“You do,” said Toni. “And when it’s important, so do I. I’ve spoken to dozens of you. More than just about anybody else who isn’t one of you. You’re consistent. You understand that, right? When someone asks if you’re an alien invader, you say yes. When you meet someone new, you tell them exactly what you are. How did you learn to suppress that instinct long enough to get elected?”

“I didn’t.” For the first time, Senator Davis looked uncomfortable. “It was a running joke throughout my campaign. Politicians can’t be trusted, so why not elect an alien? It played remarkably well with my constituents, and with some finesse, it didn’t do too badly with my peers. I was hoping to learn to suppress the instinct, as you call it, long enough to make a run for the White House, but I’m afraid some things were never meant to be.”

“Oh, poor little fern, denied access to somebody else’s nuclear weapons.” Toni mock-pouted. “I bet that hurt your green alien heart. But yeah, see, where it matters, you all seem to have been programmed to spill your guts when given the slightest opportunity. So you tell strangers you’ve come from your home planet because Mars needs women and Alpha Centauri needs water, and you always call your ride an ‘armada.’ You’re not coming in peace.”

“Fascinating,” said the senator.

Toni wasn’t done. Maybe it would have been better if she had been. “That’s the real reason you’re here: because that programming doesn’t go away when it gets inconvenient, does it? Lots of your political rivals probably know you ran for office on the friendly neighborhood alien platform. They’ve been waiting for you to come out and say something about the current situation, and as soon as Agent Brown held her little press conference, your clock ran out. Now it’s speak or be looked at with suspicion. Maybe a blood test. Maybe one of those nifty oxygen sniffers in your office, where you won’t notice until it’s too late. No one gets to pretend to be human anymore—and that could be part of why your programming makes you so eager to blow what little cover you’ve got. This way, when the chips are down, you side with your own kind. Have you found anyone who’s decided they’d be better off throwing their lot in with the humans?”

I could feel Graham’s gaze on my face, warm and comforting. I wanted to turn toward it. I wanted to tell him I was going to stand with humanity. Humanity had adopted me, taken me in, and raised me as its own. Even if it had done so assuming I belonged, the fact was that all my formative years had been spent among humans. Humanity was what I knew, what I understood.

And just like that, I understood everything.