A minute passed.
The small shrubs around them offered little protection and likewise did the transparent blue sky above them. Purity looked to the pine forests in the distance across the grassland and wondered why the fleet had opted to land in the middle of the open rather than in the safety of the forest. She supposed they crash-landed. Maybe they overshot their real destination.
Fifteen minutes passed.
They had searched every square centimetre of every one of the spaceships' exteriors. The ships had doors, which were all sealed shut, barricaded to the outside world. There was just a certain amount of metal between the human world and the alien realm. These details didn't scare Juno—rather excited him for the prospect of living with another intelligent lifeform—as the point that unnerved Juno was that these vessels didn't seem to be damaged much, if at all.
Maybe they had intended to crash this whole time.
Maybe they wanted to do NYSA to do everything they've done up until this point.
Juno tried not to worry, he supposed they didn't know much about the nature of the crash until the data was taken to the supercomputer to be processed.
That is if a crash even occurred. A chill was sent down Juno's spine, but he calmed himself and focussed on paying attention to Crawford, who stood up to address the plan to everyone.
"The only thing left to do now is to infiltrate their spacecraft with force. Follow my direction…"
Purity looked to the forest once more. She analysed the tips of the dark green pine trees, its branches aesthetically falling down the length of the trunk, just one of many pines embedded within the fertile soil of roots and natural life. She panned the forest and saw a large metallic object among the trees. She moved to the left to get a better view. There was no doubt about it.
There was a spaceship there.
What was this spaceship doing there, though? Sure, it might have simply crashed, it might have accidentally pulled off its course at the last minute. They might have miscalculated something or disobeyed the orders of their superiors.
Aliens can make mistakes too, right?
She eyed the forest once more, its straight trees appearing curvy and their preciousness appearing malignly inconsiderate. Why was the spaceship there?
There wasn't even any smoke billowing from the metal hull.
There didn't seem to be a gap in the trees above where it lay. It just didn't make sense.
That is, of course, unless it was always here.
Before dark thoughts protruded into her quiet mind, Purity took a deep breath. She needed to do something about this new discovery of hers. She needed to alert her superiors. It was, after all, her duty now. Her responsibility.
Purity turned around and was going to hurry back, but instead, she saw Juno and Phoebe at point black range, and crashed into them, tumbling down along with them. Phoebe dusted herself off, standing up to take Purity's hand. As her anxious expression cleared, Purity grabbed her hand and used Phoebe as an anchor, however, she underestimated their combined strength, and Purity was flung upwards into Phoebe's embrace, where she shivered in quiet shock.
Purity looked outward into the world and appreciated Phoebe's warmth. She had never fully experienced this in all the years of being sisters. There was something certainly different about Phoebe. It was more than kindness; Phoebe always had that value tucked away quietly which she used quite often in her efforts in being a supportive role model and older sister. It was more than the reflection of the trust they had for each other. No—It was closer to confidence.
Phoebe had confidence and faith in herself—in who she was.
"We just saw the Spaceship among the trees too," Juno confirmed.
Purity nodded, feeling embarrassed for a brief moment out of having this emotional epiphany for her sister, then hurried over to Lorentz, who was helping supervise the break into the ships. Lasers were cutting through, slowly but surely breaching the metal surface and into the core of the fleet as an entirety.
"We found another," Purity exclaimed, "another ship. It's not too far in the forest over there."
Lorentz seized her binoculars and with 2 clenched hands, she located the ship in a short time.
"Take the rest of Unit 5 with you," Lorentz instructed, "I have to stay here to help out, but I believe in your capabilities to assess that one over there, then return back here immediately and we'll go from there."
"Understood," Purity determinedly responded, before rushing back to Juno and Phoebe, who had regrouped with Leonel and Kate.
"Let's go," Purity smiled, ready for the small adventure.
But nothing could have prepared her for the consequences this "small adventure" would have.
It was the adventure that changed the world.
*
The stretch of grassland from the hill of the "wreckage site" to the edge of the forest was far shorter than what it originally had seemed. This hidden Spaceship was larger and more impressive the closer they got until it appeared far larger than all the others. It was at least five times larger than any of the other vessels.
Phoebe turned back to face the rest of the alien spacecraft. They were all identical, they followed precise and coordinated movements. They landed or crashed in that one specific location and everything, Phoebe pondered, would have gone according to their plan.
She continued moving towards the immense spaceship, its size overpowering and its strength clearly evident. Perhaps it had been here in this forest all along, perhaps it was the flagship of the alien fleet and flew alongside the others. The problem was they had only observed one size of these unknown vessels. Unless this large ship was invisible physically and by radar. But that was impossible.
Still though, Phoebe couldn't help but consider that prospect. She became chilled, electricity was sent down her spine.
The existence of this larger ship meant that there could be many others.
They circled it, stepping on fallen leaves and small flora as they rotated around to its other side.
There was a door.
It was completely open.
It invited them in to an unknown world of infinite possibilities.