The ship alerted them that it was ready, whenever they were ready, to replay the message that it received from Mars a couple of hours before.

'So,' asked Eve, 'how long does it take nowadays to send or receive a message from Earth?'

'Less than a day,' answered the ship. 'We're approaching the outer orbit of the biggest transneptunian objects at 150 astronomical units. Reminding you it takes 8 minutes to cover the Sun to Earth distance of an AU.'

'The thing is,' completed Adam, 'that the signal does not come from the Earth but rather from Mars.'

'Well... Ok, things have changed... We'll cope.'

'I hope we will. We really need to convince them we are not shoot-them-up aliens but real humans. I'm afraid I have read their messages too often to express proper emotions. My recorded videos are crap. You were always better at that. That's why I'm asking you to join me in answering their message. And I guess it needs to be not recorded but a live session to make it real if not interactive. Do you mind if we start shooting now the video us listening their message and answering immediately after? That would it the best I guess.'

'Hum...'

'Action!'

'Why do you say that?'

'Well, I always wanted to be movie director.'

'You know sometimes you are weird.'

'Hush, they're already listening now.'

'Oh,' said Eve immediately preoccupied by her image.

She looked right at the front panel of the control room which would be the point of view from which she would be seen, or so she guessed. She swiftly rearranged her red hair and smiled.

'Dear people from the solar system, you already know me by the name of Adam, captain of this humble ship trying to reenter its home space. I'd like to introduce you to Eve, my partner, which I have recently awaken to listen and reply to your message which we are about to hear. As I mentioned before, we would love to be able to communicate with you more interactively, since it is the nature of humans to do so. Therefore, this footage will be streamed to you continuously and unaltered in the hope to prove our bona fide and to gain back your trust.'

Eve nervously looked at Adam sideways. Then she felt the puppy jumping onto her right foot. It did its best to chew her laces, but almost choked in the attempt. She smiled, reached down for the small dog and set it up on her lap. Toby assessed the fall it would have to endure in order to escape, turned a few times round on itself and finally settled down under the caresses of its friendly master.

'Good,' said Eve. 'Is there anything I should know before I watch their message?'

'Well,' started Adam, 'for one thing they have only sent audio messages so far.'

'Oh.'

'And also, they are somehow difficult to understand.'

'Ah.'

'Up to the point that I strongly suspect that they may not be humans,' completed the ship.

'Wow. Wait a minute.'

'For your information,' interrupted Adam, looking at the control screen, 'the third voice was the one of our ship, an artificial intelligence.'

'....assembled on Earth on the year 2351 of the era where we left, so that was 14,649 Earth years ago to be precise.'

'Why did you say that?' said Adam.

'For the context... And I want them also to realise that an AI can take initiatives. They're certainly not human. Any data is useful to get to learn from each other.'

'Right. Stop,' said Eve. 'As I said, anything useful for me to know? Like, do we have enough fuel and energy to go anywhere else, should they be not humans?'

'Well, yes and no,' answered the ship. 'We have some fuel but we lost our solar sails during the attack and we have currently no capacity to decelerate and land without assistance.'

'Who said anything about landing,' asked Eve. 'Just orbiting Earth again would be an achievement after what we've gone through.'

'Ok guys,' tempered Adam, 'I think everyone knows enough now. I propose to hear what they have to say.'

'Ok,' agreed Eve.

For sole reply, the ship emitted the three clicks announcing the replay of a message.

'To the incoming ship. We have warned you before and we still require you not to enter the solar system. Doing so will only attract upon you the penalty of death. We understand that you claim to be humans. So you should understand we won't take any chance with that assertion. We will consider you as the aliens you must be, since there is no other possible explanation behind your current position and trajectory. We wish you farewell on your way towards some other stellar system or towards whatever you believe stands after your death.'

'Bastards,' muttered Eve.

'Told you they don't get it, 'sighed Adam.

'Oh no, they do get it. It's just that they don't want to acknowledge it in front of us. They're cowards,' she shouted turning back to the screen. 'Do you hear me ? You are cowards! You're not worth talking to us, who have endured the worst to survive up to now. I know for a fact that you are useless cunts with the same certainty that I already survived twice to the attacks of whatever the humans have become since we left Earth.'

Adam started to fear that his idea of answering directly in a live stream might be inappropriate. He sadly wished that for once Eve may not have passed the awakening test after all.

Toby, the dog, also felt something was wrong with his mistress and it started barking and howling.

'No, I'm not calming down,' anticipated Eve. 'I have the right to be angry, because they have no right to kill us. You hear? You are the worst bunch of alien communication specialists I have ever met. You don't go and shoot around without asking first if there is someone worth talking to. Do You know that? Really, I feel like you are the ones who are not humans. Yeah, you have less respect for us than the real aliens we met. For all I know, you're the aliens and I don't want to be anywhere near you.'

Adam was waiting, with little hope, for her bout to stop. The dog kept on barking, this time onto the front panel because it understood the threat came from there.

'Ship,' asked Eve, 'is there any possibility to stop anywhere or turn around somehow?'

'That would be ill-advised,' commented Adam. 'We could use an asteroid as a slingshot, but to go where? We have no means to survive for long in outer space. '

'Well,' intervened the ship, 'the strong gravity of the nearby planet Eris could theoretically allow us to go fast in any direction. Though there's something weird about that planet which is not in my archives. So there's a risk that kind of plan may not unfold as expected.'

'Let's do that then,' decided Eve. 'Let's aim for Eris, if that can lead us to anywhere we want. There will be enough time to contact Earth.'

'Mars,' corrected Adam.

'Well yeah, Mars,' said Eve as she turned slowly to stare meaningfully at the front panel. 'Congratulations, you punks, you have only managed to reach the closest planet while we might have reached the closest star in the same time! Worthless scumbags.'

'I think that's enough. Let's stop here if you don't mind.'

'My pleasure,' replied Eve sincerely.

'Recording stopped and sent,' concluded the ship, to avoid the situation to worsen.

***

On Mars, the alpha of the pack asked to see the recording again.

'I have to admit,' he half-bark, half-said. 'It seems genuine. But that would be incredible.'

'Indeed. No one alive has seen a human. And the puppy really looks like a real old-timer. Do you think it is a slave and that it fetches sticks?'

'It is not your role to imagine,' came the firm reminder of the leader to its subordinate about their respective positions in their canine world.

There was a little pause.

'Do you want us to carry the video to the higher alpha now,' hesitated the poor dog. 'Or do you prefer to wait for finer analysis?'

'I'll go there myself and right now.'

All the other dogs lowered their eyes, and the imaginative one did so even lower.

***

The supreme alpha complained about his advisors not being able to offer him a choice.

'The threat will not work, said one advisor. They will soon realise we have no technical means to hit them from afar.'

'Anyway, they do not seem to be afraid.'

'It's a bluff.'

'What would they have to gain from bluffing?'

'Surprise. They could come in closer to our world and then strike with force, so we would imprisoned again. They might even want to reverse the course of evolution and bring us back as the savages the old-timer dogs were.'

'Interesting finally,' said the supreme. 'So you don't think they are aliens. Why do you rule that out?'

'I'm not ruling that out. It is just that we know the aliens have cancelled their invasion away after the robots attacked.'

'Said who,' questioned yet another advisor. 'The humans have told us so. But we can't trust them after all they have done to us. So maybe it was a lie from the humans and the aliens never existed in the first place.'

'More precisely, our ancestors, not the humans, have told us the aliens existed. But the humans indeed predicted that this ship would arrive at that time. Maybe that is in truth a human ship coming back to Mars without knowing that the post-dogs have overthrown the human tyrants.'

'Everyone knows that. Even from space they could have catch a glimpse of the independence war.'

'That's right,' intervened the first advisor. 'And what does that mean? Whether alien or human, that ship doesn't have the means or the knowledge. Therefore, they are no threat to us. And we can't threaten them either. So let's forget them.'

'We can't forget them when there's a baby dog on-board.'

'Must be a trap.'

'Look at them really. Going back to Earth, really. Pff... They are as idiotic as you would expect humans to be. As for the puppy, I don't believe any level of technology whether human or alien would be able to imitate it with such details. '

'I know it is shocking, but anyone of you had thought yet that they may come in peace. The humans and dog on the recording display some kind of bond.'

'Blasphemy,' shouted one post-dog.

'Silence,' imposed the supreme. 'I had enough of petty talks. This council is over. Fetch me the communication officer. I will answer personally in the name of all the post-dogs.'

The supreme frowned resolutely while he thought almost aloud, 'there's no way I'll let one of my successors enter history, whereas that is due to me.'

***

'Dogs,' shouted Adam. 'A talking dog!'

'I can't believe it either, you know. I hope it did not show that we were shocked,' completed Eve.

'We're fine with that, I guess. You reacted beautifully.'

'Oh thanks,' smiled Eve.

'I mean, it takes a real lady to accept with such grace that she's a thing of the past.'

'Oh Adam! Always joking when it is not the time.'

'Oh. Not the time? You're the one who actually said "Take us to your leader" to that talking dog.'

'Well, it's not that bad,' offered Eve. 'First we're alive, then they gave us a safe passage to Mars, you thanked them politely. Against all odds, we'll see the Earth, our home planet. You should acknowledge that.'

'Well, it's not that good,' countered Adam. 'We're approaching an unknown entity on Eris from which we also need a safe passage. The ship's reserves of food, air and energy will be depleted by the time we reach the inner system. The self-proclaimed post-dogs have in fact no technological means to catch and save us from that dreadful fate. You heard them when they said they have no spaceship at all. As for the Cerberus robots, they may still have the will, if not the means, to sublimate us before we ever set foot on Earth. To top it all, both those foreign civilisations have already fought and almost obliterate our species.'

'But we are alive,' reasoned Adam.

'I'd like to attract your attention,' intervened the ship, 'on the fact that the entity is not a threat yet. We'll be passing by Eros safely, I reckon, and I could even drop a probe to investigate.'

'Why not,' agreed Adam. 'And the so-called Cerberus is only a myth according to the dogs. It may not be dangerous. It may not exist anymore.'

'Same thing for the humans, I'll tell you, they may not exist anymore' Eve exaggerated. 'Or they might still exist somewhere... Oh wait,' she added with faked surprise, 'I think they might be on this very ship.'

'Ok, you are right,' conceded Adam. 'We have no control on the situation. But what can we do?'

'Keeping faith and keep on fighting.'

'That's typically you,' noticed Adam.

'Yeah well. So, let's check on Eris to buy time and see if anything can help us over there. Failing that, we have to choose between two evils: trusting a useless friend, or trusting a powerful enemy.'

The ship took the initiative to add, 'Failing that, I could kill one of you to improve the chance of the other.'

Adam and Eve look at the avatar positively shocked.

'Just kidding,' admitted the ship, 'Nevertheless, if both of you were to fall accidentally to your death, I'm sure I could resurrect your clones once in the vicinity of the Earth. I kind of know the drill now, but you'll have to trust me on this.'