In a briefing room. Figuring out my job. Wonderful.

“She needs to focus on leadership!” yelled agent Neill.

“No, she needs to focus on building the robot!” Replied agent Levi. This argument was going nowhere, maybe I should finally step in. It had been going on for about an hour.

“Leading!”

“Building!

“Leading!”

“Building!”

“Leading!”

“Seriously! You’ve been arguing for an hour!” I stood up fast, banging on the table. They both stared at me in shock, “I can multitask. You two are a couple of adults. Stop acting like a child.”

Silence. Pure silence. Levi was the first to break it, “works for me.”

“Me too,” agreed Neill. Finally, the argument was over. We all left the room in silence. Before all the arguing, Agent Levi had explained the peril that earth now faced. Alien beings had bombarded Russia with a spaceship, then contacted the governments of all the countries at once, using aliens that were amongst us on earth as translators. They said that in 1 year and 1 month they would attack earth again, they told us to prepare so that they could enjoy our little struggle.

Neill led me to team A’s barracks. I was going to have to get settled in now. Take a shower, change into uniform, and meet my new team. We lived in the hangar. Ate in the hangar. Everything we did was in the hangar. I took my shower, changed into uniform, and pulled my hair into a tight bun. The uniform consisted of baggy navy blue pants and a navy blue tank-top. The ceremony uniform was long-sleeved and unwrinkled. It had my status pins on the collar and had tighter pants. I was ready to meet my team. Levi had warned me that they were all adults, while I was still a child. I wasn’t worried. I would figure it out. I walked through town halls to meet Neill. He would introduce me to my team.

Together, we made a few more twists and turns and ended up in the hangar. I tried, and succeeded not to look at the parts. “All right! Everyone! We found you a team lead!” Hollered Neill. All of the noises stopped. Everyone put down what they were working on and started walking over.

Once everyone had gathered, many staring at me or whispering to their neighbors, Neill leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Good luck,” he said and walked away. I looked at my team. My mouth was dry. I didn’t know what to say… or do.o

“Hi, I’m Ellanora Pondfolk, and I’m going to be your new team lead,” I said with as realistic a smile as I could manage. About when I said my name, people started shuffling around. Soon enough, my father was pushed to the front.

“Ellie? Why…” he started to ask.

“Why is your kid here?” asked another man.

“Well, I have a special ability, so…” I replied.

“Ellie, you can’t be here. You could get hurt,” stated my dad

“You should have thought about that before you married stepmom and left. She really hates brother and I,” I looked up. Oooopsie. I started categorizing parts. Oh joy. In my peripheral vision, I saw the men staring at me and moving in slow motion. I managed to stop staring at this time. I leaned on a wall and held my head. I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them, my team was staring. Silence. It was beginning to get annoying. I stopped leaning on the wall, I felt dizzy, but I could manage.

“Look at that. She can’t even look at the size of this room without being stricken. Are you sure she should be our leader?” Whispered one woman to a man.

“Yeah,” he replied. Obviously, I had to gain their trust. I started walking forward. The people parted to let me through. I was categorizing parts like crazy now, but I could take more this time. Within a couple of seconds, I had “downloaded” all the information on the parts. I had taken care of most of them before. I continued walking. I picked up a long cylinder and a circular white plate. I turned around and put them together, holding the cylinder in a specific area. I put the two together. They melted into one thing. These were living organisms. With the right prompting from another organism, they could join together. They could also partially absorb other organisms as well. I felt my hand sinking into the cylinder and making it longer. Soon, it had become my arm all the way up to the elbow. The team stared at me in shock.

“What? Is it because I’m still a kid?” I asked them.

I began to rummage around in another pile one-handed. I found my goal. A long staff made of what looked like wood. I picked it up, put my hand in the right spot, melded into it, and banged it on the floor once. It made fire come out of the bottom. I tapped it twice. The whole stick lit up until I banged it once again. I banged it three times. My whole body was on fire, yet I remained scorch free. Even the other two bonded parts lit up. I banged the staff on the floor again. The fire extinguished. I commanded the organisms to unbond. They did and became their original parts again, clattering to the floor.

Silence. I was getting so tired of this stupid silence. “Any questions?” I asked them.

“How…” he didn’t finish his sentence, so I decided to do my best to answer.

“Weren’t you paying attention? I have a special ability. Also, if I see too many parts at once, I begin to waste energy trying to figure them all out,” I told the man, “ I can also see individual atoms, If you don’t hold them correctly down to the atom, it won’t work. This is why I was chosen as your team lead.”

“We’re supposed to be building a robot that can fend off aliens. They sent a threat to enslave earth. We have a year. They will be here in a year. We don’t have time for this. Let’s get moving. I’ll get a blueprint together,” I walked back to the barracks to get a notebook. I started putting together my idea on paper in detailed instructions. I made sure everybody had something to work on and had everyone get to work.

We began building small suits for everyone, because even if we didn’t finish the big project in time, we would have some defence. I started a diary. Might as well, right. I might not live another year.

Week1:

This week, we started building the minibots. Each one shall be special. Different. That way, they can’t counter so many unique robots all at once. I started building the large robot. I got part of the foot. Such intricate mechanics. We finished one suit. Built for speed, it has little blades on the