1
Earth. A peaceful planet. Mostly. They never engaged in a war outside things they knew. They got along with the countries living inside its atmosphere most of the time and there was nothing to fret about because there was no threat they couldn’t handle. Until they came…
Aliens. No. Not the green ones that came in flying saucers. But dark, glossy ones that looked like the ones from the movie Alien, mixed with a werewolf. Razor sharp spikes lined their spines and all that stuff. Those things came to earth in this futuristic-looking ships and basically said, “Hey, we’re taking over your planet now. Gather your leaders to meet and surrender.”
They spoke English and every other language out there, funny enough. And frozen in fear, all the world leaders, to protect their countries, yielded to these creatures. Saimiens they called themselves. Well, lemme tell you, they weren’t the same as any other creature anyone had ever seen.
Earth was no longer free. It was a slave planet to the Saimiens. Humans wore badges that had little chips embedded into them, restricting some humans to some areas and admitting the others. Earth had strict ranks now.
It varied from Dom, the lowest, Scholar, the next one up, Ranger, the one after that, Rouge, second to best, and Archwarrior, the best of the best. The Archwarriors were the closest to the Saimiens and were most likely mind-controlled to work for those monsters.
Rouge got you access to lots of important places without question. Ranger, you’d have to get checked out in order to go into restricted areas. Scholar, you weren’t getting into any cool places except college and school break rooms. Dom could keep dreaming for any cool areas, but they weren’t moving from their farms and factories.
And just because you were at the very bottom of the ranks didn’t mean that you couldn’t climb the rank ladder—because you could! And that’s where you start to follow our friend, Alex Nunes. She was a Dom on her family farm and nothing more.
Alex wiped sweat off her brow and sighed in the new autumn heat. She had just finished plowing the field because her mom asked her to. It was blazing outside, but Alex had hopped on her tractor and plowed it in about an hour.
Frisky, the collie, was busy herding the sheep and cows, barking and nipping at the animals’ hooves while her mother collected eggs from the hens. Here, no one was without purpose. Alex’s silver badge glimmered in the heat and it caught her eye as she observed the field. It was almost time for her to go to school for her classes.
Alex trotted over to her mom and cleared her throat before starting to speak. “Hey, Mom—"
“Hay is for horses dear,” She called, her head still in the coop.
“Excuse me, Mom, but I’m gonna go and take a shower since it’s getting close to class time,” Alex said, correcting herself. They weren’t supposed to use normal grammar when on the farm, only the country slang, but Mom always liked the way usual grammar sounded. Because they didn’t use to work on a farm.
“Alright, honey,” Her mother replied, sounding pleased. “Your father is inside taking care of Sweetie’s new litter,” She said.
“Gotcha,” Alex said and tromped away toward the farmhouse. It was sky-blue in color and was very rustic-looking. Sweetie was the momma cat that hung around the house and had taken a liking to the family and decided to stay. She was known for making little mice-catchers that were really helpful.
As Alex walked into the hall, she could hear the meowing of the newborn kittens in the kitchen. She smiled to herself and ran upstairs to gather her stuff for her shower. Heading into her room, Alex dug through her drawers and found a pink plaid shirt and some jean shorts. Perfect for today!
Slipping into the guest bathroom upstairs, Alex began her shower she head more than happy to take. All this dirt was irritating her skin!
After her much needed wash, Alex emerged from the bathroom, her platinum blonde hair dried and her brown eyes sparkling. She held her dirty clothes in a clump in her arms and tossed them into her hamper that was near her door. Alex pinned the badge to her shirt and walked downstairs.
She padded into the kitchen in her bare feet and saw her father sitting next to the makeshift cardboard cat nursery that was on the floor. He seemed to be utterly focused on his task until Alex walked in.
He looked up at her and smiled. “Come and see,” He said, gesturing for Alex to sit down next to him.
She walked over and sat. Alex beheld the tabby cat with her litter of five kittens, asleep on their blanket and she smiled.
“They seem like they’ll make it,” She said, looking at her father.
He nodded, his badge glinting in the light coming from the window above the sink. “Yes,” He replied. “But you never know. Its survival of the fittest,”
“I know what you mean,” Alex said grimly. It was a metaphor hinting to what was going on beyond the cats. “We just have to have hope for the future,”
“However bleak it might seem,” Her father finished. “At least our work isn’t bad. It's not like a whip’s at our backs 24/7. We get to live—”
“While living under the Saimiens are overlords,” Alex said bitterly. “I never thought it might happen. Aliens invading. It always seemed like a work of fiction,”
“But it actually happened. And it was about…three months ago,” Dad said, nodding solemnly. He sighed and ran a hand through his brown hair. “Oh, and don’t forget its Inspection Day,”
“Oh my gosh! I almost forgot!” Alex cried, waking the cats.
She ignored them and hopped up. Alex sprinted back upstairs and donned her cowboy-like boots, her leather messenger bag and bolted back downstairs. Inspection Day was when the Saimiens came and inspected their human.
So, picture all the people in the world, seven-billion-something. Now imagine one Saimien for each person. Yup. There you go.
Alex had her Saimien and so did everyone else. Based on personality and behavior, the Saimien were paired up to a human. Yay…
It was almost ten, the new time of school regulated by the Saimiens and Alex had to catch the bus! She flew out the door, calling her farewell to her parents, and careened down the dirt path that led to the main country road.
She could see the yellow school bus as she ran down the path and Alex narrowed her eyes. It was driving away from her house, but that didn’t mean she had lost her chance.
Doubling her speed, Alex turned and ran along the road, following the school bus. A few students turned around to watch her famous trick, but Alex ignored them.
Inching closer to the bus, Alex took a running leap and attempted to grab the handle poking out of the emergency back door. Her hand clasped around the warm metal and she pulled herself onto the back ledge of the bus.
Whopping in her success, Alex poked her head around the side of the bus and felt the wind in her face as the sun beat down on her.
