Three more days had passed.
Unknown to the public, four spaceships carrying alien cargo had landed in four countries. Following the plan, each country immediately sent the watches they received to newly established research facilities. Experts there began to study the technology and principles behind the watches, hoping to unlock their secrets.
At a regular meeting of the Earth Alliance Defense Agency, Thomas voiced his concerns, "Do you ever feel like things are going a bit too smoothly? Can we really trust these aliens to be as friendly as they seem?"
The idea of cooperation between the strong and the weak seemed unbelievable to Thomas.
Jax nodded in agreement, "If the aliens on the moon don't have any means to attack us, or if their weapons were damaged during the landing..."
"Then doesn't this deal we're making give them a chance to repair their weapons?"
"I'm with you guys, something doesn't feel right. That alien base is enormous - it's got 180 floors! It must have taken them a long time to build something like that. They might have even taken people from Earth to help them. If that's true, their technology has to be way ahead of ours. Who knows, they could have probes all over Earth and the moon," said Chief Engineer Yang.
"But when White Rabbit Nine landed on the moon 17 days ago, it seemed the aliens were unaware of its presence. It was only by accident that they captured it, and they took more than ten days to discuss before returning it," Chief Officer Yang continued.
"Don't you think something's fishy here?" Chief Officer Yang asked.
Colonel Chu nodded slightly and said, "Perhaps the aliens allowed White Rabbit Nine to be captured and forced them into contact with us."
"Then my previous idea was correct - their weapons systems might really be damaged, so they're being extra cautious," Thomas said.
"From a logical perspective, that does seem to make sense," agreed Jax.
"But could our current behavior of supplying resources actually encourage them to repair their weapons systems?"
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
After a while, Thomas seemed to have an idea and said, "I think we need to verify my assumption!"
"We should check if the aliens on the moon really have no weapons systems!"
Chief Engineer Yang frowned. "How do we verify it? They're far away on the moon. We can't do anything about it!"
"Isn't there a second deal?"
Thomas said confidently, "During the second deal, we will send a spacecraft up there, and we can make some modifications to it…"
"For example, we could install an explosive on one of the spaceships, set the signal cutoff as the detonator, and see what happens when we detonate it."
"No way!"
Colonel Chu immediately rejected the idea.
Despite being quite radical himself, he joined the Earth Alliance Defense Agency under the order of his country's government. His considerations had to be extra careful.
"If your assumption turns out to be wrong and the aliens actually have weapon systems, who will be able to withstand their wrath?!"
"What if your actions put Earth in an even more dangerous situation?!"
Thomas argued, "We don't necessarily need explosives. We can tamper with the fuel, causing it to explode naturally. Even if the aliens don't approve, we can argue that our technology is inferior to theirs."
He continued, "As you mentioned earlier, the strong don't entertain excuses from the weak. If they feel offended, they'll certainly retaliate!"
Colonel Chu shook his head, disagreeing. "I think this proposal is too risky. We shouldn't take such a chance."
Thomas scoffed, "Your country is too conservative! If we send resources to the moon and aliens use them to create weapons against Earth, you'll be responsible for humanity's destruction!"
Chief Engineer Yang chimed in, siding with Colonel Chu. "But what if the aliens are actually friendly, and we attack them, causing Earth's destruction? We'd be responsible for humanity's downfall, too!"
Both scenarios carried the risk of Earth's destruction, making everyone uneasy.
The meeting concluded, and as the person in charge, Colonel Chu decided against provoking the aliens first.
After the meeting, Thomas and Jax waited until everyone had left, discussed their plans further, and then dispersed.
Back in Meine, Thomas held another meeting to discuss whether to test the aliens based on his suspicion.
Eventually, Thomas decided to take matters into his own hands.
"Let's modify the spaceship and program it to explode upon landing!"
"In that case, should we still bring the resources?!"
"Yes, of course! Our spaceship will explode due to a technical failure, not because we intended it to!"
..
At the Great Xia Space Agency
"Asteroid KAAD-45788 is approaching. It's 50 kilometers in diameter, moving at 80 mach, and is expected to pass by Earth in five days. There's only a 0.01% chance of impact..."
"Continue monitoring and send the relevant data to other space agencies," Chief Engineer Yang ordered urgently.
Back at the agency, Chief Engineer Yang quickly addressed the situation. "We need to activate the defense plan according to procedure. Inform the military," he instructed.
Upon hearing this, someone whispered, "We can't intercept something moving at 80 mach..."
"Just follow the normal procedure!"
"Follow the normal procedure!" Chief Engineer Yang insisted calmly. "With only a one in ten thousand chance, there's no need to worry. We've faced similar situations before, and everything turned out fine. Let's trust our past success and stick to the protocol."
Once the Great Xia Space Agency released the asteroid news, it began to spread online. Some sensationalist headlines read, "Massive Asteroid Approaching Earth!" and "Will the World End in Five Days?", despite the extremely low probability of an impact.
However, not everyone was concerned.
Some people joked, "The space agency has been doing this for decades. Every year, there would be at least two asteroid stories, but they never hit us."
Others argued, "This is just part of the Space Agency's job. They need to maintain a presence to secure funding."
The news didn't create much of a stir, and subsequent reactions were muted.
As some internet users pointed out, people had become immune to the threat of asteroids hitting Earth.
There were even some who didn't care at all. They were even hoping for the asteroid to hit Earth.
"Yeah, let it hit us. I don't have a house or money anyway. If Earth gets destroyed, at least I won't lose as much as the rich people!"
"In this world, only death is fair!"