19. Transformation

From a dull grey cacoon that swung listlessly against the branch to a flourishing butterfly; colours aweing everyone who witnessed its graceful flight into the sky. That is what people are supposed to represent; their life spans are supposed to reflect that of the transition from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Speaking from an outside point of view however; it never was to happen. Planet Earth was starting to get too strong for its own good and needed to be destroyed so that they would never be anymore controversy in the world.

"Are you prepared?" My brethren touched me mentally as one; and I bowed my head in agreement. I was to go down as a sacrifice; once one of the humans shot me down, there would be war that would ensue to avenge my death and the humans would lose.

We are the Aari.  We are desperate that the universe stay a peaceful place. We've gotten permission from the supreme leader of the universe to eradicate the humans before they cause any further damage.

And with those thoughts running through my head; I was transmitted from my spaceship, emerging in a wide meadow; green and yellow with flowers that weaved their heads through the surface. Peering down, I looked at my body and smirked in satisfaction when I saw that I had been given a feminine body and dressed quite appropriately. When I needed to convince the humans that I was alien; there was a switch of some sort placed on this body that I'd use to change my form back.

"Are you okay?" A mellow voice addressed my sprawled figure in the weeds. Gazing towards the source, I saw a young girl, dressed in a simple dress and eyes flitting over my entire being. She exuded purity, and I shuddered; the fact that this girl would never grow old enough to marry and mate disturbed me but there was nothing I could do about it.

"I'm fine, Earthling," I droned, "tell me, what is your lifespan?"

"You mean my age?" She replied; squinting her eyes and counting on her chubby little fingers before holding them proudly to me, "I'm five years old!"

"Well, five year old," I said, raising an eyebrow and feeling my face as the line of hair physically raised with my attempt. That was new; it used to be just an expression that the Aari used. "Take me to your leader."

She grabbed ahold of my hand, her short fingers intertwining oddly between mine. "Mum!"

 I went along with her powerful grip, now seeing the older lady who resembled the little girl approach us. “Yes, Marge?”

“Mummy, look!” She displayed me, dancing skittishly around my long dress. “She said to her to my leader!”

“Why would you say that?” The child’s mother’s gaze flitted up to me, framed by confusion and understanding.

“I’m not human,” I gestured to my body awkwardly, not being used to moving in this form. “I need you to take me to your leader so that war can be waged.”

Her daughter gasped dramatically, hiding her face in my skirts before realising that I was the enemy and skipping to her mother, jumping in her arms and then burying her face into her mother’s neck.

The mother looked at me, a wry expression on her face. “You look perfectly human to me.”

I rolled my eyes, ignoring her jibe. “Just take me to your main leader or whatever. I wish to speak with the highest of the high.”

“And you think I can do that with such ease?” Her face transformed into an angry scowl. “Do you know how hard it is to do that?”

I sneered at her, the ugly expression feeling comfortable on my face. “Do it, now, lady.”

She shook her head in despair, gathering her child up in her arms before starting to walk away from me in remote silence.

“Don’t ignore me!” My voice rung out in the air, fading away in the cool season that this planet was afflicted with.

 She stopped then, pausing to bend to her knees and speak hastily into it. Her child ran in front of her, her dress fluttering gently in the soothing winds. Her chubby hands were in the air, clutched into tight fists and her face looked skywards, a relaxed beam gracing her red face.

 The mother got back to her feet and started walking again. I watched her, mesmerised by the winds that lifted up her hair to flutter gently back down. I was so engaged that I didn’t realise that I had been surrounded from the back and only when I was grabbed forcefully, I let out a large shriek.

Hands grasped firmly on my waist as my neck was positioned precisely where I felt a small pinprick that startled me, bringing tears up to my eyes. Next thing I knew, I was succumbing to the dark blackness that crept in from the corner from my vision. Attempting to fight it back, I saw the mother look back at me remorsefully, shrugging her shoulders as to give off her helpless impression.

“Where are you taking me?” I snarled, struggling hard and managing to kick back one of the men that had seized me.

“Area  51,” he replied grimly, holding my arms painstakingly across my back forcing me to collapse with my head falling back.

“Wake up!” A loud growl raised me from my induced slumber. “Get up now, you lazy cow.”

I jerked up, aware that I had been stripped and all that now lay across my body was a thin sheet. Shivering, I attempted to curl up in a ball before realising that I had been manacled to the table cruelly.

“What do you want?” I asked, my voice trembling as the fear of being exterminated finally caught up to me.

“How are you an alien?” He replied thoughtfully. “How have you disguised yourself? Is it a perception filter of some sort?”

“Is this how you treat all the new species you encounter?” I questioned harshly, taking no notice of his earlier question. He nodded at me with pleasure and I shuddered at the thought of fellow member of the Galactica being treated in such a manner. “You should have respect, you know. That’s the only way that you’ll get it back.”

He pouted, looking comically upset. “Then how am I to fulfil my job?”

“So what are you going to now?”

“Dissection.” He replied nastily, a large smile spreading across his sweaty face as he studied my body. “We need you to change though; back into your original form.”

“Even if you ask nicely,” I persisted. “You don’t have a right to kill another life-form; especially one that is aware of emotions and whatnot.”

“Well, that’s too bad for you.” He leered at me, making me shrink back in my little prison.

Thus, the war started. And it raged on for thousands of years until finally the Aari emerged as victors with humans as slaves. In the end, we were just as bad as them. All about our benefit rather than what was good for the galactic spread.

Just as bad as them…