We were a special ops. team, made to investigate other planets. To make sure they weren’t a threat, weren’t out to get us, oh and also to make sure that when Earth comes to its last stand, we have a planet to fall back on. The Secretary of Defense found a planet that met all of his requirements, and because we were the special team, we were sent there, in a space pod no less than 4ft wide and 7ft long. There were three of us, Kai, Joey, and me, Devon. We were all part of a team of scientists, trying to enhance the human brain. We thought, why only use 10 percent of your brain when you can use all of it. We succeeded in creating a vaccine. This vaccine targeted specific parts of the brain and increased the particular percentage of activity in that area. We all thought it best to test the vaccines on ourselves. So we did. The outcome was a little different than we had thought, because the alter in brain activity altered our physical appearance as well. And each of us had a different….”superhuman” ability. Me, I can disassemble anything. I can disassemble a laptop, I can disassemble a gun, I can take apart anything that has been mechanically put together. Once I disassemble it I can retrieve any information that might’ve been stored on the device. It’s pretty cool. But I mean, it doesn’t exactly help my everyday activities. My physical change was the color of my eyes and hair. I am mixed, meaning my skin color is a sort of caramel, and my hair was dark brown as were my eyes. A day after I took the vaccine, my hair became straight and white. Not grey-white but white. And my eyes turned grey, so now I look pretty strange, brown skin with grey eyes and white hair. Kai, a 24 year old male on my team was the second of three of us to take the vaccine. His ability was not easy to understand or identify, but once we discovered it, we were stupefied. He could take in information in a matter of seconds. He could read a 500 page book in seconds, and retain every sentence to the point where he could recite the whole book. Not only could he read information, he could, by just looking at something, like a device, get information like who originally made it, where it was made, what materials it was made of. His physical change was interesting, because it didn’t exactly relate to his ability, although, neither did mine. He lost his finger prints. On his toes, hands, feet. Everywhere. It was the strangest thing to see, because on a daily basis no one necessarily looks at their hands and notices how intricate the designs are, but he had no designs. His fingers were just plain. We diagnosed his physical change, and discovered that the ability the vaccine gave him also gave his brain the notion that a finger print wasn’t necessary, so the body erased it. Joey, a 23 year old male, was the last person on my team to take the vaccine. His ability was a little more practical. Joey could take a mechanical device and re-arrange it into something else. He could make an iPod into a phone, a T.V. into a laptop, a car into an airplane. Joey’s physical change was interesting. From a scientific point of view it seemed impossible that the body could do such a drastic change by itself, but because the brain was working overtime, we had no way of knowing what the body could and could not do. Joey’s whole bone structure changed. The moment he touched his computer, he fell to the floor. We quickly rushed him to get examined and we found out that his body took the technological information from the computer, and changed the way his whole body functioned. Now, everything functions like a computer. He receives little bursts of electricity running through his body whenever he touches another device, or when he re-arranges anything. It’s quite amazing to see.

All of our abilities are linked. The only way Joey can re-arrange something is if I disassemble it first. But before I disassemble it Kai needs to analyze it to make sure that if Joey re-arranges it, the materials will in a word, “cooperate” and form correctly into the new device. If the materials are compromising, but Joey continues with the re-making, it could be dangerous for him, and people around him. It is almost like giving someone type AB blood when they’re really type O.

Because of our abilities, the Secretary of Defense gave us a special project. Who knew how quickly a swat team could storm a science lab, grasp three people and run out without causing any harm to any research experiments. In honor of his new project, the Secretary of Defense made a new sector of the government. He called it the IUS; Investigating Unidentified specimen. This sector became known as sector 8.

About a day after the swat team stormed my lab, the Secretary of Defense William Park called me and asked me to assemble my team. He told me that he had a very important job for us, and that it would put our new abilities to the test. Of course I listened to him because he was the Secretary of Defense. As much as I wanted to yell over the phone, telling him to go find some other freak who wants to travel for months in a space pod, I couldn’t. So I had to accept. He told me that this job would advance all of human civilization three steps forward technologically. Secretary William Park then met with the three of us, and discussed our game plan.

“Ms. Jones, here’s how this is going to work. You three will travel in a pod for…” Secretary Park looked over at his adviser, asking for the specific time period, “3 months and two days. On the second day after the 3 months, you will land on a planet we named C12U53. You will blend in with whoever inhabits that planet, and attempt to receive information about them. If they are incompetent, tell us. If they are geniuses tell us. If they seem to be….”regular” according to our human standards, tell us. Whatever you discover you must report back and tell us so we can conduct a full evaluation of planet C12U53.” Secretary Park shook my hand and started to walk out with his secret service men. “Oh, and Ms. Jones, your team has been transferred. You are no longer under the control of NASA, you work for the Military now.”

“Thank you for informing us Secretary Park. We will notify NASA of our change of positions, and get to work on creating a space pod to take us to planet C12U53. What are the coordinates for this planet?” I stood up to walk him out of the room, and beckoned to Joey and Kai to shake the Secretary’s hand.

“We will send the coordinates to you, because at this moment I can’t seem to remember them, but Ms. Jones, this is a very important investigation. If you three succeed, it will open up a new world for human beings, literally.”

“But Sir, what exactly is our investigation? What will we be doing on planet C12U53?”

“Well…you will be blending in, discovering their planet, their secrets, medical abilities. You will find out if they are hostile, and if they are a threat.”

“But Sir, they haven’t threatened us have they? So why would they be a threat?”

“Because they have threatened us. They have found our solar system, and have discovered Earth. Their leader has demanded an audience with the presidents of the major countries, hoping to organize some sort of solar system wide agreement. They haven’t met with us yet, so we have no idea what their intensions are, but by the time we find out, your space pod should be ready. Good day to you Ms. Devon Jones, I’ll meet with you in a few months. By then, we should have more information on planet C12U53,” at that, the Secretary walked out of the room, and left my team and me standing there.

Before we knew it, the three months had past and we had finished making the space pod, and were on our way to another conference room waiting for Secretary Park.

“So you have finished the pod by now, so we need to start talking about what you will be doing on planet C12U53. You will be given disguises, and new names, and new life stories. You will blend in, and not draw ANY attention to yourselves whatsoever. After you are fully submerged in their culture, you will start to ask questions, inquiring about their world, and how it functions, it’s secrets. If you find anything that we can use against them, message us, we will give you a device that will allow you to do so, but you must tell us as soon as possible. Remember, they’re trying to kill us, so don’t get sucked into they’re life style, don’t join their side. There will be other people like you, but from other countries. Almost all of the European countries are sending people, as well as multiple countries in Africa, such as Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia. Also, Mexico, and several countries from South America, oh and last of all of course, Canada. You should never meet them, because you should all be hidden, and not putting yourselves out there as Earthlings. If you are to meet anyone you suspect to be an Earthling, deny that you’re one, because you never know who they really are. This conference meeting is over, but now you will be led to a lab where they will give you a new identity, and a new appearance to make you look more like the people from that planet. We will meet again in about three hours after your transformations,” the Secretary stood up and walked out of the conference room, and left my team dumb founded with all the information he spat at us.

A few minutes later, we left the room and were escorted by a motorcade to the lab they had prepared for us.

“Devon, what do you think they’re going to make us look like?” Kai asked me.

“I have no idea, who knows. I’ve never studied that planet before, so I honestly don’t even want to guess. How about you Joey?”

“Well, I’ve done some research lately, on the secret file data base, and they have some descriptions, but they’re not very descriptive. It said that they are very tall. Very tall, and they have red-ish skin, not a dark red, but, a light red. When they are born, they’re given an animal of some sort, which is supposed to watch over them. The animal grows at the same rate as the…I don’t know exactly what they call themselves.”

“Wow, I’m really excited to be tall…” The motorcade had arrived in front of a building, and we were all escorted out of the car, and through the double doors.

“Welcome. You three will be brought to the chamber of light, as to adjust your skin coloring, and the rest of your appearance,” a woman had approached us, and led us to a tightly sealed door. “Please, don’t be shy, it won’t hurt. During your session, you will be briefed on the daily life of the Nazra,” the woman walked away, and left us standing in front of the steel door.

“Well Joey, why don’t you open it first?” I said, smiling at myself for some reason I cannot remember.

“Right,” he glanced back at Kai and me, and then turned to push open the door. Just as he grasped the handle, the door opened from the inside.

“Well hello there, please do come in, we have each of your stations ready for you,” a small man ushered us into the room which was all white except for the carpet, which was black. I remember thinking how strange it was, to have a black carpet. But none the less, we were pushed down to the floor and were all seated on the black carpet. Everyone left the room and went behind another sealed door.

“Would you all lay down on the floor please,” a voice commanded. Puzzled, we all cautiously lied down and closed our eyes. “The briefing shall begin.”

“The Nazra are a tall creature, with a red skin tone, and long pendulous ears. Their eyes, compared to ours are a somewhat wide apart, and do not contain the sclera, or the white, part of the eye. There eyes are simply one color only. The Nazra only need to eat every three days, because of a specific body function which allows them to take in, and retain many more vitamins and necessary proteins. They live in underground caves, illuminated by flowers that shine in the dark. We have yet to identify what they name these flowers. The Nazra are at the same technological, and scientific phase as we are mentally, yet they do not seek to expand their world above ground as far as we understand, which continuously perplexes us.
“Subsequent to the birth of one of the Nazra, they receive a creature, an animal of sorts, to look after them throughout their whole lifetime. We have yet to fashion any such animal for you three, but we are in the process of working on it. The Nazra have names which only contain two letters. For example, Lu, or At, or Bo.”

As the soothing woman’s voice spoke in our ears, bright lights beamed around us, and caressed our skin. I felt as though I were sun bathing, but instead of just one sun, there were thousands beaming above our heads.