NYSA's Science Protection Units had arrived, and they saw the fleet of ships on the ground below. One thing was not as they expected however, one thing was slightly different from what they had thought. Smoke was billowing from the dots below, spots of ink on paper, stains on the natural environment that surrounded the location of the spaceships.
The aliens had crashed.
It was a minor detail in the grand scheme of things, but it bewildered and confused NYSA, though it wouldn't really affect how they went around the operation.
"An approach with caution will still be absolutely necessary!" Lorentz implored, as The Messenger descended lower and decreased its speed at a rapid rate, before landing in the same fashion as a helicopter – completely vertical. It felt surreal to be encountering such a mystifying threat, but Crawford and Lorentz knew the essentiality of staying focused through the excitement. The crash site was a mere 100 metres away, it felt right on their doorstep, eyeing their ship with the same stare that NYSA themselves were giving the uninvited guests.
This was always the first stage of a worldwide scale conflict.
"Units 1, 2 and 3 will make a direct approach to the crash site. Units 4 and 5 will flank around the right side and will help out if such a backup is required, or under our command." Crawford explained.
Lorentz rounded up Units 4 and 5, Purity was tentatively eyeing their new friends from the slightly more capable unit. They were slightly older, probably around 18 or maybe 19, and they seemed lightyears more confident, taller, and mature. Purity didn't even want to think about comparing themselves to the first three teams of 5. Kate was the only one in their unit that even stood a chance in a fight against them. Purity stopped herself, undergoing a self-assessment and returning from drifting in thought.
What was she thinking?
Fighting the other members of this new program? Fellow employees of NYSA?
Purity concluded that it was irrational to be thinking such thoughts. Units 1-4 were likely to become her friends, people who are absolutely not going to be fought against. They were their allies in all this and considering the nightmarish madness that had occurred this day, they needed to stick together.
Purity realised that if the moment arose where her friends were to drift apart, it would also be the moment they themselves realised the incredible flaws within themselves, the moment they noticed their innate loneliness, the moment they understood that their weaknesses were hidden due to a network of friends supporting them and concealing the weaknesses. Potentially, even, such support would only be fuelling fundamental flaws within people to become an even greater problem.
Phoebe broke from her trance and shook her head subconsciously. Had the rush of action infringed upon her unnatural thoughts? Had the arrival of spaceships from another world caused this erratic behaviour? She needed to take a step back and focus on the mission at hand.
The doors to the outside world opened. Scenery from a random spot over the Canada – Eastern States border could be observed, as expected, and units 1-3 started their approach, slowly sneaking behind Crawford, in a scarily organised fashion, almost like they had prior military training. The plan was to try to make peace, as that was considered the best solution to this developing problem. If that didn't work, defending themselves was the next best thing, and ironically, the best way to defend against an alien species is to attack, if peace wasn't an option.
Remus Crawford was a retired politician and worked in the military for several years, before spending over a decade at NYSA, being a scientist and in positions of leadership. If anyone would be equipped to handle peaceful interaction with another intelligent lifeform, it would be him. His system was in place. He was following all the steps up to communication.
After surveying the ships with the systems aboard The Messenger, no indication that there was anyone there meant they could approach but with extreme caution still – it's very likely humanity did not have the technology to detect such creatures, or whatever they were.
But there was something there.
Purity's eyes descended on the grey floor beneath her, her face fading in colour, her physical façade dropping away parallel to the subtle restrictions of thought within her mind.
Despite the readings and data, there was something there.
Spaceships don't just materialise and fly around with no passengers.
Purity judged the alien spaceships on the grassy hill not too far away. She imagined the internal architecture of those things. She envisioned them floating dangerously in the air, drifting across the void, teleporting millions of miles to land on a foreign doorstep, to appear in friendly Earth's atmosphere and waltz around the blue skies. The nature of these ships and their movement felt like actions that would only be conducted by people who felt they owned the skies. These aliens just danced above humanity in a bright blue sky. They could have hidden in the clouds, but they did not feel the need. They didn't want to out of some principle they had maybe. Maybe they were simply arrogant to appear here without care for their own safety.
Together they flew down like angels from heaven, towards an unsuspecting location at an unsuspecting point in time.
Purity imagined that the spaceships were all empty.
All sentient?
All aware of the fear they struck in others?
Empty spaceships that were powered by the icy chill of death, that silently touched upon the void and everyone in it?
They were operated by ghosts who appeared in the darkness. Their arrival in the daytime meant they have been invisible.
Would their enemies come out at night? Were they just luring them out here to wait for darkness and then kill them all here? Then kill all of humanity?
Purity had been mindlessly following behind the others for a while now, but the seize that fear had on her was now out of control, Leonel checked behind at Purity and saw her crying. Mindful not to let Pandora Lorentz see any weakness, he quickly held a soft small hand up to Purity's cheek and wiped some of the tears away.
"Let's keep going," He whispered, looking into her eyes with a trusting smile.
Purity was back. Fear was out of the equation. There were more useful emotions for this moment. There were more useful thoughts for this moment also, and Purity caught up to the others to continue the operation.