FOUR

"Their names were L'irpa and H'cram." she began. "They came in peace. They were from a very old race, one that outdates life as we know it on Earth by ten million years. For nearly all of that time, this race searched the galaxies for life other than their own, for beings like themselves who had the ability and the desire to learn the mysteries of the universe. For others with which to share what they already knew. But above all, for others, like themselves, with the capacity to love, unconditionally, all life, no matter how different from the only existence they knew. And they finally thought they had found it."

"Whoa, this is NICE!" Blossom thought. "But it's not her style AT ALL!"

"You see, this was a VERY advanced civilization. Technology we here on Earth can only dream about. Cameras that can read the name on that bag of marshmallows. Listening devices that can hear you sweating. They observed, and observed and observed some more. Then one day, they found life. This life they discovered was very primitive. This planet's people were a violent people, but somewhat intelligent, and had shown remarkable advancement in the time they had been studied. Wars were still fought, but as each century passed, the people on this planet moved toward the concept of freedom for all that the old, old race had accepted long ago. Finally, there arose a nation, a new nation born of that spirit of freedom. And though a terrible war would be fought to achieve that ideal, this was the sign that they had been searching for. A decision was made to send a scout ship, to actually place some of their own amongst the citizens of this new nation, to see if that same concept of freedom for and equality of all, would be extended to those unlike themselves."

The twins had decided that this was too boring for them and were leaning against one another, droopy-eyed. Ms. Keane unfolded a blanket that was lying behind her and eased the boys back onto it so they could sleep. Buttercup paused patiently. The other children couldn't take their eyes off her. Blossom shivered, knowing that the old Buttercup would've thrown a fit if anyone even remotely suggested that she was dull.

"L'irpa and H'cram, being among the most intelligent, were chosen to make the trip. They were the two judged best qualified to make the all-important first contact. It would take nearly two centuries in the time of their destination, but for them, the trip would only last for a little over five months. It was this compression of that new world's history that made it seem like the people there were making advancements, but in reality, change was happening much slower than it appeared. For some of the most horrific things ever done by this planet's people to their own people, were done only a few years before L'irpa and H'cram arrived there. It was that miscalculation, combined with the failure of their ship's communications system shortly after launch, that prevented letting their leaders tell them to come back, that now wasn't the time. It cost them their lives."

"They died?" a very shocked Julie asked. The other kids' mouths fell open, even Mitch?s.

"That's who you miss?" Bubbles said softly, tears forming in her eyes.

Her sister looked directly at her and wiped away her own tears. "Yes, Bubbles."

Blossom leaned into Bubbles and whispered, "Bubbles, this is just a story. They aren't real."

"I don't know, Blossom, they sound real to me."

"Yeah, well she hasn't said what they looked like or what their ship looked like or..."

She was interrupted by Buttercup suddenly standing. She had her stick in her left hand.

"I don't need to. Everyone already knows."

Blossom's mouth fell open, too.

"They arrived on Earth in 1947. It was on a night much like tonight, in early July, when their landing rockets failed and they crashed in the field of a sheep farmer in New Mexico."

She pointed with the stick, tracing an arc across the sky to simulate a space ship's trajectory, then turned in a southeasterly direction to indicate where New Mexico was, from Townsville.

"Back on their home planet billions of miles away..." She pointed in the general direction of the moon, which had climbed several degrees into the low southern sky. "...the leader of the project, R'oyam, knew they were in trouble. Though he couldn't communicate with L'irpa and H'cram, he could see and hear everything. What he saw and heard was too awful to describe, but when the dust from the crash settled, the project team knew it was bad. Lying in the wreckage of their ship in that field, L'irpa was leaning over H'cram, holding his head. She looked up at the sky, knowing her people could see and hear."

Buttercup walked around behind Elmer and Ms. Keane, so that the two had to turn their heads to see her. Her voice maintained its flat tone.

"L'irpa, like all the rest, was trained to keep her emotions in check no matter what, so she just stated the facts."

Buttercup's voice dropped an octave. "'Royam, H'cram's dead. I am hurt very badly and this world does not have the skill or knowledge to help me. R'oyam, we may die but please don't let this dream die with us. Hopefully, the people of this world will discover us and read our message of peace and love. You can observe and when you feel the time is right, try again.'"

Her voice returned to normal. "L'irpa didn't know what R'oyam did, about the things that happened on this world during the hundred and sixty Earth years since she and H'cram had left their home. There had been progress, but the two great wars of this century and the terrible slaughter of millions just because they were different, told R'oyam and his team that Earth was not ready yet. But he did not have the heart to tell L'irpa that."

"Buttercup knows about the Holocaust?" Blossom thought. She looked at her sister in wonder. She thought she was the only one of them who cared about history and what it meant.

Her sister went on with the story. "L'irpa gently lowered H'cram's head and laid down next to him. She took her mate's hand in hers and looked up into the sky once again."

She lowered her voice again. "'R'oyam, promise me that you'll try again.'"

Her voice changed back to her own. "Then L'irpa closed her eyes for the last time."

Bubbles burst into tears. Blossom, even though she knew it was just a story, let a few of her own fall out.

"L'irpa was right. Many Earth people saw their ship falling through the sky. No one saw or heard it crash, but the next day a man named Brazel found the wreckage on his land. He told his neighbors about it and he also told the sheriff of the nearest town. Word quickly spread about the 'flying saucer' that had crashed on old Mac Brazel's sheep ranch. But after the Air Force came out and looked and took all the evidence away, they said what was there was nothing but a crashed weather balloon. At first, they didn't think anything about spaceships or 'flying saucers'..." She said the words somewhat derisively. "...as everyone called them back then. They thought it was something the Russians did, because the two countries were enemies in those days. But when they found H'cram's and L'irpa's bodies, they knew they were looking at something not from Earth. And that's when the cover-up started."

"What cover-up?" Mitch snorted. "All that Roswell stuff is fake! Everybody knows that!"

"Yeah!" Harry chuckled. "My Dad says they used ta' throw dummies out of airplanes!"

"Shut up, Mitchell!" Blossom pointed angrily across the fire, which was dying down. "You too, Harry!"

Harry's smile disappeared but Mitch just sneered back at Blossom, not noticing the scowls he was getting from Bubbles, Julie and his teacher. He also didn't notice that Buttercup had moved behind him.

"So, Mitchell, you've heard of Roswell?" she said quietly. "I suppose you've heard of Area 51, then, too, hmmm?" she said, raising one eyebrow. Mitch spun around in surprise and looked up at the unsmiling face with the shadows flickering across it.

"Uh, no..."

"Area 51 is the secret government base where the crashed spaceship and the bodies were supposedly taken, but that's all been proven to be a hoax," Blossom said.

"Yes," Buttercup replied. "The government did a wonderful job convincing everyone that it WAS just a weather balloon and crash test dummies. It was afraid. Afraid that its own citizens couldn't handle the truth. But there were a few people who knew the truth. Brazel. A few of his neighbors. Even some of the government's own people. Little bits of information leaked out. But L'irpa's and H'cram's message of peace was one that never did. The message WAS found. It was written in English, French, Spanish, German and a dozen other languages in a type of ink and on paper, both of which were foreign to Earth. It remains to this day, sealed in its original container, in a bunker below the New Mexico desert. Area 51 is real."

"No it isn't!" Blossom said to herself, looking at her sister with growing uncertainty. "Is it?"

Mitch began to get the creeps because the Buttercup he knew would have grabbed him by the shirt for interrupting her. Buttercup walked slowly around the circle, causing heads to turn to look up at her.

"One thing that isn't true is the part about the alien autopsies. L'irpa and H'cram were buried in the desert in a place only the U.S. government and their own people back home know the location of. The rumors about the autopsies were started by one of the government team who didn't like the facts being hidden and wanted to discredit his own agency. He believed enough other evidence would come out to force the government to eventually tell the truth. Enough did come out to create the legend we all know today, but his plan failed. The cover-up held and unfortunately, so has that rumor."

Ms. Keane watched in amazement the little girl whose demeanor had so drastically changed, and the way the other children were responding to her fascinating tale. Buttercup stopped near her original spot and looked down into her sisters' faces.

"R'oyam and his team learned several things from this. The government of the United States wasn't evil, just fearful and a bit backwards. It didn't trust the intelligence of its own people. And as the rumors of things both true and false got out, an interest among the people in things otherworldly began to take hold. Their fear of the unknown was mixed with a desire to know more, and the team could tell that, if they did it right, Earth would be capable of dealing with them. Earth's space programs were being born right around then, and this was even more proof to R'oyam that L'irpa's and H'cram's lives had not been lost in vain. Perhaps it was their very mission that had fueled this desire to begin exploring space. L'irpa's dying wish was granted, and the team began to look for a way to try again."

Bubbles smiled a small, hopeful smile up at her sister and Buttercup returned it. Then Buttercup floated to what was left of the wood, picked it up and began feeding it into the fire, standing between Harry and Julie while she talked. When she was done, she floated back to her spot and sat cross-legged, concentrating on the flames once more. Elmer, on her left, stared at her, awe-struck.

"It was the late 1950's on Earth by now. R'oyam looked for a place where the people were less suspicious and more naïve. This would be the best place to try, for people like that would be more open to contact. It needed to be run by someone who was simple-minded yet pure of heart, for the people of that place would be like that themselves or they would never accept that sort of leadership in the first place. He finally found such a place, and borrowing from the U.S. government's own system of secrecy, the team named the location for its next attempt 'Area 52'".

The fire burned with renewed vigor now, and Buttercup's gaze was once again upon it.

"The team knew they had the right means to go about making contact this time. This plan would take the slower approach, building up the Earth people's trust to show that no harm was meant to them, and at the same time, teach them about accepting others who were different. They worked feverishly, because time was something they didn't have a lot of. This plan had to be developed soon because, you see, to them, ten Earth years was like ten of their days. Once they had the right place, they had to find the right person. And when the team believed they had the right person, another scout ship was sent to put in place one of their own, to watch over this person, but more importantly, to be in place to help guide the others who would be sent later. But this time, instead of sending an adult, they sent a newly hatched young one, fresh out of her cocoon."

"What?!" Blossom shouted.

"You mean they're BUGS?!" Bubbles shrieked.

"Yes."

Ms. Keane's hands flew to her chest. "Oh, my!"

Bubbles and Julie recoiled in horror, bumping into each other. Elmer looked just as startled but Mitch and Harry liked this sudden twist.

"Bugs, heh, cool!" Harry said.

"Whoa, that is totally awesome, Buttercup!" Mitch exclaimed.

Buttercup looked across the fire at him and grinned very slightly. "I thought you might enjoy that, Mitchell." Then she turned serious. "But they don't like to be referred to as 'bugs'. They're humanoid insects. You've all seen pictures of what the aliens supposedly look like. Long, hairless heads, large eyes, humanlike..." Her eyes swept the circle. There were a few nods. "That is pretty much what L'irpa and H'cram and all their people look like as adults. They have arms and legs, just like humans do, but what you never saw, what the government was too afraid to let ANYONE find out about, were the wings. Long wings that fold flat along the back. And the proboscises, which were airbrushed out of the photos because they appeared just too frightening."

"Proboscises...didn't I hear that word once already tonight?" Blossom wondered, missing part of what Buttercup was saying.

"It takes about two weeks for the new one to grow to full adulthood after breaking free from the cocoon, but in Earth time, that is about fourteen years. She was sent here, disguised as a human child, to wait for the time when the ones she was to guide would arrive."

"Is she here now?" Julie asked in a whisper.

"Yes, she arrived in Area 52 safely and her ship remains well-hidden to this day. But I cannot give you her name. The time for her to reveal herself will be soon, and then Earth will know the truth. You see, her role was a very important one. The mission could not succeed without her. Yet, she had little to do except just grow, in her disguise, as a human adult, learning the ways of human life by living among them. And to watch the human that R'oyam and the team had chosen to help them, without his awareness; and pass helpful information back to her home planet. She has remained in contact with them for over forty Earth years."

"She must be terribly homesick," her teacher remarked.

"Not really. For her, it's only been a little over a month."

"How long do these things live?" Blossom asked, confused by the time difference.

Buttercup looked sharply at her sister and her voice turned cool. "I would think that you might show more sensitivity, Blossom, than to call them 'things'."

Instantly chagrined, Blossom hung her head. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, just because they're bugs is no reason to be mean." Bubbles said.

"It's all right, Bubbles," Buttercup replied. "It's a typically human response, and one I expected from someone who doesn't know what I know. But to answer Blossom's question, they live a long time in Earth years. R'oyam himself is a bit over four years old, or about fifteen hundred Earth years."

"Whooooaaaa!" came several voices.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, Buttercup," Blossom told her. "Please keep going. The 'others' you talked about, are they here yet?"

"Yes, I was getting to that next. More than thirty Earth years went by, during which the behavior of the human they had chosen told the team they were right about him. Everything he was doing seemed to be leading to the day they had waited for. And finally, one day, the next step of the plan was put into effect. Three eggs were carefully selected back on the home planet, and were placed in stasis to survive the daylong trip to Earth. Or about a year here," she added, seeing the question on several faces. "Their tiny ship touched down at the pre-arranged spot and their guide was waiting for them. She was by now a full-grown adult and was living as a human in the place called Area 52. With the careful observation done by the team, she of course knew everything the unsuspecting human was going to do, and she was ready. The eggs were carefully placed in a batch of ingredients for an experiment that the human, a scientist, had been planning to conduct for years. It was an experiment doomed to failure, because the idea was so ridiculous that it could never work. But he would never know that, for when the time for the experiment came, the eggs would hatch into the larvae that Professor Utonium would believe were the three little girls he created."

Everyone looked at her in shocked silence.

"Yes, Area 52 is Townsville."

Chapter Five

Chapter Three

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