Lisa couldn’t make sense of what was happening. One moment, she had been watching as Null destroyed the orbital station and now she was here, wherever here was.

She found herself in a dimly lit room, standing alongside Null and Infy. A drone hovered nearby, its metallic frame sleek and precise.

The drone’s voice came through her mind in a calm, artificial tone. “Lisa Jameson, I wish to thank you for your kind treatment of my boys.”

Lisa blinked, still trying to process everything. “Where are we?”

The drone responded without hesitation, its voice now echoing in her mind. “You are aboard a hidden automated survey ship, currently in orbit around Mars.”

Lisa glanced around, immediately sensing that something was off. The technology surrounding her was far more advanced than anything a human ship could possess. But before she could dwell on that, she had more pressing questions.

“And who are you?”

The drone answered. “I am the Watcher. The boys call me Zero. I am their mentor. This drone is my avatar. It appears our preparations for integration with human society were not as complete as I had hoped.”

Another drone entered the room bringing chairs for them to sit on. Null quickly sat on his looking slightly drained.

Lisa sat stiffly in the chair provided, her mind still trying to catch up with everything that had happened. Less than an hour ago, she had been on an orbital station, trying to mediate between the twins and the human factions. Now, she was aboard a hidden ship orbiting Mars, speaking to a drone avatar of something or someone far beyond her understanding. Null had said that Infy was part Angel, maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe this Zero is an alien.

The drone, Zero, hovered in front of her, its sleek metallic surface reflecting the dim lighting of the room. "Lisa Jameson, I require your assistance," it said in its eerily calm voice. "I wish for you to help prepare the boys for the Youth Soldier Competition."

Lisa frowned. "Prepare them? For what? Why are you so obsessed with this competition? It’s just a glorified recruitment event."

Null, who had been quietly watching her, finally spoke, his voice once again echoing in her mind. "It’s not about the competition itself. It’s a goal something to do."

Lisa turned to face him, but before she could question further, he continued.

"When we came here, I thought we were already strong. But when I fought John, I realised… I am weak"

His mental voice carried no arrogance, just simple acceptance. "The pod training gave us knowledge, but it didn’t give us experience. Fighting actual humans is different. We need to improve."

Lisa studied him carefully. There was no hesitation in his words no doubt. This wasn’t about proving himself, or about pride. This was a necessity. But for what?

Infy, who had been floating near Lisa, spoke next. "You saw how quickly Null has adapted against John. Imagine how much we can learn against competitors who have trained for years. While it is unlikely the youth will be a challenge it might make us connect with the truly strong"

Lisa sighed, leaning back in her chair. "So that’s it? You see this as training?"

"Yes," Null confirmed. "We won’t get better without real opponents."

Lisa rubbed her temples, still struggling with the absurdity of the situation. The twins were light-years beyond human capability, yet here they were, worrying about a youth combat tournament like it was some critical mission.

She let out a tired breath. "Alright… What exactly do you need me for?"

Zero's drone whirred slightly as it responded. "They need to blend in. You understand human social structures better than I do. The goal is to integrate them into the competition without raising suspicion."

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Lisa snorted. "Right. Because nothing about them is suspicious at all. Especially after that stunt"

Null tilted his head slightly. "what do you mean?"

Lisa exhaled slowly, her mind already turning over the logistics of this insane request.

"I do have one request," she said, her voice measured.

Zero responded before she could elaborate, its tone as calm as ever. "I assume you want assurances that Christopher is protected."

Lisa stiffened, caught off guard. They knew about Christopher? Her son was currently enrolled at the officer academy, training to become a leader therefore his whereabouts were classified.

Before she could ask how they knew, a series of holographic screens materialised in front of her, displaying his exact location within the academy, security feeds of various academy facilities, and even logs of all incoming and outgoing communications linked to the academy.

Lisa’s breath hitched. How long have they been watching?

The drone continued, as if answering her unspoken thoughts. "I have been monitoring. There are no signs of suspicious activity. I agree to your terms. I will protect Christopher—you will train the twins."

Lisa exhaled sharply and gave a small nod. "Fine." She had little choice in the matter, but at least she had secured her son’s safety.

They had one month before the first rounds of the Youth Soldier Competition would begin. Lisa wasn’t sure how they planned to enter, considering they were now wanted criminals and terrorists, but that wasn’t her problem.

Her problem was getting them to blend in. She had only seen them interacting with her so she set up a test for them.

Lisa sat back in her chair, arms crossed, watching as Null and Infy stood before the holographic student simulation. The virtual boy, labelled "Ethan – Standard Social Profile", was designed to replicate an average competitor in the Youth Soldier Competition. They were someone they might realistically interact with.

"Alright, boys," Lisa said, glancing between them. "This is it. Just have a normal, casual conversation with Ethan. No weird pauses, no robotic answers, no existential debates about the meaning of small talk. Just... be normal."

Null nodded, his face stiff but determined. Infy, floating beside him camouflaged as a communication device

The simulation began.

Ethan: "Hey, what's up?"

Null stared intensely at the hologram, unblinking.

Lisa silently prayed he wouldn't say something ridiculous.

Null: "The opposite of the local gravitational field"

Lisa winced.

Ethan paused, looking momentarily confused. "Uh… yeah, I guess. So, uh, are you excited for the competition?"

Null’s expression turned dead serious.

“Excitement impairs judgment and hinders combat readiness.”

Ethan blinked. "Uh… okay?"

Lisa buried her face in her hands.

We're failing. We're absolutely failing.

Ethan tilted his head, obviously weirded out. "Uh, cool. So, where are you from?"

Lisa froze. Oh no. This is a trap question.

They hadn't prepared a cover story that wouldn't sound suspicious.

Null hesitated for a second too long.

Then, with way too much enthusiasm, the communication device blurted out:

"I am from... SPACE!"

Lisa choked on air.

Ethan laughed. "Yeah, no kidding. We all are."

Lisa exhaled in relief. Thank God, he thinks it's a joke.

Null, however, looked too proud of his answer, glancing at Lisa like he had nailed it. She gave him a thumbs-up under the table, deciding to just let it go.

Ethan kept going. "So, what do you guys do for fun?"

Lisa held her breath. Easy question. Just say something normal. Video games. Sports. Literally anything human.

Null straightened his posture and said, far too seriously:

"I like to train in high-gravity environments until my body nearly collapses, and we run advanced neural simulations that push our cognitive functions to their limit. Sometimes, I spar at speeds exceeding human reaction time."

Lisa could physically feel her soul leaving her body.

Ethan let out an awkward chuckle. "Uh… nice. I guess… that’s fun and we?"

Infy quickly corrected course pretending to be Null. "We also play board games!"

Lisa blinked. Since when?

Ethan perked up. "Oh, cool! Which ones?"

Null tried to cover for Infy "Uh… War Chess. Galactic Conquest. Quantum Probability Poker."

Ethan squinted. "I’ve… never heard of those."

Lisa had to intervene before this spiralled further into disaster. "They're kind of obscure. Anyway! Looks like we’re out of time!" She clapped her hands, manually shutting down the simulation before anything else could go wrong.

The hologram flickered out, leaving an awkward silence in its wake.

Lisa turned to them, arms crossed.

"Well… that was something."

Null looked confident. "I think that went well."

Lisa gave him a long stare. "You told someone you were from space."

"But we are from space."

Lisa rubbed her temples. "That’s not the point!"

Infy pulsed optimistically. "We will improve. It is a process."

Lisa sighed, shaking her head. "Let’s just hope the real competitors are as oblivious as Ethan."

The month passed quickly, and to her surprise, the twins took to her curriculum with enthusiasm. They worked on social norms, language skills, and could now understand Solar Common fluently.

Body language, sarcasm, conversational cues they tackled it all. They weren’t perfect, but they were better.

Lisa was currently watching them interact with a virtual student

Lisa couldn’t wait to see how their progress paid off tomorrow at the competition.