—Razar, do you really not remember me?.— The girl asks, holding my cheeks in her hands.
—I've been trying since you asked me, but I can't.— I reply.
—Could you have mistaken him for someone else?.— IA asks.
—Ha, I could never, there is no one like him..— She replies.
—Can you at least trust me, Razar?.— The girl asks.
Judy looks at me, as if waiting for my answer more than she is.
—We won't be safe here, we must go.— The girl says, she looks very calm but worried.
—It's fine, I understand.— I reply, I know this isn't the best place to talk.
—Razar, are you sure?.— IA asks.
—Besides, it's hard to believe all this is because of you.— She adds.
—A small slip, and everything could go to hell, do you know the terror of losing everything in a second?.— The girl replies to IA, without taking her eyes off mine.
—Does that mean you can't tell us anything?.— IA asks.
The girl used a metaphor, but IA understood it quickly.
—That's right, I wish I could, but you must understand.— The girl replies, removing her hands from my cheeks.
The girl suddenly hugs me, and breathes in as if she wants to get my essence... IA stares at her without saying anything...
—….Can... we at least know your name?..— IA asks.
—Sure.— The girl smiles showing her braces, turning her gaze to IA, and closing her eyes.
—My name is..—
***
14 hours earlier, California, United States. Hat Creek Observatory;
—Pizza, does that sound good?.— Asks my partner.
—Eehh?, do you think it's appropriate?, besides, as if you ever listen to what I say, aren't we supposed to eat something healthy?.— I reply, sitting at my monitoring station, almost falling off my chair with how reclined I am.
—Pizza then.— He replies.
—As I said, you never listen.—
—And how do you manage to get a delivery all the way up here?, aren't we in the middle of nowhere?.— I ask while he picks up the phone on the wall.
—Oh, I know a friend of a friend who owes me a favor... but keep it on the down-low.— He answers..
—Would you risk your job for a pizza?.— I ask.
—Yeah…I mean, he knows his script, if he gets caught he just has to say "I got lost on the way.", he's a professional delivery guy.— He responds, dialing the number..
—Hahah, whatever you say... I'll step outside for a moment to detach myself from the crime.— I say, getting up from my chair.
—Don't forget to erase the tap….your station..— He says with surprise when we hear a detection alarm.
—It's an alert!..— I look at my monitor examining the data.
—This frequency... the computer has already checked them!, call control quickly!.— I exclaim.
40 minutes later, United States Department of Defense Headquarters, The Pentagon;
"It's here... she's finally returned." I think to myself before entering the conference room.
—Gentlemen, Mr. President, Secretary of Defense, my name is Hans Braun, an administrator of the private research center Blur Tree and director of NASA's Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena or "UAP" team. Less than an hour ago today at the Hat Creek Observatory in California, which is responsible for analyzing radio wave data detected by the Allen Telescope Array system, we identified a high-frequency electromagnetic signal for 30 seconds, with nearly 35 intermittent pulses, of a magnitude greater than anything we've captured to date. The observatory's computers sounded the alarm, and once the signal was verified, our telescopes and observation satellites examined the source. It was moving at about 28,000 kilometers per second near Saturn and has been decelerating considerably since then. Our instruments exploring space for extraterrestrial life surveyed that quadrant 2 days ago, and it wasn't there, which means it either appeared out of nowhere or was traveling at unprecedented speeds, maintaining a direct trajectory to Earth.— I continue explaining to the political, military, and space authorities of the country in a spacious room with a projector behind me.
—When it reached almost the distance of the moon, it stopped completely, and... this was the image we obtained.— My secretary displays the following visualization.
—What does that suppose to mean?.— The President asks.
The image is slightly blurry, but it's distinguishable with absolute clarity. It focuses on what appears to be a girl, with short dark hair, wearing a blue skirt and some white upper garment.
—Her body is surrounded by a semi-transparent cloud emitting very high radiation, which was the signal we detected, and the nearly 35 pulses intermittently could be her own heartbeats... if this has a biological composition as her appearance would suggest.— I can sense some disbelief among those present, but I don't blame them.
—I don't want to think this is some kind of joke, but I hope you can explain.— Says the President.
—The data is real, but anyone would say the most likely scenario is a crack rather than something like this being true. The first issue is that our observation network is independent from one another, and they all captured the same thing. It would mean cracking different stations simultaneously. We restarted the control rooms and satellites to detect any leaks, but there was nothing, the image remains the same, what appears to be a girl floating in space, perfectly preserved and perhaps... alive.— I point back to the girl and sigh.
—But such an analysis isn't necessary..— I say seriously and continue.
—In 1961, the Apollo program effectively began to put a man on the moon. Most scientists knew the challenges this entailed and that its end was mainly the Cold War. But the idea of such an ambitious project was exciting for anyone.— I say.
—What does Apollo have to do with this image?.— Asks the Secretary of Defense.
—When she appeared, she was taken as a prodigy, her calculations, theories, engineering inventions, everything was fascinating. More than being considered a genius, nobody paid attention to her, but there was something strange, she had technological knowledge that was decades ahead of our time. She worked for a few months on the Apollo project and for some reason, she walked towards the engine area when they were being tested and committed suicide.—
—No one knows why she did it or where she came from in the first place, but we know she was looking for something, or someone. That girl is the same as the one in the photo, nearly 60 years have passed, but she retains the same appearance and even the clothing is the same.— I continue explaining, everyone is silent, caught between surprise and disbelief.
—In 1976, she appeared again to help with the Voyager program. For some reason, she had the probes modified to withstand nearly 200 years, much more than originally contemplated, as well as the ability to re-enter an atmosphere without being destroyed. When the probes took off, she disappeared again but they found that she changed the original disks that should have been carried by the probes containing images and sounds of Earth, for a personal message. The only thing we could salvage from the encoding she did was: "You must return to a planet called Earth".— From disbelief to fear, all their faces have changed.
—Could you never find her being just one person?.— Asks the Secretary of Defense.
—Years ago, monitoring and surveillance systems were not as effective and extensive as they are now, she always managed to vanish without a trace.— I reply.
—Currently, the probes continue on their course, and their code was modified so that we don't change their main trajectory, we can only make minor adjustments. We don't know why she sent it and to whom, but wherever they go, they carry that message.—
—It was the same year that the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena team was created, which had been postponed for quite some time. It was not ruled out that this girl was not from Earth, and that image may be the confirmation. Before the First World War, intelligence had information about a person with the same characteristics, the record was destroyed in a fire, but what was saved matches her description.—
—Does that mean that girl is over 100 years old?.— Asks the President.
—Exactly, if it really is her, we don't have much time, she is dangerous, she is hostile, and she only has one idea in her head, to destroy humanity. Our only advantage is that this is the first time we detected her before she detected us. Her name is Henrietta..—
—Henrietta A. D'Amico— The girl says, smiling and turning her face from IA to me.
Being close to her, I feel calm, like with IA and Judy, and her scent, why does it remind me of the word "Home"?.