Madeline Beaufort and the Moon Thief

The floodgates were opened, Madeline began shooting off questions faster than Rex could respond. “What are you? Are there more dinosaur-people like you around? What is that disguise dust stuff? What happened to your voice?”

“We are known as the Reptilian Race. And yes, there are many others like me. Though, our species is has a wide range of genetic diversity. We don't all look like dinosaurs. You’ve met my daughter, Liberty, she is reptilian like me.”

This made sense to Madeline, because she wasn’t raised by her biological parents she would often have a subtle sense of the other kids who were also adopted. Even though Liberty was significantly older than her and she had apparently never seen Liberty’s true face, many traits were very apparently passed down from father to daughter.

Rex continued, “The disguise dust as you call it, is an incredible technology called optical nanites. They form a lattice, like a screen around the body parts we need to disguise, and they project a three dimensional image outward. They can actually project completely what is on the other side, creating the illusion that light passes through an object, effectively rendering the user invisible. That’s why I look somewhat smaller when I wear the disguise.”

Madeline thought of all the things she could do with a technology like that. “Can I have some?”

“You wouldn’t get much use out of it, unfortunately. You would need to know how to program them to really apply the nanites to any situation, and I have a whole tech team for that, myself.” Madeline was somewhat disappointed, but this made sense to her.

“For my voice, I use a Voice Modulating Translator. Unlike many aliens who haven’t learned human language or that can’t pronounce human speech at all, I simply use the translator technology to hide the obvious reptilian characteristics of my voice.

Most non-humans living on earth need to use the optical nanotech disguise their appearance, and use a voice modulating translator to cloak the sound of their speech, especially if they were working with humans on a regular basis, and those humans aren’t briefed on the existence of other intelligent life forms.”

This led Madeline to remember her parents, and why she invited these people into her home in the first place. In all the excitement, she had forgotten that there was a crisis going on and her family was apparently in the middle of it.

“Have you heard anything from my moms? They on the moon when it went missing, weren’t they?”

“No we haven’t, and unfortunately yes they were. Last we heard from them, they had just touched down on moon-base theta. They were conducting very important research into remnants left by previous visitors to the lunar surface.”

A grim look covered Madeline’s face. “The moon exploded didn’t it? That’s why you're here, informing the families of their loss.”

“Oh, dear no! I suppose I should have led with this, I’m not much used to dealing with children. My best advisors seem to believe that the moon is still intact, so we don’t think there is any cause for concern about your parents. By all accounts the moon has been stolen, and your parents with it.”

“Stolen?” She thought to ask how that was possible, before realizing she was having a conversation with an alien over tea and that what she had previously thought as possible may have expanded slightly.

“By a criminal with extraordinary power. That’s why we are here. We need your help to apprehend him.”

Madeline supposed she knew this was coming, Rex had said that he needed her for something, but she couldn’t help but be surprised. “Why me?”

“He is hiding out in a location that we cannot follow, but you can. In short, because of your age and ability, you have the means, and opportunity to follow him without causing an intergalactic incident, unlike ourselves. We know we can trust your motives, because you want to see your parents as much as we’d like to see this terrorist brought to justice.”

It all made sense, she supposed, in an extremely roundabout way. This group figured they had a mutual goal aligned with her own. Madeline was the tool they would use to retrieve their target. She grew more curious about Rex’s chosen profession and who he worked with.

“So who are you people, anyways?” Madeline asked, gesturing at her guests. “You're clearly some sort of organization. But what do you do?”

“Our ‘organization’ is a highly specialized coalition of humans and various other species-”

“Aliens.” interrupted Madeline.

“Some, yes. We operate within the american military, with ties to several other major government organizations around the world.”

This didn’t seem to entirely answer Madeline’s question “Yes but what’s it's purpose?”

Rex posed dramatically. “We keep earth safe from those who wish to harm it.”

SpoilerShow

>_ Do you have any more questions or do you feel ready to accept this mission?