"My wife and I are not here to destroy your world. If anything, we're more interested in it than anything else. What I don't understand is why you're so calm about this because from your perspective, we're literally aliens sitting across from you and talking about destroying cities like it's an option."
The commander exhaled slowly, like he had already asked himself that same question and decided to just commit to the situation.
"That's because you don't know Earth. Panic doesn't solve anything, and if I panic, everyone else will too, so I stay calm and deal with what's in front of me."
Narisva blinked once, then leaned slightly forward with a flat expression.
"We just got here so of course we don't know Earth, that's not exactly a revelation."
"Fair enough. In that case, I'd like to ask you both to come with me to a more secure location where we can talk without… all of this. Once we're there, I can explain the situation in more detail, and we can figure out what happens next."
Veneri didn't even hesitate.
"Sure. But you're paying for the coffee and donuts first."
The commander blinked.
"What?"
"We don't have money here, so unless you want us to just walk out, which would probably cause more attention than you'd like, you should handle it."
There was a brief silence, and then Narisva interjected.
"He's right. We don't understand your currency system yet, so this would be the most efficient solution."
The commander stared at them for a second, then sighed quietly, reaching into his pocket.
"Of course."
He stood, signaled the waitress, paid for the order without another word and within a minute, they were walking out of the café like nothing had happened, leaving behind a crowd that was still trying to process what they had just witnessed.
The city air hit them again as they stepped onto the sidewalk. Without wasting time, the commander led them toward a nearby skyscraper. The building itself was massive with people moving in and out without paying much attention to anything beyond their own routines. They entered through a side access point, bypassing most of the foot traffic. Within moments, they were standing in front of a private elevator.
The commander pressed a button as he faced them to step in.
"Top floor."
Veneri didn't move.
He looked at the elevator, at the commander and then back at the elevator again.
"That's not a good idea."
"Why not?"
Veneri stepped a little closer to the elevator, glancing inside like he was inspecting it.
"Because this thing won't be able to lift us."
"Excuse me?"
Narisva crossed her arms slightly, already on lar with what he was trying to say.
"Our bodies are far denser than yours. Our world has significantly higher gravity, so even in this reduced form, our weight is… disproportionate. The ferry earlier was large enough to distribute the load, so it didn't collapse, but this…"
She tapped the side of the elevator frame.
"…this is not built for that kind of stress."
The commander looked at the elevator like he was trying to decide if this was a joke.
"You're telling me you're too heavy for an elevator."
"Yes."
"Even like this."
"Yes."
"You're serious."
Veneri nodded once.
"Very."
The commander rubbed his temple briefly, like he was trying to process the absurdity of the situation while still keeping it professional.
"Right."
Before he could say anything else, Narisva summoned her Spatial Energy.
"This is inefficient anyway. I'll just take us to the top."
The commander opened his mouth to respond but before a single word came out, space around them warped before both Narisva and Veneri vanished completely, leaving behind nothing but a faint ripple that disappeared almost instantly. The elevator doors stayed open.
The commander stood there, staring at the space where they had just been. He let out a slow breath.
"We're lucky they're not hostile."
He stepped into the elevator alone, pressing the button for the top floor. As the doors finally closed, he shook his head once, almost in disbelief.
"Too heavy for an elevator…"
°°°°°°
The helicopter ride was noticeably quieter than the chaos below. The wind cut sharply across the landing pad as they stepped out. The commander led them forward without hesitation, past reinforced doors and into a facility that had rows of computers, massive wall-sized screens, data streams flowing constantly and personnel moving with purpose but clearly distracted by the presence of the two anomalies now standing in the center of their workspace.
The moment Narisva stepped fully inside, her eyes moved across everything at once and instead of being impressed, her expression fell flat.
"Do you not have holographic projection systems? All of this looks extremely inefficient."
The entire room went silent.
Several analysts froze mid-motion with one of them literally stopping mid-typing as if their brain had just stopped trying to process what she had just said. The commander paused for half a second, exhaling quietly like he had expected something like this but still wasn't fully ready for it.
"We'll… we'll get to that. My name is Commander Hale, and this is the Space Exploration Department under the Pentagon. This division was established in 1957. When humanity first achieved space travel and launched its first artificial satellite, that moment changed everything for us, because it wasn't just about reaching space, it was about realizing how much we didn't know."
He walked a few steps toward the main display, signaling for the screens to shift, and immediately, archived footage and data began appearing.
"From that point forward, we started uncovering anomalies that didn't match any known Earth-based design or material composition. By July 1969, when humans first landed on the moon, we confirmed something far more significant."
The screen shifted again, showing grainy mages.
"We were not alone."
He let that sit for a moment.
"However, that information was not released to the public because the implications were too large to manage globally at the time."
Veneri watched the screens.
"And you figured this out from relics."
The commander nodded once.
"Exactly."
The display shifted again, this time showing objects, strange shapes and materials that clearly didn't belong to Earth. Among them was something small but immediately recognizable.
A black apple.
Veneri's eyes narrowed slightly, and then he let out a quiet exhale.
"That's from our world."
The room was silent. That was the first direct confirmation they had gotten.
"We have black apples, by the way."
Several analysts immediately began typing. Narisva stepped closer to the screen, scanning the other items displayed. Unlike the humans in the room, she wasn't impressed.
"These stone carvings are ancient relics from the Xypelians. They're post-apocalyptic era artifacts, most likely created to commemorate the rise of Dynasty Starisnova. They're not rare where we come from. They're just… old."
The commander continued despite the shock and information he just received.
"Since our initial discoveries, we've recovered tens of thousands of these relics across the planet either scattered, buried or falling from the sky under unknown circumstances."
The screen shifted again, showing another object. It was a black bowl that was simple in design but clearly abnormal.
"This one, for example. Our analysis identified it as iron, but the allotrope is completely different. The atomic structure is perfect and stronger than anything we can replicate. Our strongest lasers can't even leave a mark on it."
Narisva glanced at it once, then looked away almost immediately.
"That's a snow bowl."
The room paused again.
"It's used for growing winter trees before they're planted. It regulates temperature and nutrient flow during early growth stages. It's not that special.It's just a basic tool."
There was a long silence after that.
"Of course it is," one of the analysts muttered under their breath.
Narisva looked back at the commander.
"Most of these are from Xypelia so it makes sense you'd find more of them compared to other regions."
The commander nodded slowly, processing that, then continued.
"In 2020, global disclosure was finally initiated. The existence of extraterrestrial life was made public and since then, research has accelerated significantly."
"Why do you refer to your time like that? Darling, you said 2027 earlier. Does that mean your civilization has only existed for two thousand and twenty-seven years?"
A nearby analyst hesitated, then stepped forward. She was clearly nervous but also aware that this was part of the interaction now.
"Uh… not exactly. That's based on our calendar system, it's tied to a historical event, not the actual age of humanity."
"So your entire timekeeping system is based on a single event instead of your actual origin point? That's… oddly specific."
The analyst nodded quickly.
"Yeah, it's tied to the Gregorian calendar, based on the estimated birth of a religious figure. It's more of a cultural system than a scientific one."
"That's inefficient."
Veneri didn't react but he did smile t her comment.
"It's how this world developed."
"This place keeps getting stranger."