Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.

― Sun Tzu

"In two days!" A man whispered to the group avoiding the afternoon sun inside the cave.

"We have secured five," the woman sitting beside him confirmed, nodding her head while showing four digits to the others.

"All groups are ready," the man guarding the entrance added, "they know it's each for their own, from now on."

The group of human huddled in the shade of the rocks looked expectant, malnourished and exhausted.

Neil, the man looking outside, had a scruffy look and a European accent adding to the aura of authority the others recognized in him. Or perhaps it was just due to his position at the mouth of the grotto, the scorching sun, outside, bathing him in an almost blinding white light.

In the plains below, bipedal cows lookalike were gnawing at dry bushes. This group of human had been assigned to the cattle supervision by their owners. Despite their pitiful state, they were among the fittest of the population of slaves that had been brought to this planet.

The harvest, as the proud aliens called their invasion of the Blue marble, had occurred few decades ago, or so it seemed to those who had been brutally taken from their homes on Earth.

A lot had died during the trip to this planet with an exotic name no one was able to say properly. They had been taken from all over their known World. Looking as the spaceships had contained thousands, millions of humans, the present survivors doubted the Earth was still inhabited, even considering the rate the population in some continents used to grow at an alarming rate.

Upon arrival on their new home, the humans understood fast enough that they had to keep a low profile and their tongue in check if they wanted to keep living. The aliens had no issue making some examples of what would happen if their new slaves would not listen to them.

At the beginning, those examples had been numerous. Until the abductors understood the language barrier. Their captives could not understand them, thus the many revolt-like attitude they condemned with a variety of punishment.

Those aliens, however, had not been apologetic for their mistake. They just provided some translator gizmos to their new acquisitions and let them know what was expected from them. Some would tend to the cattle, some to the garden. Then, there would be the one assigned to the processing of their food, building of their houses, cleaning of their arses... anything that would be considered menial work to be done by an alien.

On planet Bob, as the captives from Earth had nicknamed it -- in a bout of derision, seeing as there was not much of the luxuriant vegetation that one would have expected from Planet Bob--, there was a visible line between privileged and slaves. The former being the aliens, they lived in modern cities. The housing was made of a variety of buildings, some high, some lower. The main material seemed to be a strengthened cotton fabric, thin sheets of fibres reinforced to make them as strong as steel with a pliable and breathable. This later aspect was quite important on this planet where the sun was burning as hell and the air got stuffy quite fast. Having permeable walls helped remove the stuffiness and the strong smells entrapped in closed space where many proud and self-important aliens used to gather to avoid burning their pale leather skin outside.

The slaves, on their side, humans essentially, along with some third class citizens who lost their right to an existence of privilege, had the opportunity to enjoy the freshness of the many cave-lake holes that garnered the surrounding of the cities. Those areas, considered farming lands, where mainly dusty plains lined with piping and canals. The water, strangely, flowed freely in the sandy sights.

The privileged aliens flew away from those damned areas, leaving their quarry roaming freely while having to cater to the cattle, knowing fully they could not escape. For the small group resting the hot day away in the cave, this freedom had gave them some respite, thoroughly helping them building the momentum for their deliverance until this precise day.

The little woman sitting among big men stood up as they heard a bird chirping. In itself, the joyful song of a colourful bird would not be alarming, except that no bird worth its name would be out on a hellish afternoon, and neither would they be hiding at the back of the cavernous retreat. Nevertheless, the short member of the fairest genre looked intently into the deep darkness behind their group. All kept silent as she raised her voice. Slowly, she sang an ethereal melody, words delicately offered to the more brutish men enjoying the soft music.

There was no reason to shout like a banshee or act as a harpy, even though the situation could have led to some hysteria. Meiling had set a rule to never let her temper take over her. Since this fateful day she had been forcefully taken from her loved ones, she had decided to not give any reason to her abductors to get rid of her. There had been some hiccup along the line, some mishap during the long journey in the hull of their spaceship, though she had made her promise to herself last the long run.

Since day one, Meiling had plan to wreak havoc in the rank of her enemies, slowly, though surely. There was a reason why she was now surrounded by strong and useful men. Her goal was nearing its completion.

"Can you stop your song, little bird?" The inner walls of the cave asked. The woman tuned down, watching expectantly the newcomer. The unease among her companions toned down as soon as they saw who entered the small space from the deep of the mountain.

"As lovely as your voice is, sweet Meiling, it is getting on my nerves. Literally..."

The group had discovered, quite early after they arrival on planet Bob, that the harmonies of a fine-tuned symphony could disrupt the nervous system of their captors up to a point where the aliens bodies would implode due to too much vibration to handle. It was no wonder that, part of the rules applied to their slaves, they had forbidden singing. The mighty aliens had even rendered some of their slaves speechless, simply and truly took away their mean to talk, by cutting here and there vocal cords, and even some tongues.

The little bird had learnt, no need to tell, even earlier about the effect of her twittering. It had been the object of one of her mishap on the way from Earth to her doom, one she had been lucky to postpone by playing off her angelic appearance. No proud alien would have admit that a pocket-size human could have floored the massive guard they had found, tongue sticking sloppily out, his face contorted in a grotesque death mask.

A smile creeping her features, the woman worked her lethal opening, showing her deadly appendage to the alien in the cave.

"Stop that, Meiling!" Neil, the tall European asked her with a commanding tone before looking at the newcomer. His eyes darted to the taller figure, bent under the low ceiling, with unasked questions and a hint of anticipation readily hidden by his stoic expression.

"Now that you are here, Ba'l, can we start?"

Ba'l, his name sounded like Bail when pronounced in the Old continent accentuation, surprisingly sat beside Meiling, the one who could kill him with a word. The group gathered around a flat rock serving as a sand table, with rocks and sticks simulating the geography of their surroundings. The help of the Alien and his friends, others like him that had been stripped of their privileges, for reasons that seemed petty and spiteful when he explained to Neil the reason why he was saddled with them in their slaving occupation, had been tremendous in the organisation of the Great Escape. Their version, though, did not imply burrowing their way out of a prison, as there was no prison, if not for the infinity of sandy plains all around them.

If they wanted to get out of Bob, they would need an access to transportation, one of those that would accommodate a large number of human, to return them to their home planet. The young, abled men devising about their escape had been keen to impart their knowledge and experience in the Battlefield, answering the Call of Duty, and of Rebellion. Their mothers would probably have to revise their judgement of the pertinence of spending so many hours in basement caves, talking with faraway friends they never met, fighting a virtual enemy that came alive every time they rebooted their computers.

In the present situation, though, the strategy to apply for the escape required more than just a bit of luck, and swift and rapid clicks on a mechanical keyboard. Neil had been an anchor for the group, with his no-non-sense attitude, a keen sense of observation and a dead-on judgement of characters. He had been the one proposing to include Ba'l and his friend, Sat', in their rebellion, arguing the fact they would be more than useful with their knowledge and understanding of the Alien psyche, the city organisation, and all alien thing in general. Plus, with Meiling present, they had a mean of control over those two, would they try to sell the human for their freedom.

The two aliens had appeared quite interested in the evasion plan. They also had a streak of rebellion in their mind, wanting to escape this dreadful planet. Incidentally, their hatred for their compatriots had revealed a well-hidden secret. Rick, an American friend of Neil, though he appeared laid-back more of the time, had a thing for eavesdropping. He was the curious one, usually keeping for himself what he uncovered along his pseudo-spying sessions.

Rick had been tasked with befriending anyone joining the group, giving an approval seal of sort after he had concluded whether or not any potential new addition to the group would fit in the greater picture, the one of the big escape plan. He had been friendly enough with Ba'l and Sat', showing the reasonable amount of distrust one would show another one when the former was a human and the later an alien, even if said alien was a disgrace to his peers, thus isolating him from the crowd.

The beans had been spilled, though, leaving the two natives from Bob unsure whether they had betrayed their brothers of facilitated their departure from their actual hell. Natives, in fact, they were not. What had been revealed with their slip of tongue gave a new dimension to the whole situation. Rick knew, with what he had heard, that he could safely give the two outcasts carte blanche to help their little rebellion.

The Aliens had been roaming the galaxy in hope of finding a new home. This was the back story that had got them on Earth. However, the ecosystem on the Blue Marble was not totally adapted to their morphotype, thus the 'hit and run' act they pulled on humankind. What Rick had eavesdropped had been a discussion in which Sat' was asking Ba'l why their government had targeted Earth and not Mars, seeing as the Red one would have been more of their liking. The later answered with a question of his own, and more specifically about the reason they had been stranded on Bob so long. Usually, he had added, they would not stay long in a conquered planet...

Bob was not the native planet of the Aliens, it had seemed. They have been staying there, however, enjoying the abundance of food and resources, and more specifically the many herds of bull-like cattle. Once Ba'l and Sat' had spilled the beans about the temporary, though longer termed than usual, presence on this planet, they had no much trouble talking about many other things, including the slow slackness invading their peers. They had started to live comfortably in their city, sending few team out on planet harvests, to bring in new slaves to do their work. The life was so good for them on Bob, they had started to become lazy, reducing the number of armed troops and exploration corps. Since they had arrived on Bob, the Alien society had been corrupted, somehow, rendering them indolent.

It had been a shock for the group of humans to learn about the situation, considering the ease the invaders had raped their planet, killing and taking many of their friends and family. For what they knew, no one remained on Earth, or so few of them. The weapons and technological advance of the enemy had been overwhelming for the humans entrenched in their goody-two-shoes beliefs, welcoming their doom with open arms. How the governments had made no effort to counter the threat coming from the stars, it had been almost no surprising to the people who had been looking at the hordes of tall figures herding them like cattle through the hull of their space ships. Somehow, the agenda of the great and powerful had turned to a halt when most of the country's leaders and government had been purely and simply eliminated. Erased. Terminated.

"The team for the five have been set," explained Ba'l, detailing the actions taken to build of the five teams who would be in charge of the spaceship they had singled for their escape. "Sat' and myself will lead the fifth one, as was agreed," he added, looking at Neil for confirmation.

"It was what we agreed," answered Neil. They had effectively bought the inestimable help from the outcasts aliens by guaranteeing them they would also have a ship for their own escape. The plan was for Ba'l and the other A-slaves, the demoted aliens who were fed up with the new social order on Bob, to leave on a spacecraft on their own in quest for a new home, as long as it would not be Earth.

Luckily to the humans, the A-slaves had been happy to impart their knowledge of sailing those huge spaceships. The technology was so advanced it was, in a sense, child's play to manage them. The only critical thing to know about was related to the reading of the star map, entering the coordinates correctly and dosing accurately the engine power. Where to go? Fast or slow? Those were the only real skill required to go back to Earth.

"The choir is ready." Meiling had been playing with harmonics and a group of singers. Their objective had been to create a tune that would mesmerize the Aliens, render them as tame as sheep, thus enabling the rebels to reach the spaceport without any hiccup. If all went according to plan, all humans on Bob would go back home in two days.

"The A-smurfs have the protection." Meiling never really liked Ba'l and the rest, even though they had helped tremendously the rebel cause. She often refer to Ba'l as Papa Smurf, which name he seemed to like, not knowing the reference behind. The joke was a failed, though the nickname remained.

"They won't be affected by the song... if they don't forget how to wear it..." The choir had worked with the A-slaves on a way to protect them from the effect of the harmonics. Some, in the group of human, had been tempted to sabotage the protection given to their aliens allied, to let them stranded in this planet. Not everyone believed they would not turn over and sell them to the establishment. Neil and Rick, though, had argued with the rest of their group that not helping has promised would be a bad move. They had been sufficiently convincing for the rest to agree, finally, and provide the allied with the necessary apparatus.

The meeting continued on with exchange about the teams, the plan, concerns over the weather and anything else that would bring a halt to the Great Escape. All were ready to leave, the adrenaline level to its max, waiting the signal of the departure with impatience.

The waiting game had begun.

***

"Those damn slaves better not lose any more of the animals! I don't want to have to change my diet for human meat... again..."

Rick could hear the nasal tone of the guard on duty. He just had delivered the news that, due to the storm out, they would need to send people to round the cattle. As predictable as they were, the Aliens told him to take any abled human out there. No Alien would be seen mending to lowly animals.

All was going according to the plan. Ba'l had provided the information of the incoming heavy storm, knowing fully this would provide the necessary cloak for their escape. They had now received an official laissez-passer for anyone to be running outside after the regulated curfew.

Hurrying back to deliver his last observations, Rick thought about the incoming night. If all went well, and all better have gone well, they would see planet Bob for the last time in few hours, from way up above, from the stars. As he approached the base camp, the rocky abode away from civilisation, he could see groups forming here and there on the plains, despite the heavy rain. Strangely, even though the rainfall was excessive, the dusty vales remained almost dry, the ground seeping avidly any liquid. This helped the groups of thousands gathering to remain, somehow, dry, not having to deal with muddy puddles and sloppy ground and just focusing on avoiding the falling water.

"All is according to plan. We can start the march."

At Rick's words, Neil did not waste time pondering his actions as he gave orders to the small group around him to start operation VITA, Vanish Into Thin Air... the Great Escape was on.

***

Neil enjoyed the uninterrupted sunny days and fresh air of the South-East-Asian region. His choice of settlement had been largely inspired by Meiling, and by the fact that he did not like what was happening in the Old World. People who used to look at him for directions now shunned him, threatened by his no-nonsense attitude and his natural aura of leadership.

True leaders were not required in time of peace and calm. Now that the situation seemed to have quieten down, that the threat from space was no more, or slowly forgotten, people reverted back to civilised routine, cowards climbed the social ladder with bravado, greedy ones set rules to guaranty their needs, and megalomaniacs found their way at the governing positions, once more. Life on Earth was back to its wickedest, though it was the nature of humankind to revert back to their base instincts.

Most of the returnee had settled back in their previous homeland. Though life had changed for them, they had wanted to find a balance and some comfort by staying in familiar place and seeing familiar faces. Neil could understand the appeal of this decision. It was not his, however. After the abduction and the voyage back home, he had wanted some quietness. He never had been a people's man, though the situation on Bob at propelled him in a position he did not looked for. At the time, he had been willing to help his companions of infortune, said companions had turned their back to him as soon as the escape adventure had ended and they had joined back with civilisation.

In his paradise on Earth, quiet and far from civilisation, Neil had set up a community with some other escapee, or returnee, as they called themselves. Meiling was part of them, as this was her idea, mainly, to settle in what remained of the rainforest. There had been no trace of the former Alien occupation, no invaders had been seen there. The place had been untouched. Eden.

Rules in this community had been set for the principal interactions between the humans, though Nature was the one ruling. To each their own. Live and let live. A paradise for anarchist and real freedom, with as much interaction as one required. In Neil's case, the later was reduced to a minimum.

Nature provided for the basic needs, food, water, protection. On the other hand, the technology was not out of the picture. The returnees had took advantage of the many instruments found in the alien ships. They had divided the communication tools between themselves. Some insisted on taking also the radars and deep space listening gizmos. Not everyone felt secure once they had reach back Earth. The SEA group had housed some of the tracing and surveillance equipment. They wanted to be ready in case of another visit from space.

The routine took over fast, people reverting back to civilised habit. Work, social interaction, economy... Months flew rapidly once the community settled in normalcy. Years followed months. Decades.

"Why do we have to ask the recluse about it? What can he know anyway?"

The old man, wrinkled more by the constant sun in his paradise than by age, even though the years had flown, heard the young men has they walked to his place. Neil seldom received visits these days, people had learnt to let him be. Although he had few contact with the inhabitant of the SEA community, he was still regularly having a chat with Rick and Meiling, through the communication device.

As he looked at the two newcomers, he wondered how long it took them to find two volunteers to come and see him. He knew what they were about. The day before, Rick had called him to let him know that a spaceship had been spotted exiting Kuiper Belt. No communication had been engaged, yet, so they did not know whether those were coming in peace or not. The fear, though, had been rising among the population all around the planet, the older generation remembering what had come out of the previous encounter with the third type.

Through the window, he looked at the two younglings approaching. The men were just out of teenagehood. He hoped, for them, that the signal was not a bad omen, he wouldn't want them to experience what he had many years ago.

Before they could knock, Neil opened the door, staying there, immobile, not saying a world. He waited for one of them to speak. The two younger men looked each other, one obviously more coward than the other, trying to hide behind his friend.

"Mother requires your presence at the base." The one in front stated, in a forced monotone voice. Neil recognized Long, Meiling's son. He wondered why she had sent him and not just used the communicator to ask him to come.

"The com is reserved for the official channels since yesterday. That's why she sent me," Long added at the question in Neil's eyes.

The official channels meant that Rick and the others were probably stuck on the come, had let the channels open with all the other communities in hope that one of them would take the decision on the next steps.

Obviously, they had not been able to take a decision if he was required.

As he entered the com centre, one of the most guarded building in the village, Neil could feel the effervescence. Excitation and fear were mixed, clouding the room in restlessness. Meiling raised her head as soon as she heard her son coming in.

"Neil. We have a situation. I guess Rick contacted you? Well... we don't really know what to think..." The short lady sported a frown he seldom saw on her. She was nervous, and he never had seen her this way, not even during the whole Great Escape operation on planet Bob.

"What do we have so far?" Neil looked at the different instruments, the deep space radar, the long range com and the mosaic on the screen, each square showing on of the heads of the new communities.

"Approaching spaceship coming out of Pluto's shadow. No communication so far." Rick, matter-of-factly started to describe the situation. A spacecraft was coming to Earth. Was it a simple visit or the beginning of an invasion, the question was debated between the people on the screen.

"Any specific signature?" Neil asked Rick as he listened to the heated discussion. It did not presage well.

"It looks like a similar ship than the one we took on Bob..." Rick admitted, with a quiver in his voice, as if he did not want to acknowledge the fact.

The words exchanged between the leaders turned almost into quarrel. Part of them wanted to prepare the few subspace missiles that remained in functioning order. Another part considered their duty as human being to welcome the extra-terrestrial visitors. After all, there was only one ship, and it was similar as the one the returnee came with. The third group, the smallest number among whom were Neil, Rick and Meiling, could not forbid the small hope that, perhaps, the fourth and missing spacecraft of the rebellion had finally found their way to Earth. Then, there was also the possibility that this vessel was the alien slaves' ones, the fifth spacecraft that left for a brighter future.

The radar placed now the spaceship in the area of Uranus' orbit. At this rhythm, it would arrive in the dark side of the moon in a couple of hours. They had not much time to prepare for an offensive. They had no much time to decide at all, it seemed, either, listening to the arguments thrown between the leaders.

"Can we have the missile ready to launch on the ship trajectory? We probably have one or two hours before it enters Jupiter's orbit where we can reach it," said Neil in his calm and composed voice.

"We got it!" Rick was instructing his team to set the weapons accordingly.

"Now, we wait. Open the com channel and send regular messages to the ship. We wait for their answer. If none come when they pass Jupiter, we shoot." Neil paused to look at each of the faces on the screen, gauging their reaction at his words. Most felt relieved. It seemed they had waited for someone to take decisions without discussing further.

"Any objections to this plan?" Even the more vocal about the 'non-action' path did not argue.

As the signal on the radar moved somewhere between Saturn's and Jupiter's orbits, the com link came alive, interferences at first, then a distinct voice could be heard. A short moment after the sound, the image appeared.

"Escapee Five to Earth! I repeat, Escapee Five to Earth! Do you copy?"

Neil was chocked, looking at the sight he would have bet he would never see again. There, on the screen, three figures were standing, smiling. He had thought they would remain a memory, though, here they were, ghosts from the past.

In the centre stood the man that had been in charge of the fourth spaceship full of humans, leaving Bob. They had been lost during the return voyage. Ba'l and Sat' were by his side.

"Look what we found on our way to Tau Ceti!" Ba'l winked as he said those words. They explained how the fourth spacecraft had encountered some technical difficulties with the propulsion and the communication. They could not let know the others about, and so they started to stray out of the planned course.

The fifth, the one reserved to the aliens in search for a new Bob, had found them erring between stars. In the meantime, some loss had been registered, though most of the escaped had been saved. Ba'l continued to explain that they had discussed between the former alien slaves and the humans and decided that they would take a detour to Earth to return them.

Listening to the explanation, Neil and the others found themselves quite accepting and welcoming. They did not see any issue with having the spaceship arriving on the planet in the next few hours. Rick requested his team to disengage the missiles. The leaders decide with the new returnee how they would be settling in the communities.

They only had to wait now.

***

"My host is sleeping. We can talk freely."

Neil awoke in a dark place, not feeling his body. He heard the voices but could not see who was talking.

"Two more days..."

Listening to the strangers' voices, he felt like he should have known those voices.

"All went according to plan. We have secured all the required positions."

Neil saw a light coming from a hole in the darkness. He approached, slowly, not knowing if there was any obstacle on his way to the strange opening. Looking through the hole, he could see a room, communication devices, a screen... people on the screen. He recognised Rick and Meiling. Other of the communities leaders where there also, with their two aliens allies. The image seemed to rotate to the left. With the movement, Neil took notice of the details in the room. It looked like his house, the com station he had installed on the upper floor. The vision turned some more and his eyes captured the view of the luxuriant rainforest through a window. The glass panel was closed. He wondered if it wouldn't have been better opened, as the fresh and fragrant air was always welcomed in this part of the house.

The silhouette of a tall man was reflected on the closed window.

"There will be no problem when the fleet will arrive in two days. We finally found our new home!"

In the glass panel, Neil saw familiar piercing eyes. The smile in the face, however, was not, familiar... Meiling often told him he should smile. Seeing as it transformed his feature, Neil thought he could have done it more.

Taking in his surroundings and the situation, he found himself locked in his own body, unable to take control. There was a glass was containing him. The only thing he could do was to observe, and listen. To assist to the wickedest plan to take over a civilisation...

Remembering his time spent herding and attending to the cattle on Bob, a rictus forming on his face, the version of the Neil inside the darkness realised then that all these years in captivity, and those after returning home, were just a preamble. The introduction of a new age in which humankind would not be at the top of the food chain anymore. Another type of parasite had come to take advantage of Earth's gifts...

***

He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.

― Sun Tzu