004 Perception

At the same moment, at the headquarters of NASA in the United States.

White Morrison, the portly executive officer, was huddled behind his desk, engrossed in a video on his tablet. The video was so captivating that Morrison sat up straight, tense, and even slightly contorted in his seat. He didn't turn up the volume, so he filled in the sounds of the scene in his mind. Nevertheless, this did not hinder his enjoyment of the superb video.

It wasn't some NASA astronaut performing a spacewalk, or top-secret footage sent back by a Mars rover, but merely a promotional video on the homepage of the United States' largest adult video website.

Morrison, a bureaucrat by trade, didn't understand the complex technologies within NASA, and he had no interest in rockets or spacecraft. To him, gaining experience working here was helpful for his ascent to other, better positions or improving his career later on.

In this nation hailed as the most "democratic" on the planet, not only were national leaders not directly elected, but thousands of important federal and state government positions had nothing to do with democracy. With every new government, thousands of political officer positions needed to be filled. Such political officers didn't require any civil service exam evaluation and could be appointed as high up as Cabinet Ministers (subject to Senate confirmation), even though many of them lacked political experience or specialized knowledge in their fields. Morrison was one of these political officers, and after his term ended, the new government might keep him on or promote him, or he could be hired by a private enterprise as a consultant based on his managerial experience at NASA. If all else failed, he could write a book or become a motivational speaker. In the United States and other Western countries, such titled orators were in great demand and commanded handsome fees, making much more than those with significant skills and talents.

Just as Morrison's eyes were glued to the tablet screen, the door to his office was suddenly flung open. Morrison's top scientist, Bowie, an astronomer with one-quarter Indian ancestry, burst in.

Flustered, Morrison fumbled to lock the screen of the tablet in his hands and was relieved he hadn't turned on the volume, or he would have deeply embarrassed himself in front of his subordinate.

Morrison was furious, glaring at the intruder, Bowie. "What is it with you, don't you know how to knock before entering? If this is about cutting projects again, let me tell you, it's no use talking to me. The whole United States is cutting budgets. NASA is already lucky not to lay off employees, and the union's old dogs don't dare say a word anymore. NASA doesn't have money to invest in projects without any visible returns!"

Bowie was not intimidated by Morrison's barrage of questions. With a mixture of excitement, agitation, and concern on his face, he waved the documents in his hand and said loudly, "Director Morrison, I'm not here to discuss those issues with you. There's a major issue, a real big one this time!"

Without regard for protocol, he slapped the photos in his hand on Morrison's desk, pointing at them, "These are the photos taken by our solar observation satellite an hour ago."

Morrison glanced at the photos, dismissively asking, "Why are you showing me the sun?"

Bowie was already accustomed to Morrison's ignorance. He flipped the first photo to reveal the second one underneath and continued, "The images of the sun we capture with the SDO are taken through a light-reducing filter; otherwise, the pictures would be too blinding to make out anything. However, sometimes the filter causes us to overlook other things, just like what we've discovered now."

Looking at the second photo, which had been processed, Morrison could see something by the side of the sun.

"Our observers thought they saw something, so they aimed the camera at that spot and zoomed in," Bowie explained.

By the time the third photo was laid before Morrison, he was completely shocked.

"My God, what on earth are you showing me?! Are you pulling a prank?"

Bowie shook his head solemnly, "I am not to the point of boredom that I would make a joke of this kind, sir. Searching for extraterrestrial civilizations and intelligent beings is my job, and I do not take my job lightly. This is an alien starship fleet, and it's quite sizable."

Morrison realized the severity of the situation, pointed to the photograph in front of him and tried to compose himself, but he couldn't help but twitch at the corners of his mouth, "Can you confirm the authenticity of these photographs?"

Bowie nodded, "Yes, we have employed various means to investigate and observe the alien fleet on the solar orbit, and if necessary, we can cross-check with our European and Japanese colleagues, or even ask the Russians and Chinese. But I believe, their conclusions would be similar—our Solar System has been visited by an alien civilization."

Morrison was unsettled as he took almost half a minute to process this information, then stared at Bowie and asked, "Can we determine their intentions? Is there anything useful we can glean from analyzing their spacecraft?"

Bowie said, "For the time being, we don't know the purpose of this alien fleet, nor have they made contact with Earth, at least we have not received any form of communication. However, my researchers have analyzed the configurations of those starships and regrettably concluded that aside from the largest ship, the rest seem to be designed for war."

Morrison dropped his tablet to the floor, not bothering to pick it up, "What did you say? Those ships are interstellar warships? Have they discovered the existence of intelligent life on Earth?"

Bowie gave a self-deprecating smile, "Those things, they're far too reminiscent of the interstellar warships we see in our science fiction works. Some of their structural designs are clearly meant for handling the stresses of warfare. As for whether or not Earth has been exposed, even if they haven't discovered us Earthlings yet, I believe it won't be long before they do."

Morrison's anxiety skyrocketed to its peak, "Are these aliens here to invade Earth?"

Bowie sounded somewhat helpless, "How would I know? That's something the White House should be thinking about, isn't it?"

Morrison snapped out of it, immediately grabbed the secure line phone and said, "Right, we must report this immediately, have the Pentagon draw up defense plans, and contact all our allies. We can defeat alien invaders, right? After all, that's how it happens in our movies."

Bowie looked at the frantic Morrison and felt a chill in his heart. If the people on Earth in Hollywood's movies were to lose to aliens, who would want to watch them? Reality, however, was staring them in the face—a mysterious interstellar fleet that had crossed who knows how many light-years to reach the Solar System. With technology that was perhaps many times more advanced than Earth's, facing such an enemy, could Earthlings really triumph like in 'Independance Day' or the 'Battle of Los Angeles,' defeating the invaders and defending their homeland?

As Morrison scrambled to act, the news of a mysterious starship fleet visiting the Solar System reached the White House and the Pentagon. And in aerospace powerhouses like Europe, Russia, and China, the same news began to spread. This dissemination was contained; all government agencies were tight-lipped, and not a whisper of it leaked out.

No one knew what would await them.