The Visitors - Chapter 1
**This chapter was written with help from students! If you read the latest chapter, you can give your input on how the story continues!!
Mission to Earth
“Get ready, Leah. We will be landing on Earth shortly,” Bob said. His own voice still sounded strange to him. And he still had trouble saying some of the words.
“I’m ready, Captain Bob,” Leah replied cheerfully. Her voice was also so different from the one he was used to. “How do you feel today? It has been two days since they put us in these forms.”
“Well, as you know Leah,” Bob said, as if he was explaining something to unseen readers, “I used to have six arms, five eyes and the ability to use all of them for different tasks at the same time. Being a human boy now, these two arms and two eyes make me feel trapped.”
“Yes, I feel the same way,” she said. “I miss being able to do my hair, message my friends and monitor your navigation computer--”
“Please don’t tell me you were messaging friends when you were helping me fly the ship,” Bob interrupted.
“Oh, right.” She quickly changed the subject. “So did you decide to land the ship in Columbiaville and visit the school there? It seemed perfect for our research project.”
“No,” snapped Bob. “I wish we could. I love that part of the planet. Village Station pizza is a great treat. But they did a survey about where we are going and the kids picked another state. I have the computer set to land in Colorado. We will visit a school there.”
“That will be good enough, I suppose. I know you always try to follow the survey”
“Yes, I do. And I especially will now that they put us in human form. I want this mission to be over quickly.”
“Oh, I forgot to ask one other thing,” said Leah. “Are we pretending to be brother and sister?”
“Yes, and our last name is…” Bob looked down at his iPhone. It was a primitive computer but it was the prop they gave him for his disguise. “Cooper.”
“COOPER??!!” shrieked Leah. “That sounds horrible. Can’t we change it?”
“I know it sounds dreadful in our language, but it’s a common last name on Earth. It will be fine. Besides, I got it from the survey.”
Leah flipped through her own phone. “Looks like someone also suggested the last name Garlicbreath. That doesn’t sound so bad. Can we use it?”
“Oh, I guess.” Said Bob frustrated by Leah’s questions. “For now we will be brother and sister. Bob and Leah Garlicbreath. But I’m the older one by two years.”
“Fair enough.” replied Leah. “Oh, and I forgot to ask one other thing. Will we bring the pets to school?”
“The pets will stay safely on the ship at first. But you know they already put them in Earth forms too, right?”
“I was afraid of that,” Leah groaned. “What did they change my squiglabor into?”
“It’s now a chihuahua.”
“A what?” she asked, confused.
“It’s a little dog. Sort of a bladdergoose with feet.”
“I guess I’ll get used to it,” she said. Leah always made the best of a situation. "What will your pet be?"
“I have a top secret experiment pet. It looks like an owl, but sometimes it turns into a--”
Bob’s voice was cut short, lost in the wailing siren on the ship. Just then the ship AI spoke out.
“Well, this is unexpected,” said the ship. “But please stay calm as I form a plan.”