"Here's an entrance." Joe led them toward an old set of subway stairs that were taped off in yellow police tape. Janet hesitated when they came close.

"Are you sure we can go down there? Does it really lead to the Under?" She looked at him nervously. "Are you sure?"

"I don't think this is legal, but do you think that really matters right now?" He tried to go further, but she stopped him. "Will it matter when the world as we know it is about to end?"

She didn't really have to think once he said that. Her world had changed a long time ago. "Let's go, then." She led the way.

They made their way down the dark, crumbling stairs. They both thought it was spooky, but didn't want to be seen as afraid. Janet was afraid even her breathing would give away how scared she was, but she dared to speak past the growing knot of fear in her stomach. "Do you have a phone or something that could provide some sort of light?" Her voice got more even the more she talked. She was glad.

"No... I forgot it at the lab. Sorry, again." His voice was surprisingly very even like he did this all the time, even though he was as scared as her if not more. "Do you? I mean, you probably wouldn't have asked if you did, but do you?"

"No," she simply said. She didn't want to talk anymore.

They moved along the wall of the decrepit structure. They had already stepped off the final stair and were moving further into the darkness.

After they had been walking for a few minutes, he stopped so suddenly that she ran into his back. "What did you do that for?" She whisper-yelled at him.

"It should be around here somewhere." He dropped to the ground and started rubbing it.

"What are you doing?" She asked urgently. "Is the entrance here? Get Up!"

"Duh, the entrance. It's under a manhole around here." He was still on the ground, searching. "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to help me look for it?"

"I'm not getting onto that dirty floor!" She yelled.

"Do you want the world to end or not?" He looked up at her, even though he couldn't really see her through the darkness that hung over them like a fog.

"Fine," She relented rather quickly. "But you are going to get some payback once this is all over."

"If we're still alive." He suddenly turned the jovial atmosphere into a solemn one in one, simple sentence. They didn't talk anymore after that. They searched the floor in silence until a loud whoop pierced the silence. It startled Janet so much that she stood straight up in surprise, for she thought that they might be being attacked or something horrible had happened.

"What!" She yelled, angry from the heart attack he had given her.

"I found the entrance! Come over here!" They had been searching in opposite directions, so they were now quite a few meters from one another. She ran to him, reaching out to make sure that she would not run into a wall or Joe.

He was already trying to lift the giant lid when she got there. She helped him and after a few grunts and heaves, they managed to get into the underground facility. "Whoa, this place is bigger than I expected." She looked in awe over the vast room. There was even more high-tech equipment than the above-ground lab she came from. "Do you come down here often?"

"I used to do all my work down here because of the government's need for secrecy." He had a far off look as he plugged the flash drive into the massive computer and pulled up the information. "Their ship is still a few days away, but they have more advanced technology than us and could come any day."

"Well I guess we should get started, then, shouldn't we?"

After three days of continuous study on the aliens, they had come up with a plan of defending and attacking, if need be. They would try to talk to them first, but she still hadn't told him her secret yet and the time had come.

"So, how do you suggest we talk to these aliens since we obviously do not speak one another's language?" He had asked this more than once and she had avoided it only by working on another job at the time.

"Well, I don't want you to freak out or anything," She began.

"I don't really think you, or anyone else, could freak me out anymore. I freaked out when I found alien life on another planet. I freaked out when I found out that they were going to attack earth. I don't think anything anyone has to say could freak me out, so shoot."

"Okay, Mr. I-don't-freak-out-anymore, I think I can speak the alien language." He was silent. His face openly displayed shock. "Nothing can shock you? Huh?"

"How?" He finally managed to get out, but it was still breathless.

"A long time ago, I fell to earth." She took a deep breath. She had never voiced this story. Her subconscience had immediately, upon landing, told her a made up story so that she would fit in with the earthens. "My species has a unique way of adapting to their surroundings. We don't hold on to our past very well." Janet made sure that she spoke slowly and steadily, making sure she chose the right earthen words. "In fact, we-our brains-force the past into a distant part of our memory so that we may live the same sort of life as the beings surrounding us."

"So you can change shape, too?" He asked, confused and in some sort of awe.

"No, we can only manipulate intelligent beings' occipital lobes to see what we want them to see. We pretty much drug your eyes for as long as you can see us, though it has no long term effect on your brain or eyes." She looked at him for a moment before speaking again. "Do you want to see my true form?"

"Do you want me to see your true form?" He asked, cleverly. Then the most childish thing Janet had ever heard came out of his mouth, full of awe. "Is it like super ugly like all of the aliens on TV?"

Janet couldn't help but to shoot him a look with a clearly discernable grin. "I don't know. It depends on who's looking on."

"Okay, please deliver me from this want to see the unknown!" He half-joked.

"Are you sure? It may hurt." I teased him. Before he became distant because of the alien project, they would tease each other about everything. It was refreshing to go back to that soothing canter of conversation.

Janet had trouble trying to remember how not to affect Joe's brain. It was such an automatic response to every situation, she couldn't remember not doing it. She suddenly had a vision of another distant memory, this one of an old teacher. Her schoolmaster said, "Focus on your goal always. If you do not, you will never reach it. Now focus, Kidah, show me your true form!" Even though you could see through another alien's disguise, you can also see what cloaks them.

She thought really hard about not thinking about what she looked like until she finally heard a gasp that jerked her out of meditation. She opened her eyes, "Did you see me?"

"I think so," he breathed. "Do you look like a giant stick bug with a beautiful face?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He had never called her pretty before, and their faces similar in whatever vision they put in the other being's mind. "In accordance with the things of this world."

"What are you called?" He was now talking more normally.

"Do you want my personal name or the name of the race?"

"Oh, uhhh... Both." He had thought her personal name was Janet everywhere, but apparently not.

"Well, my name was Kidah. My race's name is Ulminite, and the planet on which they live is called Welntisit." I said in a very stately manner.

"How did you come to Earth?" His eyes were wide in curiosity.

"I came to Earth as a scientist and explorer."

"Did anyone else come with you?"

Her eyes were suddenly downcast and she hesitated before speaking. "I had what you would call a fiance, and he came with me." Pause. "There was a clan of humans that we encountered before we knew anything about the planet. They killed him while I blended in with them." Her voice was hard and she didn't shed a tear.

She wasn't able to.

"Okay, now that I know that, we can make a plan together to stop them from invading. Do you know they're tactics for war and such?" He went straight to business, and after that, they made a plan to try to stop the invasion before it even started.

Hello, this is the Lieutenant Joseph McDowell of the

United States of America. I have tried to contact you

before, but have failed due to my lack of knowledge

of your language. I have a much better understanding

of your language and culture now. I would ask that you

forgive me for my earlier message, it was meant to

be a peaceful explorative inquiry. I have sent a

replica of what I meant to send with this note.

I would also ask you to stop your invasion of Earth,

more than ask, I beg you to. I never meant for there

to be intergalactical warfare. You see, my species

is a very accusatory one and I would be sentenced

to die for my part in causing the war, however so

accidental. Thank you for considering this enough

to read my apology and please heed that if you do

attack we will not hesitate to fight and destroy you.

Thank you.

"That's it?" Joe asked confused why she had wrote as simply as she did, after she translated it into english for him.

"Yes, that should be enough to convince them to state their intentions or walk away. I know my people. This will stop them."

"How sure are you?" He challenged.

"99.9999999999% sure." He still didn't look certain. "I guarantee that it will go well from the moment that they receive this message."

He looked at her for a while as if trying to decipher if she was telling the truth or not. "Whatever you say, I guess. You're the expert." His immediate grin slowly faded when he realized I did not find his joke very funny. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait."

"What! You can't expect me to sit here and do nothing after what I did!"

"There's nothing we can do, right now, so you just need to chill!"

"How can I 'chill' when the entire world could be in danger because of my stupidity?" He asks hysterically.

"Well, it helps if you try."

"Fine."