Today is the day the EUA releases their infamous pictures. It feels like some kind of cruel cosmic joke that just when I decide to do something Archer would have been proud of, it's unnecessary. I thud onto a chair in my school's auditorium and put my head in my hand.
"B— Students!" The principal shouts. A couple kids glance my way uncomfortably. I know, they know, everybody knows he was about to say "boys and girls" and then remembered me. Me, Skylar, who's not a boy or a girl. Just a kid, a person. Officially, the term is non-binary, but I'm just me. Yeah, my pronouns are they / them. I don't like labels, though. They get in the way of seeing who a person really is.
The principal clears his throat into his mic and pulls up the EUA website. It's suddenly so silent that I can hear people breathing. A countdown fills the screen, where the pictures will go. 10...9...8... I wish Archer was here. He loved the idea of exploring space, and would be out of his mind with excitement. 2...1.
I exhale disappointment and not just a little bit of anger. There is no way. That those are the pictures. No way. That's like showing a first grader's drawing and calling it Michelangelo's. I know what I'm doing tonight. Archer and I are hacking EUA.
Nobody makes a sound. But the cheer starts slowly. Are they buying this?! But I guess they don't see why the real photos wouldn't be shown. I catch the principal looking at me weirdly, and fake-cheer with the rest of the students.
      But inside? I'm dismantling EUA firewalls.

~~~

My father sits me down with a computer and the photocopied prints sent back by the probe. He tells me to decipher all the possible meanings of the words: why certain words were chosen, how they string together, the overall tone and meaning. The aliens seem to know more complex than most people who use it as their mother-tongue. This was going to be harder than I'd given it credit for.
     I can understand the gist of it.
     We've been told to cancel all space expeditions outside of our solar system, or risk being shot down. Shot down.
      Apparently, "intergalactic warfare" is happening, between two of the most powerful alien groups. Factions? Castes? Classes? The thing wasn't clear. The message, along with a higher-tech version of the probe, and photos of the civilization on the planet we sent it for pictures, were provided by the aliens with their evidently better tools. The document — it's not really a letter— says that this will hopefully be the climax, the final battle, of their war.
     But there's a note. "Most likely, warfare will be ceased in fifteen to thirty rotations of your planet. It is believed that said rotations are equal to half of one month and one month, respectively. When this time is up, we request that you send five (5) beings of any intelligent life up to your moon. There, they will be collected and brought to the ICCG502SILF (Inter-Connected Civilizations of Galaxy 502, Society of Intellectual Life-Forms) committee, to represent your planet."
     God. The "collection" of humankind. What other intelligent life could they mean? They couldn't possibly know about any others, even if there were. Maybe, just maybe, if we humans ignore it, the aliens won't say anything else.
     Okay, moving on. All we need to do is find a sensible reason to pitch to the lesser outlets of the EUA to convince them to halt their own works for at least a month. But that won't be my job. Mine, as stated by Vice Admiral Norokhun, is to "Find a suitable response that we could send to acknowledge them without seeming too naïve or too snobbish. Don't be submissive, but don't be overly aggressive either." So that's what I'll do.
I start planning it out in my head. Like the Vice Admiral, I understand the fine line between sounding weak and sounding dismissive. It's a difficult line to tread.
I can't use "Respectfully," the undertones are too stuck-up. "Dear Aliens," is out of the question, obviously. "To whom it may concern," might be the best option. I don't have a name for the the receiver, and I have no idea if their genders are even similar to our two. Offending the aliens could be disastrous.
I begin drafting the letter, letting my practice take over.

—————
A/N:

Okay, first I'd like to say sorry for letting Luka say "two genders". Obviously, there are a lot more than just a man and a woman, but the way that I imagine Luka as growing up is very conservative, very old-fashioned. Also, when Skylar and Luka meet, I plan to use it as a tension point. I'm so excited for this, but already I have limited control over what Skylar and Luka actually do.

What do you guys think so far?

- Avery