"What is it?" Upon seeing Lonappan's serious face, Taro asked.
Lonappan loosened up a little. "Well, it seems like you've got strength. A lot, in fact. Like an inhuman amount of it." He said.
Taro agreed with Lonappan's assessment. "Makes sense. I'm not human after all."
"True."
"So, what are you getting to?" Taro asked yet again.
"I want you to stop exerting this strength. It won't be like this time. Once you start doing that stuff frequently, people are going to notice it. Then, we wouldn't have no choice but to use the neuralyzer [1]." Lonappan replied, as a grim look dawned on his face.
"Again, makes sense. More importantly, you guys have a neuralyzer?" Taro calmly changed the subject.
Lonappan went along with the flow. "Used to be a standard MI equipment before the scientist learned that its use on humans might lead to permanent amnesia or maybe even insanity. By the way, I expected more of a dramatic response when I said to stop. It seems like you don't have a grasp in theatrics." He looked agitated. For a guy who stays silent for a few seconds after a punch line just so that the imaginary live audience could give out the generic laugh, Taro's lack of flamboyancy disappointed him.
"Why?" Taro asked as he looked at the moon.
Lonappan jumped up on this. "What do you mean why? I'm a sucker for charismatic acting chops. Aren't you?" He asked.
Taro shook his head. "I did not mean that. Why do you go to such lengths to hide the existence of aliens? Why don't you let it out? Are you afraid that the MIB wouldn't exist when the cat's out of the bag?"
"Nah, we could just be the interspecies law enforces openly then. However, I do understand where you come from. Imagine, what would happen when the people in this world suddenly realize that their whole life was a lie and aliens do exist? They'd go insane even without us using a neuralyzer." Lonappan explained his side.
"I feel like you are underestimating people. For sure, they would be some people who believe in the existence of aliens." Taro retorted. He truly believed in what he said.
Lonappan also seemed to agree with this statement. "Yea, that might be true. Although if we consider the majority, they believe they are the only ones in this universe. Hell, people used to believe that Sun revolves around Earth back in the days."
"Wow, incredibly self-centered people!" Taro was amazed at this discovery. Maybe it was because Wados stepped into the universal civilization pretty early on, no one in Wados seemed to be as self-centered as the ones in Earth when they are to describe the significance of their planet, even though they are an undeniable power in this universe.
"Yea, now imagine what would happen if this legion of self-centered people realize that they're not the only ones in the universe and there's even some far advanced races in here. They would collectively lose their shit." Lonappan continued.
Taro denied this statement. "Again, that's a hypothesis. Don't you think people would embrace this fact that the aliens exists? My planet did. Why not yours?" He asked. He thought that humans deserved to know about the truth of this universe. He didn't want the truth to stay hidden. He knew he couldn't make a big change with his one decisive mind, but he hoped for the day when collective minds go forth with this notion. So, if he can't convince Lonappan about this, he might as well stop. It's not that he particularly cared about earthlings, but the universe is so vast and filled with wonderful things to see, it would be a pity if the earthlings missed this sight just because the world leaders and other organizations didn't want them to know about such a possibility.
Lonappan took a deep breath in. "Okay, I'll tell you. Fundamentally, your planet is way different than the Earth. Let me number it out. First, the earthlings are incredibly religious people. So religious that they some turn into fanatics and commit hate crimes in its name. Now, imagine that someday they get to know that most of the Gods they used to worship and commit hate crimes over were just aliens who helped building our civilization early on and our stupid asses thought they were Gods." He said.
Taro suddenly interrupted the flow. "Okay, that ain't different from Wados. We have a religion back there too. However, they didn't freak out on the discovery of aliens!" He exclaimed. He saw this as an opportunity to convince Lonappan.
"Very well. That leads me to the next point. You lot are beings with superpowers. The reason you didn't freak out was because you deemed the aliens as inferior even if they had advanced machinery because they didn't have what you have. Based on what I've known, people don't cause a ruckus about what they deem inferior. Let me imagine, the aliens were more fascinated about you than you were, right? Let me also take another guess. You got propelled to a universal power, when you stepped into the galaxy, right? You were strong from the beginning, even if it was not technological. However, earthlings are weak in every departments other than their wits, maybe. People fear what they deem as strong. That's why the higher-ups are sucking to the Glomerans. They fear their power. And if what you said back in the HQ is true, the moment we stepped into the galaxy, unlike you, we've already become slaves. See the difference?" Lonappan asked.
"…" Taro stayed silent. He needed some time to process what he heard just then. He continued staying silent since he borderline agreed with what Lonappan had to say.
Upon seeing Taro's silence, Lonappan decided to continue. "Last, but not the least. Humans can't even figure out how to deal with the shit inside their civilization, how are they gonna deal with a new one? You see, Earth has a wonderful amount of discrimination. We got casteism and we got racism. Even in a seemingly mutual relationship, they somehow find one inferior class." Lonappan sighed before he continued. "I shouldn't say this, but my final point is that we're a bunch of idiots. Sure, racism and casteism might eradicate once we reveal your existence, however, that's just because they'll get a new one to discriminate based on the species, body shape, color, dialect and all sort of stuff. It doesn't matter if you're strong, as long as you're in our turf, these people will beat you and shame you. I'm not talking about all humans here, since MIB is also a human establishment, so I do believe many might just be accepting—but there are this bunch of assholes. Now imagine if they pissed someone like you or this Martial planet's guys off—we get immediately annihilated. Imagine if they pissed plankton off—the results won' show in the beginning, but I'm sure they'll easily defeat us in a full-scale war. The reason for such a war would be some idiot's derogatory remark. Ultimately, it'll be because of us, who decided to reveal that aliens exists." Lonappan finally stopped and gasped for breath. He explained more than he previously thought he would.
Taro was in awe. "Wow, I didn't think you'd think that far. Shit's deep." He extended his hand for a truce in their battle of opinions.
Lonappan shook on it. "And I didn't think you'd hear the entire thing." He gave out a grin of satisfaction.
"I believe what you said makes sense. But sooner or later, Glomerans gonna want more of you and eventually make you their slaves." Taro decided to drop the nuke of truth before long.
Lonappan nodded. "I realize that. All that said, I kinda believe in humans too. When time comes, they'll fight. They might lose the fight, but they'll persevere. That's human nature." He felt hopeful towards the future of humanity. He continued. "You see, we have not been sitting idly for all these years. We've built relations with multiple civilizations now. I believe they'll help when shit goes down the drain." He gave a thumbs up.
"I suggest that you somehow form a diplomatic relation with Wados as well. We've got bad blood with the fucking Glomerans." Taro looked pissed off as he talked about the Glomerans.
"Why?" Lonappan wondered.
"They were the only bastards who tried to colonize us." Taro replied.
"And what did you do?" Lonappan asked, since it would be good to take notes on their battle.
"We drove them off with our brute strength." Taro answered with a cheeky laugh.
Lonappan chuckled as well. Wadorians did it in the way only they could do, maybe with the exception of martial planet. "Ha. Very well, we'll contact Wados too." He wasn't much hopeful about them contacting Wados since the Glomerans controlled the inter-galactic communication systems, however, he felt the need to say yes at that moment.
Taro smiled before a voice came from behind. "The Ark will rise!" The voice shouted before suddenly turning silent. It was Gibli.
"Fuck. When did you get here?" Taro asked as he looked around to see if anyone had woken up.
"I heard Glomerans and I got up. I didn't knew you were in cahoots with the glomerans." He looked towards Lonappan.
"Not exactly." Lonappan replied as he shook his head.
"I was kidding. But you are in the same state as we were back then. So, the Ark will stand by with you." Gibli clenched his fist and held it out.
"As if! The Ark's Glomerans slaves now." Taro mocked Gibli.
"Don't you dare!" Gibli didn't like people calling the Arkians as Glomeran's slaves. It took quite a toll on his pride as an Arkian.
"I'm just telling you the truth." Taro shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, even if we are 'working' for the Glomerans, our sentiments always been against them. So, Earth and Ark—together we'll conduct a civil war!" Gibli once again extended his fist.
"I hope it doesn't come to that though." Lonappan extended his fist as well.
"Oh, it will!" Taro patted on his shoulders.
Lonappan smiled. He was concerned, however now was not the time. "Shoot, it's midnight. Go back to sleep, you idiots!"
"Very well." Taro and Gibli went back. However, Lonappan stopped Taro for a moment.
"Hey, look. You don't have to stop using your strength, you know? Just learn how to exactly control it with your will." Lonappan said as he left.
"Ha, thanks." Taro bowed. He got back up and once again looked at the moon and sighed. "Looks like I'll have to jump into the martial arts bandwagon again!"
He thought as he walked back to the bed.
#
[1] Yes, the one from the movie which wipes out/ manipulates memories.