The Dark Side of Space

Chapter 14

I blink a few times. I'm really here... looking at aliens. It's just the eight of us in the circle, chained to our seats, being examined from above. Nick has gone to the upper level too. I feel like a test subject. I went to the zoo once when I was seven. This is what the animals must feel like, being used and stared at without being able to do anything about it.

"I'm Joseph," Joseph greets, beaming with excitement. "I've seen so many comics of aliens and so many movies and I've never seen anything that looks like you guys." I'm glad Joseph thinks this is fun and games.

They all stare back at us. Finally, one of the girl ones clears her throat. "We've never seen humans like you," she says. Her voice is smooth and smoky, and reverberates through the room. Even though she's speaking English, her voice sounds like liquid.

"What do you mean?" Joseph asks, frowning. I look over to Naomi. She looks like she's going to throw up.

"You don't have white skin."

I look around. Everyone who works for ACTS is white. I'm surprised I didn't notice before. I guess I'm used to sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Because we're not white," Adam says finally. His voice shakes. He's trying hard not to look fazed, but that's impossible in this situation.

"Is it typical of your species to be colored differently?" One of the male aliens asks. His voice is so deep I can feel it in my bones. Have they never seen anyone other than the ACTS workers? Not even a picture?

Joseph nods vigorously. "It depends on where you're from... kind of. I'm Chinese, Naomi and Grace are black, and Adam is..."

"Samoan," Adam finishes. The aliens look at us like that means nothing to them. "Do all of you look the same?"

"We don't all look the same," the other female alien protests. Her voice is much higher pitched.

They could have fooled me. They all have the same skin color, eye color, and hair color. Any differences between them are slight.

"Are you all silver?" Adam asks impatiently.

"Yes, but we don't all look the same. We're genetically varied, just like you," the girl alien responds, staring Adam down. It's uncanny how human they behave and speak. Maybe they aren't acting like us, though. Maybe it's humans who act like them.

The alien sitting directly across from me locks eyes with me by accident. His eyes are so dark. I remember looking in the mirror all the time as a child, hating that my eyes were so brown they were almost black. Now, I know what truly black eyes look like. He looks away. He stares up at the ACTS employees typing away and spectating. Nick stands with his hand under his chin like he's watching an interesting movie.

"Where'd you come from, though?" Naomi asks. Her speaking shocks me. Her question comes out like a bark.

"Here," one of the girls responds like it's a stupid question.

"She means where's your home planet?" Joseph asks. "Is it lightyears away? Is there oxygen?"

"Oxygen?" One of the girls repeats. "We were born here. We've never been anywhere else."

I can't imagine having to live on the moon base my entire life. It's so dark. Even though I'm from a smaller city, it's much bigger than the base. If they were born here, that means they must have parents. I wonder if there are any other aliens on the base and if there are, why we're only meeting these ones. At this point, nothing would surprise me.

"Do you have names?" Joseph asks eagerly.

The aliens look uncomfortably at one another.

The talkative one speaks up first. "My name is Pandora," she says. She points to the one next to her. "This is my sister, Galatea." I don't know why, but it's weird to me to think that aliens can have siblings.