Time Traveler: Episode 237. The Plan

The Shen home, past 7 am...

To hear Dylan’s plan, everyone moved to the kitchen at Karen’s request. She insisted that they should eat something, although no one seemed to have an appetite, except for Logan. Dustin was more concerned about what he had just heard from his parents than about eating something.
“Are you sure Dr. Beaker can help us find Rob?” he asked.
“I’m 100% sure,” Dylan confirmed.
“With Sopeha’s unconditional help, for sure,” Karen added.

“Wait, who is Sopeha?” Juliette asked.
“Dr. Beaker’s alien friend,” Dustin replied.
“Oh, did you meet her in person?” Juliette asked with growing interest.
“Not only that, but they also seemed to have hit it off”, Karen spoke up first.
“Karen, for God’s sake,” Dylan pleaded.
“Judging by Dad’s reaction, that alien woman must definitely be pretty,” Logan teased.
“Log, cut it out,” Juliette snapped.

“Okay, so you met an actual alien.” Dustin continued.
“Uh, yes”, Dylan answered.
“I met her too. Against my will, that is,” Karen added.
“You guys knew aliens existed, and you’re just telling us now?”
Dylan sighed. “If it’s any consolation, we practically just found out too.”
“No. I always knew; you were the skeptic. But after meeting Sopeha, not so much anymore.”
“Karen, stop it, please”, Dylan asked.

“Back to that alien woman. Are you sure we can trust her?” Juliette intervened.
“I’m not even sure if we should trust Bjorn,” Karen objected.
“Dad? Can we trust Dr. Beaker and his alien friend?” Juliette insisted.
“Of course we can. Bjorn is my best friend and he trusts Sopeha, so I trust him.

“Plus, he’s a brilliant scientist.”
Doesn’t mean he’s not a nutcase,” Karen mocked.
“Not more of a nutcase than Gundrun, with her conspiracy theories”.
“Which, as of now, are no longer just theories”.
“Well, not all of her ramblings are true.”
“Gund doesn’t ‘ramble’, she’s a journalist.”
“No, you are a journalist. She’s just a lunatic with a YouTube account”.

“Hey, guys, drop it, okay?” Dustin interrupted. “There’s no time to waste on trivial arguments. We have to rescue Rob ASAP. So Jul’s question is valid: can we trust Sophia?”
“Sopeha,” Dylan corrected.
“Whatever. Can we? I mean, she’s alien too, how do we know she isn’t involved in Rob’s abduction?”
“Because she and her people don’t do abductions”.
“Or so she says”, Logan interjected.

“No, really. Sopeha was very clear about that. She even offered to talk to her boss to help Robin reunite with his parents,” Dylan explained.
“Well, maybe she and her boss abducted Rob to take him with them?” Logan blurted out.
“That is most likely,” Karen exclaimed.
“Hold up,” Dustin jumped in. “Who is Sopeha’s ‘boss’, and why would he want to help us?”

“Apparently, he’s the leader of something called the Asteroid Belt Alliance, dedicated to doing good throughout the galaxy. He sounds like a decent man to me, and Sopeha holds him in high regard,” Dylan stated.
“The Asteroid Belt Alliance, huh? That sounds cool.”
“Nah, it sounds like a cheap sci-fi movie,” Logan mocked.
“Except this isn’t sci-fi,” Dustin noted. “Just yesterday we didn’t think aliens existed, now we know that they do. So why wouldn’t there be something like the Asteroid Belt Alliance, with a benevolent leader willing to help us find Rob?”

“Dustin has a point; there’s a lot we still don’t know these people. Maybe they can indeed help us,” Juliette remarked.
“Okay, so you all agree I should call Bjorn so he can ask Sopeha and his boss for help?” Dylan asked. Dustin and Juliette looked at each other.
“I have no objection,” he replied.
“Neither do I,” she added.
“Good, then I’ll make the call”.

“In the meantime, you guys should go home and rest. You must be exhausted, and we still have a long way to go.”
“Yeah, I’m going to bed, I’m wasted,” Logan said, as he left the kitchen.
“Well, I’m not sleepy at all, but my phone battery died and Jud must be worried, so I think I should go home now,” Dustin replied.
“And I should check on Rowie and her babysitter,” Juliette added.
“Are you sure there are no more secrets we should know about?” Dustin asked.
“No, that’s about it,” Dylan sighed.
“Okay. Come on, Jul, I’ll give you a ride”.

“Will you call us as soon as you’ve spoken to Dr. Beaker?” Juliette asked already outside.
“You bet, sweetheart”, Dylan answered. “Go home and try to sleep, we’ll do everything in our hands to get help for Rob.”
“Thank you, Dad; you too, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, dear. Please call me if you need help with Rowie,” Karen told her, as they said goodbye with a hug.

“Well, that was intense,” Dylan sighed while they watched their children walk to the car.
“Yeah, but at least we already told them. They took it pretty well, by the way”.
“Jul not so much.”
“That was to be expected”, Karen sighed.
“Anyway, I’ll call Bjorn now.”
“I hope he can actually do something.”
“Yeah, me too.”

As soon as he started the car, Dustin let out a sigh.
“Whew, that was…”
“I know”, Juliette said, the astonishment still in her eyes.
“So the aliens have been out there all the time. We’re the only ones who didn’t know”.
“Are you gonna tell Judith?”
“She already knows. She was with me when that thing flew over the Shen headquarters.”
“Of course.”

“What about Gilon? Are you gonna tell him?”
“I don’t plan to. But he’s an interstellar cop, it’s not like he doesn’t know what’s going on in outer space.”
“True.” Juliette sighed.
“As for Judith and Rob,” Dustin continued, “I’m afraid they know a lot more than they’re ready to admit.”
“What do you mean?” Juliette startled; Dustin took a deep breath.
“Well, since the cat’s out of the bag with this whole alien thing, I guess I’d better tell you.”
“Tell me what?”

Dustin kept driving a few blocks while he thought of the gentlest way to tell his sister what he was about to say. When they arrived at her house, he parked the car and turned off the engine.
“Dust?” Juliette pressed.

“Come on Dusty, tell me whatever you were going to say,” she demanded, already out of the car.
“Okay…” Dustin took another deep breath. “It turns out that aliens will invade Earth in the near future.”
Juliette froze. “What?”
“Yeah, I don’t know exactly when, but they will.”
“H-How would you know that?”
“Judith told me.”

“She didn’t give any details. People from the future aren’t allowed to talk about certain things. I’m pretty sure Robin knew about this as well.”
“Do you think he knew he was an alien himself?
“At this point, must likely yes.”
“But if he did, why wouldn’t he tell me?”
“No idea. According to Jud, everyone in Oasis Landing was terrified after the alien invasion. Apparently, aliens are public enemy number one there, so, if Rob found out he was one of them, he must have felt really bad and scared that the people he loves wouldn’t accept him”.

“Oh, my God, of course!”
“Of course what?”
“Rob tried to tell me. He didn’t say outright he was alien, but he kind of hinted at it… He asked me if I had any theories on what this ‘unknown’ thing in his DNA could be. At that point I didn’t have the test results yet, so I preferred not to speculate about it. But he urged me to tell him anything, saying he could handle it.”

“So I told him that I would love him, no matter what his DNA tests showed and even if he were an alien.”
“Really? Most people are terrified of aliens, he said. Not me, I replied. And it’s true. I love him and I’ll stay by his side no matter what.”
“Yeah, you made that very clear to us this morning,” Dustin smiled.
“I still don’t know if that will be enough for him,” Juliette frowned.

“Well, in the context he grew up in, with all this fear and rejection of his people towards the aliens, discovering that he is one of them, of all things, must be very traumatic. So, if we manage to bring him back—and we will—he’s going to need all our support, especially yours.”
“He’ll have it, rest assured”.
“Good, He’ll have mine too.”

“Well, I have to go in now. Row’s nanny’s shift ended hours ago.”
“You’ll have to pay her overtime.”
“I will. Please call me if there’s any news, and Dusty, thank you for everything.”
“You’re welcome. And don’t worry, we’ll find Rob. Dad’s plan is a good one.”
“Yeah, I guess…”

“You don’t seem convinced.”
“No, I believe in Dad and appreciate his concern, but… What if Mom and Log are right and it wasn’t random aliens but Sopeha and his boss who took Rob?”
“Well, if they did it with the intention of taking him to his parents, I suppose they won’t hurt him. they might even return him to us quickly and peacefully. Though the method they used is still quite questionable.”

“What if it wasn’t them? What if they have no idea where he might be either?”
“Well, then I guess we’ll have no choice but to go look for him ourselves.”
“Go look for him? You mean, to the Moon?”
“To the Moon and back; to hell itself if necessary.”

MEANWHILE, MORE THAN 200,000 MILES AWAY…

“What…? W-Where am I?”

“What is this place, and what the hell am I doing here?”

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Credits for the poses in this episode:

Friends in the Kitchen, Meeting at the bar, Emotion – Male Adult Poses, Emotions/Body Language and Convo/Emotion Poses Set 2. All of them by Bee (Poses by Bee).

And Lay Still Pose Pack by blamsart (Blams’ Poses).

Thank you very much to both of them! 🤗💖