"My friend, this planet is crawling with the old ones," Mischief, one of the Havocs, said in dismay. Its voice betrayed the fear that crept up uninvited and wouldn't leave.

"That's a complication we didn't anticipate. We have been noticed, and now they will try to stop us," said Mayhem, another one of the Havocs, just as miffed but not scared because fear wasn't a word in its vocabulary.

"What should we do now?" Mischief asked. The two had planned everything meticulously, and Waheeb had been helpful, but things seemed far more difficult than they had hoped.

"We can't do much from here," Mayhem admitted thoughtfully. "For now, let's just hope everything will turn out as we planned. No one knows the whole truth, anyway."

"True, true, we still have the upper hand." Mischief felt fear loosening its hold. After all, there was a reason why planets died out while Havocs survived.

"We need to hurry along the process, though. Waheeb must not find out about us before we are on earth for good. How long before it's fully loaded?" Mayhem said and looked at Mischief with a hopeful smile.

"It's eighty-eight percent done. Not long now. Soon we'll be on earth, our delicious earth."

They both laughed maniacally at that. This planet would be a real treat. After devouring the earth, they would rest for a few centuries before needing sustenance again. Earth was ripe with life forms--many different kinds.

"So, so, delicious indeed."

#

It has been days since I stopped hearing voices. I thought they were gone for good, but then I dreamed about them last night. It was different because they weren't speaking to me. They were talking to each other. And that's how I learned their names. It was the strangest thing; they never called each other by these names, but somehow, I knew. Still, I couldn't see them. I don't know if I can explain the dream in words, but it's clear that Mischief and Mayhem know they have been discovered. And they must be keeping their distance on purpose, which was a wise move if they didn't want me to figure out more. Now that I knew I wasn't going crazy and that the Havocs threatened the Earth, I wouldn't be easily fooled by them. Yet, we're no closer to getting rid of them than before, and time is kind of running out. There is a sense of urgency. I feel it in my gut. I have shared my fears with Fatim and Nate. They also fear we might be too late to save the world, the universe, for that matter. We will do our best, though. I suppose that's all anyone can hope for in the given situation.

I still can't believe Nate and Fatim are aliens. Especially, Nate because I have known him for years and never suspected anything. I mean, I knew something was strange about Fatim right from the beginning, but Nate? I always thought he was a normal guy; a genius but a normal genius. I wonder if Steven is also real. Perhaps I'll ask Fatim the next time I see her, which will be soon. We're going to work together now that I know their secret. Although I'm confused about a lot of things, the feeling of dread inside me is compelling me to take action and to take a leap of faith. That's how I'll save my home. Am I doing the right thing here, or is our doom fated to happen?

I closed my journal and sighed. I had been on edge even before I started hearing voices and found out that aliens lived on Earth, but now, it was ten times worse. I wasn't sure if the feeling had any significance. All I knew was that I couldn't back down. The voices before doom were the perfect alarm bells, and I was determined not to let the Havocs win. Whatever mind games they played with me, I would thwart them.

The doorbell broke my reverie, and I stood up from my comfortable seat to answer the door. As expected, it was Fatim. These days, she visited me every day to strategize or simply to talk.

"We should go there," was the first thing out of her mouth as she strode right in and seated in my living room.

"And come in," I said, laughing. Her presence lightened my earlier dark mood. "Also, what are you talking about? Where should we go?"

"Sorry, I'm talking to myself again. Stress does this to me," she said apologetically.

"Not a problem. We all do that from time to time. Although personally, I prefer writing in my journal rather than talking to myself," I said, smiling. It was good to know she wasn't as perfect as I thought. I could now feel less intimidated by her.

"You keep a journal?" She sounded shocked.

Did no one in this day and age keep a journal? Why was that shocking? I shrugged and said, "Yes, and my journal even has special powers."

"Really, like what?"

"It feeds on my words." She looked at me as if I had gone crazy, and I decided to change the subject. "Enough about my journal. Where are we going? Let's discuss that."

"Oh, right," she said as if recalling something important. Then, she took a deep breath before continuing. "So, I was talking to Zaroon again, and he suggested we visit our spaceship. There might be a clue somewhere in our archives. We haven't been back there in centuries."

"A spaceship, huh?" I was doubtful. For the first time, the full reality of the situation dawned on me. Trying to remain calm, I said, "Not that I don't want to see your spaceship or anything. Give me a second. I need to process this." I turned away from her and hoped my panic would subside soon.

"Waheeb, we don't have time. Let's find some answers first and process things later."

"Are you sure this would help?" I asked and turned back to look at her.

"No, but we must try. We'll check the archives on the ship, and Zaroon knows someone he said might be able to help. Also, I have missed Steven," she said with a mischievous smile.

"So, Steven is real." A smile appeared on my face but for very different reasons. My dreams were not just dreams. They were something more, and the knowledge made me happy.

"You know about Steven?" She sounded bewildered.

"Let's add it to things we have to talk about later and focus on now and here."

"Earth is still centuries behind the time our planet was at when we had to evacuate and run for our lives. And that was such a long time ago. Anyway, we brought a lot of things with us. I'm sure we can find something that will explain things."

"Okay, I'm more than willing to listen to alien advice because I don't think humans have anything to say in a situation like this."

#

Early the next morning, we left for the mountains. Nate wasn't able to join us because he needed to talk to the Controllers, while Fatim and I visited Lake Sifali—the place where Fatim's people landed all those centuries ago.

Lake Sifali was nestled among the tallest and deadliest mountains in the world. It was a place well outside of human reach. Unpredictable weather and thin air made it unsafe to travel by air. There were no roads to speak of, and the only way anyone could reach the valley was by foot. Treading through the treacherous mountains, not many humans could survive. Unless, of course, you had alien technology to rely on. And how the spaceship was still well hidden from human eyes.

It took us around eight hours to reach the nearest town. From there, we took a hidden underground road to reach the valley. It was all surreal to me as I had never been to this part of the country. It was supposedly too cold and devoid of life that no one would have any reason to visit. Fatim explained Enterers were the only inhabitants around the area.

The spaceship was cloaked and couldn't be seen by the naked eye, and more than half of it was underwater. The rest stood tall in the middle of the lake. In fact, if Fatim didn't know its exact location, we would never have found it.

As we entered it, I felt like I had entered a science fiction movie set. It was oddly welcoming, and I instantly felt at home. Only four people permanently lived on board. They were called the Keepers of the past. Fatim and I checked the alien library and talked to the keepers in the hope of finding an answer.

"Did you find anything?" Fatim asked.

"Nothing yet," I replied.

We had been going through books for many hours. Still, there were no answers to be found. None of the Keepers were as old as Zaroon, and they didn't know much either. But they were sure that the library held all the possible answers. On a hunch, I decided to check in the fiction section, and that was when I found it—a simple answer to our complicated problem.