Prologue

Running on the linoleum, Vince DeGerra could hear nothing but the squeaks of his converse shoes. He ran right around the T-corner, and looked down the corridor he entered. It was long and beige, with sparse doors lining the hallway and LED light fixtures on the ceiling.  He tried to keep his glasses from falling off of the bridge of his nose, and shoved them up with his left hand, dropping a piece of paper he was carrying in the process. He made an about turn, picking up the paper and added it into the folder. Further down was his destination, room 431 on floor B-2, and he made a beeline for it. A sense of foreboding doom filled Vince, and all he could think about was what a cute girl that lab intern was. Sure he was about to deliver bad news to a superior, but damn was she cute. Vince couldn’t help himself when it came to the opposite sex, which is why he was hired as the VP assistant instead of the position of machine technician he wanted. All because the interviewer was attractive, and Vince may or may not have ‘harassed’ her. In his opinion, asking someone’s bra cup size is merely a question about wardrobe. The only thing that got him the job was his glowing recommendation from his MIT professor. That, and one of the board of directors is his father.

When he grasped the door handle, he drew a sharp breath first before entering. The news he was about to deliver was surely going to change how things worked around here, forever. There was no going back after this moment. The whole company, America, even the whole world in the long term was going to be affected by this piece of news. Vince just thought, ‘screw it’ and opened the door. Inside was a square room about 20 feet across. Two long tables were in the middle, with various instruments and computers that are used to measure long term distance runs of specific particles through the universe. Along the walls there were no windows, for they were three floors underground. Instead, there were some file cabinets, and then modern file cabinets in the form of hard drives.

Two men and a woman were waiting for Vince, all of them looking at him with eyes full of fear.

John Gordon, a burly man with graying, balding hair who was wearing a white shirt with rolled up sleeves and a dark green tie, and black slacks spoke first. “So, did the Recon guys confirm it? Do they truly exist?”

Vince grimaced, speaking softly, “Yes. All the figures match, and there’s no doubt. Probes are being prepped for launch.”

David Stern, a lean guy in his mid-30’s had brown short uncombed hair, and was wearing a Doctor Who sweatshirt and jeans, slammed a fist into the table. “Dammit, even if it is true, who authorized the launch of the probes? We sure as hell didn’t!”

Kathyrn Moore stood up from where she was sitting. She put a hand on David’s shoulder and looked at David in the eyes. “There’s no need to yell at Vince, he’s just the messenger.” Kat was around 30, and she had shiny auburn hair that came down to her shoulder blades. She had a nice curvy figure; her chest sporting a bosom that wasn’t big, nor small.  Her shirt had the ship Serenity on it, from the short-lived but famous show Firefly, and her jeans complemented her hips. David was her boyfriend, and damn proud of it. They were also both proud of displaying their nerd-ness by wearing clothes sporting things from their favorite shows and games, and their offices were even worse. You couldn't go in there without being surrounded by paraphernalia belonging to their fandoms. Continuing speaking, she said in a calm voice, “Whoever did make that order will have to answer to us anyway, so I’m sure they had good reason to authorize the launch. Besides, if they do mess up we can always give them the Doniger” she finished with a devious smile.

David became less tense, and chuckled. “Vince, I apologize. And Kat, you are as mean as ever.”

“And proud of it! Now, Vince, do you know who gave the order for the probes?”

“I believe Dennis Noble gave the order.”

John snorted, and growled, “He doesn’t have that much experience with this. Is he sure about this?”

“None of us have any experience with this. I’m just peeved that Noble didn’t ask me first. We need to have a staff meeting about this” David stated.

“I would prefer not to involve the bureaucrats in this, Dave.” John said.

“But it would be the safe thing to do. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”

John sighed and rubbed his shiny head. After rubbing it for 10 seconds, he said, “Alright, arrange the staff meeting. However, I want to talk to Noble. The only thing that would explain why he ordered a probe launch now is something that requires immediate communication. I think we have been contacted.”

Everyone else flinched. “Seriously?” Kat murmured.

Dennis Noble poked his head into the room, and said, “Yes Kathryn, we're serious."

David did a double take. “Wait, how did you know we were in here?

Kat cocked her eyebrow. “Yes, this was supposed to be a private meeting.”

Dennis shrugged. He was a stocky man in his late twenties, with long blond hair. He was wearing a red t-shirt that just said, 'Dont Think, Do' and jeans. Dennis had a way of learning secrets he wasn't meant to hear, which is why he was perfect for Recon. Unfortunately, it also made him a real pain around the office. “I forgot to tell Vince something, so I decided to come here and tell you guys myself. Turns out that we did not only make contact, but we also got a response.”

Everyone not only flinched, but David fell off his chair and Kat choked on her breath. “A-are you saying that we have just made contact with another sentient race of beings from a separate universe?!?” John shouted.

“Wow, I can't believe we actually we were the first ones to find aliens. So much for those radio telescope guys here in New Mexico," Vince said with a chuckle.

Dennis came into the room and said, “Hey, hey! You didn’t let me finish! We did get a response, but it wasn’t a verbal comm, nor was it a message.”

“What did we get, then? What makes you sure that we got a response from a sentient race?” Kat asked.

Dennis looked at Kat with somber eyes. “We got a picture.”

“Of what?” David demanded.

“We don't know.”

John walked up to Dennis, and held out his hand. "Let me see the folder."

Dennis handed it over. David and Kat jumped up from their seats and leaned over John's shoulder to look at the picture. The picture had a fuzzy image, showing a green ground and blue sky. Rolling hills covered the landscape and near the bottom right of the picture, down in the valley was a village composed of white and brown buildings.

David let out a sigh, muttering, "They don't look very technologically advanced."

"Don't let that fool you. For all we know, they could zap us with mind powers and drain our brains", Vince grunted.

"You would have nothing to worry about Vince, because you have no brains" Dennis said, earning a death glare from Vince.

John put the picture back into the folder and everyone looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed. Only John knew what to do, but it was the last thing that he wanted to do. His good natured conscience screamed out in protest for even considering this, but he had no choice. As a military man, he knew he had to serve his country. He walked out into the hallway and pulled out his cellphone, and made the call.