Michael awoke with some of the strangest notifications on his phone he had ever seen. Several news headlines in excruciating detail gave confirmation of the existence of alien life including footage of world leaders talking about how to deal with the matter. According to sources, the aliens had been spotted late the previous night in a fleet of several thousand ships outside of Earth. One headline noted the aliens had taken the Eiffel Tower with a video attachment. The stories were unending, including another video showing alien ships siphoning water from the ocean. Michael’s phone was bombarded with each new headline that popped up, each more unbelievable than the last. He turned on his computer and had several notifications from people asking if he heard the recent news. Funny, Michael though, the news popups for the discovery of alien life was much like how they reacted in Nova Galactica when the aliens were discovered. Michael read the messages in the group chat as Ryan and Trey both seemed amazed and terrified of the alien fleet.
Michael: Hey guys, I just saw the news. So, there’s just some aliens flying around the Earth taking things is that about it?
Trey: Yeah, but they’re taking all kinds of random things, like one of them was taking a bunch of wheat from Kansas, the Griffith Observatory, the Eiffel Tower, just a whole bunch of buildings and other things.
Michael: Wow, that’s really weird, I thought it was a joke for a second, but it looks like this is all really happening.
Michael could hear mumbled voices emanating from downstairs and went to check it out. He left his bedroom and went downstairs to the living room where his grandma and mom were both seated on the couch watching news on the TV. Grandma saw Michael’s movement out of the corner of her eye and said “Michael, come take a look at this, I always knew that they existed, but no one ever believed me,” Grandma was many things, she was a feminist, true to her faith, and she was a believer in aliens. Everyone had heard her stories every time there was a family gathering, summer of ‘67 while everyone slept she looked up into the night sky and saw a cigar-shaped object flash across the sky while in Arizona visiting the Grand Canyon. Now all these decades later she could finally say told you so to all the people who doubted her.
“Well, I’m sorry that I doubted you,” said Michael,
“Oh, you’re hardly the first, it’s okay I forgive you,” said Grandma looking at Michael, her eyes concealed by the glare on her glasses.
On the TV b-roll played on repeat of different landmarks or objects that had been taken by the alien ships. The news anchor announced “...and this just in, we have just gotten word that the foreign ships have sent a video message of some sort, what they are saying isn’t exactly clear as they seem to be speaking some kind of alien language, but what we do know is this is meant to be some kind of message. We’re playing the message now,” The camera cut from the anchor and played the message the aliens sent. As the camera cut Michael felt his heart begin to race as he looked at the screen. He did a long blink before reopening his eyes, but he wasn’t mistaken at what he initially saw. There being broadcast on the news were the Tardigrades, but not just any, the general was on screen giving the message with one guard standing on either side of him. “Greetings, although this message is likely too complicated for your feeble minds to understand it is a customary tradition of our great nation to broadcast a message through the preferred medium to inhabitants of a planet we stumble upon. We acknowledge and understand that you may be provoked to fight, however, please be advised we have far greater strength than the combined military force of all the armies on your planet, furthermore, you imbeciles have failed to unite under a single government, and are more likely to kill each other off before ever uniting against our forces. Seeing the length of your days we can guarantee you all at least nine more so long as no aggression is made toward any of our forces. It’s your decision whether or not you want to follow or ignore our warnings, but to be clear we have wiped out planets in the past and will have no problem doing the same for yours,” In unison, the general, as well as his two guards, chanted “With honor, blood, and tenacity all hail the Imperium,” all three of the Tardigrades saluted simultaneously, and the video cut to the logo of the Tardigrade Sovereign Imperium.
Michael felt as if he was now sweating and his heart was racing, but heard the laughter of both Grandma and his mom. “Are you two serious? How did you find that funny? They just threatened to reduce our planet to dust!” said Michael frustrated at their inappropriate reactions,
“Oh Michael, don’t be silly, don’t pretend that you could actually understand that video,” said Michael’s mom,
“And the way they did that salute, acting all tough when they sound like monkeys at the zoo,” said Grandma over laughter,
Frustrated Michael ran back upstairs to his room and turned on his computer where his friends had been still messaging him. He clicked on the group chat and started a call with Trey and Ryan, both of whom joined mere seconds after the call was initiated.
“Guys, you’ve been staying on top of everything right?” asked Michael,
“Michael, those are literally your aliens from Nova Galactica, they literally look identical and have the same logos and everything,” said Trey,
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“Yeah, and my family was watching the news, and I told them the aliens threatened to destroy the planet, but all of them told me to stop joking around and were hysterically laughing at the TV,” said Ryan,
“Wait, your family too? I thought that my grandma and mom were just laughing as a way to cope. Are you sure that wasn’t what your family was doing?” asked Michael to Ryan,
“No, they really didn’t understand what they were saying, I also remember the news anchor saying something about it being an alien language,” said Ryan,
“Oh yeah, I remember now, wait maybe that means only the three of us can understand could understand what they were saying if nobody else could figure it out,” said Michael,
“Well, one thing is for sure, we need to figure something out because your aliens are super aggressive Michael, they admitted it themselves they’re giving us nine days,” said Trey,
“Well, how are we going to do that? I don’t even know how the aliens are here in the first place, and now they’re threatening to destroy everything. What are we supposed to do?” Michael said concerned,
“Well, how did the aliens get out of the game in the first place? Did you do anything or did something happen that may have caused the aliens to be free?” asked Ryan,
“No, no, nothing, I can’t think of any reason why they would be from the game,” said Michael,
“Seriously? You can’t think of anything? Just anything that may have been different, maybe a popup that you didn’t read carefully, or a connection error I don’t know,” said Trey,
Michael thought to himself for a second before responding. “Oh, now that I think about it last night my grandma was doing some vacuuming and it disconnected me from the game, but now I remember that my computer didn’t just turn off like it normally does when the circuit breaker flicks. Instead, my computer stayed on for a few seconds and got brighter before turning off with the rest of the lights in my room,” said Michael,
“That could be it, okay, everyone we need to recreate the conditions in Michael’s room to see if we can find a way to put the aliens back where they belong,” said Trey,
Half an hour later the sound of car doors slamming got Michael’s attention as he opened the door for Trey and Ryan both entering with two vacuum cleaners each. Michael’s mom noticed Trey and Ryan’s arrival from the living room and walked over to the front door. “Hey, nuh uh, you can’t just have your friends over uninvited,” said Michael’s mom,
“But mom, they’re here to help tidy up see?” said Michael pointing at the vacuum cleaners his friends were holding.
“We already have your grandmother around here to do all of that, besides, I haven’t seen you run a vacuum in at least a year or two,” said Michael’s mom,
Michael thought fast on his feet. “But this isn’t any ordinary day, you see, it’s… a challenge,”
“A challenge?” asked Michael’s mom doubtingly,
“Yeah, it’s a challenge, it’s all over Tiktok, you show up at your friend’s house and you start cleaning,” said Trey,
“We’ll be out in no time Mrs. Chapman,” said Ryan,
“Well, I’ve heard some things about all the challenges on the internet these days, but this seems safe, so I guess I’ll allow it if it will keep you boys out of trouble,” said Michael’s mom,
Michael’s mom held the door open and both Trey and Ryan entered and made their way up to Michael’s room. Trey and Ryan placed the vacuums on the ground and Michael shut the door behind them. “Okay, so if we do this right we can draw enough electricity to trip the fuse, in fact four vacuums is overkill because it’s definitely more than enough power seeing as my grandma manages to do it with just one, well, and all of her electronics in the other room. You two are gonna want to start those things in Grandma’s room which is on the other side of the wall,” said Michael,
Trey and Ryan took their vacuums out from Michael’s room into Grandma’s room and plugged them in the wall. Meanwhile, Michael walked over to his desk and sat in front of his computer which already had Nova Galactica loaded. “Okay, you guys can go whenever you’re ready,” yelled Michael through the wall,
Trey and Ryan looked at each other and nodded. They flicked the switches on the vacuum cleaners drawing power from the wall, which immediately tripped the circuit breaker. All the lights in the room went out apart for Michael’s computer which stayed lit up and got brighter. Yes, it’s working thought Michael, but when Trey and Ryan returned to Michael’s room Michael was nowhere to be seen and his chair spun around in circles. A popup appeared on the screen as if there was attempts at communication from the computer to the outside world.