The Alpha's concubine (Girl x Werewolf)

Chapter 7/Five years Previously

7 out 8 people can't cope with flashback chapters can you?  FYI this chapter has the line we line best so far - can you spot it? Video explanation of Mr Mavbury's view on the impossibility of Alien invasion.

Day 1 of alien contact. Emma's POV.

I looked up "An Alien invasion?" My younger self said looking up at the silver shape in the blue sky above school "and it's on a Monday? Gawd. Why on all days, would Aliens have to invade on a Monday?"

I looked around me, everyone was standing outside school stretching necks skyward. For some reason, it reminded me of a field full of sunflowers. OK sunflowers with a generous serving of achene but sunflowers none the less. The Alien ship had filled the car's radio news on the way in. Twitter and Instagram were full of people taking selfies with the huge moon-sized ship in orbit behind them. #AliensAreHere was trending. As was #deathstar. I thought it was very thoughtful of the aliens to make a ship big enough to be selfied within daylight. After all, not everyone owns a telescope. I liked the idea of equal opportunity aliens.

"Alien invasion. Don't be silly" said Mr Mavbury the physics teacher "there is no way they are hostile."

"Really?" I said looking at him "friendly aliens? Name me one movie with friendly aliens?"

"That's the movies this is real life. You see," Mr Mavbury went into mansplaining mode or is that teacher-splaining mode? How do you tell?

"If the alien's had hostile intent they would have just sterilised the earth with the same fusion drive they used to slow down. OR lobed a bunch of nuclear weapons over the side and watch them fall on Earth. Or push an extinction-level asteroid in our way. No these aliens have come across centuries of space and time to reach us. If they meant us to harm us we would be dead by now. They want us alive. That means friendly."

I bit my lip for a moment. I think he had started in mansplaining mode and moved into teacher-splaining mode somewhere in the middle.

"Maybe they need our water or something," I said.

Mr Maybury shrugged "they would find more water in a comet and it would be far easier to get to. There is no vital resource on Earth except us."

"Maybe they need slaves," I said. I'm not sure why. Perhaps a couple of years in therapy would explain.

Looking up I noticed Mr Mavbury had slightly different coloured eyes one bluish one green. Everyone told me I had my dad's eyes. Every time my dad heard someone say that he would say he wanted them back.

"Slaves?"

"Coz the aliens can come across light-years of space and yet can't invent a robot to do work for them. And just how are they going to take us back -? Go for another fifty years at near light speed to get to the right star. Think again "

"How about eating us?" I suggested.

"Well, the school tree is genetically more similar to us than they are. Can you eat that tree? And before you move on to the next thing I would point out that sex is also off the cards. The chances of a billion years of parallel evolution ending with compatible body parts is nil. You have better luck sleeping with a squid." While Mr Mavbury spoke his mousy brown hair twitched in excitement. My unmanageable hair came from my mom, I tugged at a lock of my hair.

"Yuk. I wasn't thinking that, but now that vivid image will haunt my every step" said I, suddenly feeling very sorry for Spock. "thank you for giving me a great example of how some ideas just can't be unthought. I was struggling to explain that but your example just dropped that into my lap."

"Really? I know what you young teens are like, I know how you think" said Mr Mavbury.

"You know how I think? I'm glad someone does, I wish I did. Actually, I was thinking why we had a school tree in the first place," I said. "It's not like this is Gondor high or anything. What was wrong? All the other animals for mascots taken?"

"ET," Mr Mavbury said.

I stopped. "Huh?"

Mr Mavbury looked down at me "You asked for one film with friendly aliens. ET."

I burst into laughter and when done, explained. "No way was ET friendly."

"What?" Mr Mavbury said raising both his furry eyebrows over his fluffy beard. It was so fluffy Mr Mavbury could have had a shot at being a school mascot.

"OK I'll give you what they call in the English literature trade an analogy," I began. "Guy has a car crash outside your house. Rather than knocking on your door, he hides in your outhouse until your kids find him. Then he gets your kids to hide him until he can phone his friends and then sneak away in the middle of the night. Oh and he kills one of your kids but then later resurrects him out of guilt. All without talking to you. It's like he's trying to avoid someone like they have the breath of a rhinoceros with a taste for spiced cabbage, not the classic sign of friendly. In fact, if I didn't know better I would say ET was racist. I think it was a metaphor for a white racist in a car, crashes in an all-black neighbourhood. Some coloured kids help him. Then he phones his clan friends and they escape. All science fiction is a metaphor for whatever is happening at the moment."

Mr Mavbury stood looking at me for a moment.

"Your saying ET was a racist?" Mr Maybury said.

"Space racist. Come on ET didn't have knees." I said. "how much more evidence do you need?"

"Your saying racists don't have knees? You are a very strange child you know that?" Mr Mavbury said.

I tilted my head "Five years ago, I would agree with you. Now I'm a very strange adult compatible teen."

Mr Mavbury looked back up to the blue sky. The faded outline of the ship was clearly visible. If we could see that far away it must be huge. I liked it. It was the kind of shape no artist could draw.

"You should be proud. This is a unique moment in human history, no, this is a unique moment in the history of life on this planet itself and you get to see it," Mr Mavbury said, "it's something to tell your kids about."

"What? I remember when this strange alien space ship came into orbit and then proceeded to ignore every form of communication we sent to it. It's worse than waiting for the last season of Game of Thrones and GOT, by contrast, had the good sense to have a first season, if not a last... "

"The Tree of knowledge," Mr Mavbury said. "That's it. The school tree represents the tree of knowledge."

I wondered for a second why Mr Mavbury had this personal time lag around himself. I presumed it was a space-time physics teacher thing.

"Yeah, I never got this idea of a plant representing wisdom," I continued "Like whoever comes home and goes. 'You never guess what? I was outwitted by an Elm this morning. That Oak down the street turns out it can help with homework'. I will also use this, to point out that in your teacher universe. The tree can be a metaphor but ET can't."

Then there was a sudden distant ringing seeming to come from nowhere. It filled the air and everyone looked alarmed. The ringing continued. Panicked opened up quickly and kids started moving for the safety of indoors. I was filled with dread like the hounds of hell had opened up in the chorus. People started to rush inside. Their faces filled with a mix of concern and the more casual end of blind panic. Space was becoming empty quickly as an urgent desire to flee overtook people.

Mr Mavbury looked down at me, "That's the school bell, see you after school," he said as he went off a stack of marked essays under one arm.

"Ok Dad," I replied, "I'll see you later."

"You too pumpkin," Dad/Mr Mavbury said walking to the staff entrance still looking up at the sky "love you." 

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A/N this is definitely our favourite chapter we ever wrote. You better vote for it or or .. we can't quite decide what. Something.  It would probably involve writing more chapters but not sure what. Swing back next Thursday for more flashback chapters. RK/Reb