02 - HOMECOMING

Soon the gentlemen murmured something that was not so clear to hear. A scientist raised his hand,

“Excuse me young lady.”

“Yes Professor…”, the lady stopped and quickly read the name plate in front of the professor, “…Albert?”

The person who got the permission started to talk. “I just want to state what is on my mind and maybe the scientists’ mind in this room. If the military wants a war with them, then why we are here?” The other scientists seemed agree with what Professor Albert had said.

“I’m sure all of you are reasonable people. What Professor Albert said is reasonable. And I don’t call you if you don’t have any particular job that I need. Why I need the scientist here is in order to inspect the strange thing that happened in a village. The village name is Gemah Ripah village. A peculiar thing has caused the fruits and vegetables there grew rapidly and also massive in size. What makes it stranger is that it started from 5 years ago and now it becomes a yearly event competition held by the villagers. Then..” her explanation cut by a raised hand.

“Yes Cosmonaut … Paul?”

“I think I have some information related to this.” The cosmonaut who raised his hand explained his discovery. “My team and I discovered a strange signal from 5 years ago. We traced the signal. Then we found its location. It was located around Neptune. This signal becomes stronger each year. Actually it didn’t get stronger, but nearer.”

Before everyone in the room started to murmur again, the lady said, “Okay everyone you’ve heard what Cosmonaut Paul had reported. I don’t know any information about that before. So please, now I need the information related to this phenomenon that you had discovered. All of it, even though it is considered as your nation’s top secret. I’ll give you fifteen minutes to gather your information with your team outside, after that you should be here again. Dismiss.”
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“LINE!” a cheerful notification from a chat app woke Pas up. He didn’t care about it since it was from Line Today. He thought the news would be something unimportant like divorced celebgram, dumb YouTubers who did something stupid only to get viewers, or celebrities who got money from exploiting other’s private life problems. It didn’t mean that Pas hated Line Today, he liked it since sometimes it also delivered good news such as common knowledge that people should know, or the latest world’s trending topics. He wanted to check it but he just simply wanted to save his smartphone’s battery. He had about two hours left before the train he rode in arrived safely in Spoorland Railstation. The destination was his parent’s house in Gemah Ripah village.

After several minutes, there were other notifications, not from Line but came from WhatsApp. One, two, three, four and a thousand chat came only in 5 minutes. Pas didn’t know those all chats since he silenced the chat. Then a call rang his phone. The call successfully woke him up. He checked the name and then the next second he rejected it. Apparently the call was from his ex. He really hated his ex now and didn’t want to think of her anymore. But as usual, when he tried to forget, the stronger memories he remembered.

Pas was a science student in a well-known university. Now he became a top-notch scientist from Indonesia. His ex was his colleague in the same department, but then she joined MenWa (College Defense Force) and she ended up to join Marine after graduated. Then she became the chief of Human Defense Against Alien Force (H.D.A.A.F). it was a secret force, so in everyday life she worked as a normal marine. They were the best pair in the university both in terms of knowledge and love. The separation happened because they chose different ways after they graduated. It seemed a simple matter, but no one knew what exactly happened in their relationship but themselves. Lucky them, they were not celebrities.

Next: 03 - HELLO GOODBYE