“What?” The genuine surprise in the leader’s voice was almost refreshing. At least that meant that the aliens weren’t actually trying to invade.
“We goofed! We erred! We misinterpreted the data at hand!” The tallest alien moved in front of his leader, stepped with each term, emphasizing his statements.
“I told you so!” the pilot shouted from his control station.
“Let me explain the whole situation in a nutshell: There are five of us, and four billion of them!”
“Four billion and one,” I found myself saying out loud. Again, much like before, the aliens all freaked out. This time, the pilot joined in. I stood up, keeping the little girl behind me. The tallest one had produced a weapon and had it trained on me. So far, that was the most competent thing I’d seen any of them do. “Give me that,” I snarked, yanking the gun away from him. “You’ll hurt yourself, but not me. Look, I can see that you’re just trying to leave, so, you let the girl and the old man go, and I’ll do what I can to help.”
“We goofed! We erred! We misinterpreted the data at hand!” The tallest alien moved in front of his leader, stepped with each term, emphasizing his statements.
“I told you so!” the pilot shouted from his control station.
“Let me explain the whole situation in a nutshell: There are five of us, and four billion of them!”
“Four billion and one,” I found myself saying out loud. Again, much like before, the aliens all freaked out. This time, the pilot joined in. I stood up, keeping the little girl behind me. The tallest one had produced a weapon and had it trained on me. So far, that was the most competent thing I’d seen any of them do. “Give me that,” I snarked, yanking the gun away from him. “You’ll hurt yourself, but not me. Look, I can see that you’re just trying to leave, so, you let the girl and the old man go, and I’ll do what I can to help.”