component sizes. While Earth’s new metallic shell turned on shifting lights that mimicked the sun, moon, and stars, the scientists were overseeing the construction of a shiftily built and completely theoretical neutron accelerator. It helped that various governments pitched in to fuel the hope for the masses.

ㅤIt was built to use the muon accelerating ring the SAEsOs had (for the neutrino laser to work) against them and with cosmic rays (or more likely, the wall of the accelerator) and muons create muonic versions of deuterium and tritium, which would cause a muon-catalyzed fusion reaction. They were trying to create an atomic bomb remotely. Remote was one word for it.

ㅤEveryone, especially Xavier, knew it was a hopeless task. In all probability, the SAEsOs had some magical radiation-proofing, or maybe a perfect vacuum accelerator.

ㅤXavier had contributed… he just to drink a lot of coffee to stay motivated. He was responsible for the particle calculations (which showed that there was a possibility), and those were relatively simple compared to the construction of the thing. Two days wasn’t THAT late, was it?

ㅤHere he was, in-person, watching the thing fire for the first time. All the positions were carefully calculated for this to be the moment of truth. The nuke erupted from the silo off in the distance. Readings from a sensor on it were radioed back to a display so the whole launch team could see, though the process was automated. The shear amount of information required for the slimmest chance to fight back was so disheartening Xavier knew he would leave if this failed. He almost wished it did, just so that he could be with her again. They talked frequently, but there is only so much you can communicate talking science through the phone at each other.

ㅤ”Oh, God. Please. Let this work.“

ㅤDay 21

ㅤXavier pulled his car into the driveway. He had started driving home from the Anti-SAEsO Nuetron Accelerator Plant (A-SNAP) the same hour humanity was confirmed to have no upper hand on these demons.

ㅤHis little sedan parked behind their minivan, and Xavier stepped out onto a beautifully mowed lawn. He would have to mention that to Laura. As he slumpt up their steeped driveway, bag in tow, he saw Laura scrambling around the open garage, chasing a… bird? It fluttered around, ever pressing against the back-wall window. She grabbed a net, and scooped up the bird. She turned to the exit and saw Xavier. Her face in that moment kindled a bit of hope in Xavier’s heart and he smiled. He loved it when she took action.

ㅤ”You’re home!” she ran out, quickly released the bird, and kissed him. He kissed her back in a tight embrace. As he did something tickled the back of his mind. His love for her, of course, but something else as well.

ㅤ”Laura, I missed you so much,” he said, “I love you so much.” He saw the silhouette of the sparrow in the far distance. Safe, and free to find a safe home. Then it clicked. Earth is that sparrow.

ㅤThey released, and she asked ”How did it go? The news made it seem like the neutron laser worked, but there are no conclusive reports. I want to hear it from you.” He felt faint with the joy and hope he now had. How fascinating that it could all return so fast!

ㅤ”Laura…” He hugged her again “We are going to be okay. The laser worked, but it failed to save us. The SAEsOs aren’t taking over, they are rescuing us—our entire planet!” She stared at him, thinking.

ㅤThe Earth threw them down to the concrete. Xavier tried to get up, but couldn’t for about a minute. Eventually, he stood and helped up his wife.

ㅤ”That couldn’t be an earthquake, right?” She asked. They lived in southern New York—she was right.

ㅤ”I think the SAEsO’s just turned on the engines. We are headed into space.”

ㅤ”Where? What does this mean?”

ㅤ”I don’t know. But, right now it means that I need to send a letter, and then I want to play some ball with my family on this beautifully mowed lawn!” He couldn’t help but laughing at himself “We are going to be okay!”