We're Not from Here

As they approach the spaceport, the television shows the swarm breaking through the electric fence. When Ila starts to sing, the swarm slows its attack and begins to sway, the honeysuckle smell competing with the gasoline anger smell. The television stops showing live footage of the swarm, and Lan starts to hope that the government is scared. Lan and Ila share a smile right before the spaceport’s weapons strike them and their ship plummets.

Ila is hurt in the fall. The swarm turns violent again, attacking the fence Marf managed to put up around the ship. Lan and Marf make up slapstick comedy, but it only affects a small portion of the Zhuri. Marf gets too close to the fence and is thrown backward to land on top of Lan, who falls unconscious from being squished. Singing brings Marf and Lan back to consciousness. Ila, still bleeding from her fall, has the ship’s microphone and belts out song after song, calming the swarm. Lan and Ila reunite with their parents, and later, they hear an announcement that “the humans and their music [are] welcome to stay on Planet Choom” (244).