Chapter 2 

An alarm siren is wailing excessively loud as it suddenly sets off. Minho awakes with a frightened jolt in his apartment on earth. It's loud and scary and never fails to fill him with fear each time. There is a warning on his large communication screen. 

Fog winds are approaching! 

Emergency! 

Earthquakes Approaching! 

Emergency! 

Seek safety in your protection pods!. 

He groans sleepily and rushes from his bed. It’s a bad one tonight. Usually, there is a pre-warning notification. But it depends on the speed of the winds. Polluted earth has its dangers. Global warming has been unkind. Pulling on his protection suit, he then steps into the metal porch pod, pressing a single button. This pod is a small square that is fixed between the area which would enter his home and the other end which enters his apartment. It is also a mandatory safe space. The alert is still ringing becoming faint behind the metal doors that lock him inside. And a tiny light flickers on.

Usually, there is a countdown but the whole pod begins to shake. And he falls to his knees. Knowing the rules he curled up in a ball on the ground. It will pass, he hopes. The wind rattles outside, and the ground shakes. It's still ongoing a whole hour later. But this is normal. A weekly thing. Minho tries to think of good moments. He hates being scared. He tries to remind himself at least he isn't outside. Last time one occurred he spent 3 hours in a streetway emergency pod with no lights. 

Eventually, the storm passes. Minho has to wait for a green light to tell him it is safe. It’s another 45 minutes before he can open his door. He feels dizzy but luckily no sickness. His room, though very minimal, is somewhat trashed. Technically it was his fault for not putting the bookcase barrier in its lock. But he will move them later. He is too exhausted and needs sleep. Turning up his flipped bed he rearranges the bedding and climbs back in. 

He wonders if will there ever be a place where he could no longer be afraid. 

~

‘He was this big’. Minho holds his hand high above his head. ‘And these people were right, they are majestic. Like He was everything us humans wish to be. He was super toned and chiselled. His hands were sorta webbed between fingers, and they wrapped around my whole bicep’. He turns around. ‘And he has a tail here’. He spins back to look at Jonghyun who is invested. ‘And he spoke to me. I understood every word, apparently some ‘great mother’ gave them the gift. He called me a demon… but later said he will let me live because I am kind to my plants’. 

A plant makes a sweet tune in response.

Jonghyun swallows ‘Better get me one of those plants then’. He walks over to the plant and reaches out but the plant hisses, flicking a leaf strand out to hit him resulting in Jonghyun rushing back to his bed. 

‘I need to read more into this world, I want to understand them'. Minho smiles happily. ‘I love my life right now’.

‘Well be quick, lights are out in an hour’. Jonghyun points at the clock. They still had to follow military times. Minho nods and runs out before returning to pull on some new trousers, the old ones cascaded to the rubbish bin. He returns with only one book. Or more of a folder. He climbs up to his bed and lights out call is echoed on the speakers. Small emergency lights appear showing exits and he flips on a small lamp beside his bed to read. 

Whoever came here first and interacted took great detail. And Minho was invested in each sentence. A Professor by the name of Dr Karmin Richards had been the first to make contact with the alien species. She claimed she stood in a surrendering pose as she walked from the ship onto the rich grass ground. There she saw an inhabitant of this world. Who approached her with a smile. He seemed calm and kind. Curious and cautious. He was the first to communicate with humans. He even spoke with them using their own language to Dr Karmin’s surprise. He informed them they were on a planet called Alvania and if they, his people could help them. 

‘Sweet Travelers, how may we help you?’ Minho reads the transcript. He couldn't imagine how amazing this all had been. The posts online just didn't have this much detail. What a fantastic moment in history. A giant 7-foot giant alien being so kind. But now he wonders why they keep their distance. ‘The aliens first believed we were lost and wanted to help us feel welcomed’. He reads on.

He continued to read and learnt the leader of the native alien tribe was called Ta’eh’sun’.

The leader had introduced his mate Na'we'eun and their children for them to teach the humans how to survive in this land. His eldest and rightful heir Ta’eh’min. And his younger son Ta’eh’won. Who also was kind, welcoming and helpful. Providing them with food and water. The ( ' ) were clicks that she found hard to pronounce.

Minho moved onto the transcripts of each day. Dr Karmin was able to log and journal what she learnt from them. While also adding information regarding another group the human scientists who had begun checking the surroundings. Testing the air and ground for the ability of them living there permanently. 

Dr Karmin studied the species biologically too. After learning the tribal leader had a mate looking the same in structure. This lets her know the alien species were not two es but a mixture becoming one, they could impregnate and give birth. She inquired how they repopulated. And was informed of a small hole under the tail. But all seemed to be predominantly male looking and the terms they also used confirmed that. They were more interested in male humans too. They found Dr Karmin strange, calling her bumpy. But hadn't explained their meaning. She assumed it was because she had s.

She described how they had patches along their skin like birthmarks. That helped them to camouflage. Within the grounds to hunt and within the water. Their body shape and tone were well and healthy as they kept active daily and had a healthy intake of foods. Their tail was actually there for extra balance too and also a spare hand. It could wrap around items and lift with no issues. 

Their eyes colour was a soft Hazel. Noses with an excellent sense of smell. Their lips were soft and plump. Tongues were long and could curl under that helped them be able to drink water from small ponds. Their skin while taunt was soft in texture. Fingers and toes had half webbing between digits below their knuckles which helped them to swim better.

They covered their ia with woven animal skin that they had hunted. Dr Karmin would then learn how they hunted. They hunted food, with an alpha-like control. They asked permission for it to be their meal. Everything on this planet breathed and lived. That was when humans noticed that plants moved too. 

Minho blinks sleepy eyes and looks at a clock. He will read just a little more. Jonghyun snored under him. He can hear all this tomorrow. Minho rolls over to find a new position. Turning the next page and reading again. 

The aliens had embraced this world and were in tune with it. They had a god-like figure they referred to as The Great mother Na’tu’ra Ma’ter. Translated to mean Mother nature or the Spirit of God. They had their own language but could speak languages of the earth and now one United language. But they could also speak languages earth no longer spoke. The difference was they had not advanced as humanity had. They respected nature and embraced it rather than using and abusing it. Animals died through bonding respect. And would be reborn. Not slaughtered and forced to repopulate. They had accepted their new visitors. Hoping they do the same. 

Minho finds the tone of Dr Karmin's writing now slightly different. Less of an updating information journal and more like that a personal diary. 

// They came daily providing food for us and wanted us to leave our ship to join them. I felt so guilty when the next ship arrived. And the reality of what we had come here for was becoming clear. I remember the youngest child asked me why they were crushing the ground with giant heavy boxes. I tried to explain to the General that the boxes should remain on the ship till the ground had been properly sacrificed. But he didn't care. 

We humans I learnt as I spent time with are stubborn and secretly cruel to those not like them. We have been so apart for so long that there is no trust or respect. The men who call themselves the army follow orders like robots and do what they were told. More of my homeland arrived. And I finally admitted the truth to the native leader about why we were here. That we were never lost. I told him our world was dying. And we needed a new home. 

Machines were built up and eventually brought out; they drilled into the ground, and flattened it, it destroyed their land to build our new home. Treehouse which will be completed in 6 to 8 months. 

The Alvanians have protested the actions we have taken and began to change their mood with me. Ta'eh'sun and his mate Na'we'eun no longer speak with me. But their children do. Ta'eh'min told me he feels betrayed. He asked why I came here if not to understand their world. He said we are only making their world like mine.

Minho finds the writing pages missing a continuation. But he finds writing on smaller scrap paper. It's messy but he can still read it. 

Ta'eh'sun's mate may have contracted a contagious infection from one of us. One of the new humans from my world had a terrible