An uncomfortable silence pervaded their entire lunch. After finishing eating, the three of them sat at the table, taking quiet sips of their drinks as the silence continued. Upon looking up from her drink to see Ilian watching her, only to then quickly avert his eyes, Aura finally was the one to speak.
She directed her question to Adan while continuing to watch Ilian. “So, Adan, did you ever tell Ilian what you used to do? Before all this?”
“Ever?” Adan asked. “Like, in the two weeks since we knew he was even here?”
Aura continued for him, “yes, Adan was an actor. Honest to goodness. Which I suppose is a strange term to describe an actor. But yep, he did all sorts of movies and TV shows.”
“Really? I thought I might have seen him on a few of the sites I went to. Entertainment ones” Ilian attempted to converse normally, he and Aura both still regarding each other suspiciously.
“You didn’t do that many sci-fi shows though, did you?” she asked as she briefly glanced at Adan. “Shame, that would’ve been helpful right about now I suppose.”
“There was the one with the robots” Adan offered, though he still watched Aura warily as well, wondering where she was going with this line of conversation exactly.
“Oh yeah, the robots who looked like people, right?”
“Yeah I played the boyfriend of the daughter of the guy who created---”
“Yeah, but none about aliens, right?” Aura interrupted, feigning curiosity, as she knew his filmography better than he did.
Adan stifled a deep breath as they both inadvertently glanced at Ilian. Ilian just glanced down at his drink, rather quickly. “No, not a lot” Adan admitted.
“Just robots that look like people, not aliens who do? Odd, that’s a pretty common theme in sci-fi, isn’t it though? You know, they blend in, try to be friends with the humans. Some even mess with their minds. Their memories even,” she added with a bit of chill in her tone. “But it usually never works out in those movies or shows. They just always end up with one side destroying the other” Aura said pointedly, never moving her gaze from Ilian as she spoke.
“Well, what else would humans write when it comes to aliens, right?” Adan surprisingly continued, though he too kept watching Ilian. “Not like we ever actually had a chance to interact with them before.”
“Yeah, before” Aura agreed pointedly as she took another sip, still watching Ilian every moment, as he still stared at the table as intently as she stared at him.
“So, I made the food. You wanna do the dishes Aur’?” Adan interjected.
“Nah, I’m good” Aura answered a bit quickly before continuing right where she left off. “I wonder what aliens write about us? You know, assuming they do things like write, or read, or anything else even remotely similar to the way humans behave. Guess they could be too busy building ships, and weapons, and viruses to destroy us all though” she continued, not letting Ilian out of her gaze, which he still avoided, looking beyond uncomfortable right then.
Adan made himself find a response. “Well that’s probably the way it would go in most movies. But hey, maybe there’ll be a twist we don’t see coming. That would be pretty good writing for once” Adan attempted to continue mediating. “So, hey, dishes?”
“What do you think Ilian?” Aura asked him directly then, causing Adan to wince slightly.
“Think?” he managed to respond, though hoarsely.
“Yeah, what do you think they’d write about us? Or hell, we may as well leave movie-land. We’ve got real fucking ones out there right now, after all. You think they actually want anything else? Anything plot twisty even? You know, other than just murdering everyone on the planet. Which they’re doin pretty well with so far, it seems, right?” she asked, though her voice was cracking a bit as she recited, out loud, the reality of the world they now lived in.
“Well, the humans did attack... them” Ilian made himself respond.
“Yeah, after they sent a virus to try and kill us all. Remember that part?”
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“Yes” Ilian said as he looked down again, forcing another sip of his drink.
Adan interrupted loudly, “Will somebody please come do the fucking dishes with me now, Aura?” he added pointedly.
“I will” Ilian offered, quickly rising and beginning to gather them into his hands, leaving the room, head down as he did.
Adan just gave Aura a pointed look before scooping up the rest, and taking a deep breath before following Ilian from the dining area to the kitchen with a shake of his head.
“You do realize what that was all about, don’t you?” Adan was asking Ilian in the kitchen a moment later, as Adan carelessly loaded the dishwasher.
“What what was about?” Ilian asked quietly as he handed him the dishes.
“That whole what do you think the aliens really want, Ilian, stuff?” Adan stated bluntly.
“She’s trying to make sense of what’s happening out there” Ilian stated in the same soft spoken voice, his days on the internet improving his manner of speaking greatly it seemed.
“Not just out there” Adan scoffed as he finished loading the dishes. “You do realize what she was getting at, don’t you?”
“Getting at?” Ilian repeated, finally turning his dark eyes to Adan’s.
“You’ve acted so goddamn weird that she thinks you’re a fucking alien, Ilian” Adan finished with a shake of his head.
Ilian swallowed hard, looking down again, “so what do you think I should do?”
Adan let out a derisive laugh, “convince her that you’re fucking not? Just maybe?” he added with a bit of sarcasm.
“How?” Ilian asked with a pleading tone as he looked back over at Adan again.
“How?” Adan just shook his head. “I mean...how?” Adan repeated again, shaking his head. “How do I even answer that question? Stop being so weird about every goddamn thing. That could be a good fuckin start” Adan shrugged helplessly, as he wasn’t honestly sure how to convince Aura either.
“I’m trying” was all Ilian could say to that suggestion.
Adan then turned to look at Ilian for a long time. Finally, he took a deep breath, “see this? This reaction to being told that someone is legitimately wondering if you’re an actual human. This is not a normal reaction” he said with a bit of his own suspicion seeping into his tone.
“I don’t know what else I need to do to...” Ilian began, then just looked down again.
“And stop that” Adan ordered, though spoke gently.
“Stop what?”
“Acting like a wounded puppy when we question your trustworthiness. Again, not normal” Adan reiterated.
“How should I act?”
“Oh my fucking god” Adan said as he turned away, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
“I don’t understand” Ilian stated with a bit of desperation.
“No, you really fucking don’t” Adan shook his head up at the ceiling again, before finally turning to look back at Ilian once more. “It’s like you really are a goddamn alien” he sighed heavily. Ilian simply looked down quickly again.
That was when Adan’s breath caught as he seemed to finally understand something himself. He trembled slightly as he looked over at where Ilian stood frozen, saying or doing nothing more than looking defeated.
“You really are” Adan whispered, more to himself, his voice hoarse and shaking, as he took a step back against the counter.
Ilian finally looked back up. “But like I said, so many times, I’m not here to hurt either of you.”
“Was that a confession?” Adan’s voice broke in a whisper as he continued to stare at Ilian with a million emotions that even he could no longer hide, skilled as he was at projecting any emotion he had wanted at any time.
“Do I even need to make a confession, when nothing I do can seem to convince either of you that I’m not what you think I am?” Ilian asked quietly.
“And you’re still saying you’re not here to hurt us?” Adan breathed.
“Not every member of the same race agrees with the things that other members do. Isn’t that true in all races?” Ilian stated with a calmness at being able to actually stop acting the way he thought they expected or wanted him to for once.
“So, you’re a revolutionary then? That it? A traitor to your own species? Is that the story now?” Adan whispered, wanting to flee but somehow not able to.
“I suppose those things are all true” Ilian responded in the same quiet tone. “I have been trying to keep all three of us safe after all. I’ve even hidden this place from them.”
“Them? The rest of your... people?” Adan clarified. Ilian simply nodded. “The ones who have spent the last two weeks wiping out all of mine? Those ones?”
Ilian sighed softly. “And believe me when I say that if I were to stop hiding us, they wouldn’t even acknowledge you and Aura until after they dealt with me. In some wholly unpleasant way, I’m sure.”
“Why are they here? What do they want, Ilian? You can answer that question now, can’t you?” Adan continued, his need to know just slightly outweighing his need to run.
“Everything left on your planet. That’s why they sent the virus first. To wipe out all of you before you destroyed the rest of it.”
“And you didn’t agree with that plan?” Adan questioned, having trouble believing he was even having a conversation like this at all.
“We could have looked for some other place. One not inhabited by an intelligent race. But this one was unlucky enough to be closer. That’s the only reason they chose it,” Ilian admitted sadly.
“And what happens after they’ve killed everyone and taken everything? What then?”
Ilian sighed again. “They move on.”
Adan bit back some more emotions then. “And you’ve decided to just stay behind on our dying planet and die with us? Instead of surviving with your own damn people? How does that make sense?”
“At least this way I won’t have to watch them wipe out anyone else,” Ilian said sadly as he turned away and began leaving the room.
“Will I even remember this conversation? And if i do, what the hell do I even tell Aura now?” Adan called after him.
“I think you’d know that answer a lot better than I ever could,” Ilian replied before leaving the room and Adan behind.