We've been living in this house for a few years. Nothing would have really prepared me for what was about to happen. Sure, they told us that if a disaster ever hit that we'd just have to hide in our basement and put on gas masks...that everything would blow over quickly. That's not exactly how it happenend.
I was sweeping the floor in my kitchen, occasionally glancing out the kitchen window to catch glimpses of the green hillsides and to enjoy the singing of the birds nearby. With a ponytail and whispies falling at my cheeks, my three little children were playing in the living room. It was at this moment, while I was leaning against my broom with a sun-splashed warmth coating my dress and apron, that I saw a flash of light. Almost immediately there was a plume of green and purple smoke shooting up with an orange tinged halo near the origin of the flash.
"TO THE BASEMENT!!! NOW!!!"
"What's wrong, Mommy?" asked Luna, my youngest.
"I'm not sure, Honey. But we need to get to safety now." I replied, forcing calm into my voice.
"Let me go get Superdragon first, he can help protect us." suggested Daniel, my oldest.
"He can do a better job from upstairs, where he can see what's going on. Did I tell you, I just put a new computer down in the basement? It has the coolest new game on it too!" I said, knowing that would get them down there faster than fear would.
The children rushed downstairs, and right before I closed the heavy steel door, I heard the front door being broken. I quickly latched the heavy duty lock which had always been on the vault-like door, and slid the heavy steel bar across it.
"Wow, this is so cool!" exclaimed Katrina, before I could even recover my wits, and pick myself up off of the floor. She had already booted the computer, and found the game. Kids!
The computer had been a present from my dear friend, 
I used to be a programmer before Daniel arrived, and my old computer was top of the line. I bought it a month before he was due, thinking I would want it in my free moments. Now my almost brand new, six year old computer, was almost obsolete. How does something so cutting edge do that in a blink of an eye?
"Mommy? What's this notice that just popped up?" Katrina asked, irritated at her game being interrupted. She knew if I received a notice that she had to put her activities on hold, and tell me.
Now that the kids were a little older, I was trying to learn more about everything associated with blockchain, the revolutionary technology around which everything gaming and finances (and recently even art) seemed to be revolving. In my search for information, I had found something that I hadn't even known I wanted: a close-knit, supportive, extended family.
After much googling and reading, I stumbled upon an article with so much interaction that the comments were actually as interesting as the excellent post. Once I got involved in Hive, my next logical step was to join the various Hive Discord Servers. My daughter was looking at a Discord notification.
"Let me check, Honey. Oh, it's a dm from 
"I just saw the most unbelievable thing! There was a flash of light, and after it crashed to earth, it had an orangy glow around it... I didn't worry at first, but then a few seconds later, people started acting strange. They became violent, some even broke windows or doors. I am writing this from my basement. I hope you and the kids are safe, I'm praying for you."
"There are two of them, over a thousand miles apart?" I wondered. As I was considering this, another dm came in. This one was from 
When the third dm came in, this time from 
After some weeks, we learned exactly what they were. Acting as a sort of smoke bomb, the contents made its victims become senselessly violent, even turning on family members. The only way to combat the bombs was with sealed rooms or gas masks.
Once the bombs had done their damage, a clean up team would come through. Only a handful of people had actually seen one of these creatures and lived. 
When we were kids, we used to watch movies about alien invaders. They came in all shapes and sizes, but invariably they were ugly. These monsters turned out to be beautiful.
Unlike anything on Earth, they had a gentle white glow. And their humanoid forms were perfect. Until one was killed, there was speculation that this wasn't their true form, rather a sort of illusion. Many people had been lulled into thinking that they could trust them, simply by their appearance.
Thankfully they never seemed to realize that we could communicate over the Internet. They targeted our transportation and supply routes, but it seems that our communications were too different, or perhaps just too primitive for them to recognize.
Now that my three little children are all grown up, they are a vital part of the small but effective Hive Mind - a group dedicated to reclaiming the planet.
Lovely Luna has not only seen the invaders, she was the reason for her team being the only one so far to have killed an alien. Instead of it luring her in, she tricked it into coming to her.
Brilliant Katrina takes after me. But she has far exceeded my abilities. Kat seems to have an almost telepathic connection to machines!
Strong, brave Daniel works with Luna and her team. He's the one who killed the alien. Known as Superdragon, he's a real defender of the planet.
Cover image made in Canva using their premium template
#psyberxorigin
