The following morning, I had gospel music playing from my computer, while watching the news, muted. I was looking for anything to show someone did something stupid. Not from a nightmare, but just our own nature.
Subtitles didn't stand out about the landing, beyond tensions rising. Which was already known, from the moment they arrived, in space. I couldn't tell if things were worse from landing.
Without being a news person, I had no idea what I was looking for, but figured I'd spot something that didn't seem to be there. And found nothing.
There was a reason for nothing showing up. The landings weren't advertised to the populations. As far as much the world knew, they were all still in space.
It had been assumed that other nations had ambassadors, which was why Ari told me what he had, but there was no landing, anywhere else. Just some heavily classified locations, here, in America.
Between allies that tended to follow our lead, and enemy governments who wished us harm, all were waiting to see how the aliens, and each government would react.
It was possible hostilities would break out due to too many unknowns. The unknowns by hostile, national government could be predicted to not carry through whatever threats they were making, that were always making threats.
That was at least predictable that nothing would happen, right away, unlike how the aliens would respond. There was nothing known about them, including customs. It's one thing to deal with them in space, but another to have them on the ground.
How would their ships react? That was the question no one could answer.
In space, there were attempts by both aliens to send landing parties, that was challenged by each other, and forced back to their ships. It was a miracle war didn't break out, meaning God prevented it from happening.
Proverbial feathers and hammers didn't just come to me and Earth, God sent them to the aliens, as well. Had He not, they would've chosen nations to carry out their hostilities, after landing across the globe.
Their war was one rash action away from being brought to us. Who else, except God, could explain it?
My secure phone rang and I walked to it, without needing to turn down the volume from the music that wasn't all that loud. While watching the television for something, I picked up my phone.
"Hello, Mr. Secretary," I answered, hoping there wasn't something negative happening that wasn't on the news.
A bit of fear crept in. Had it not been for the music to strengthen my soul, I would've given in.
The adversary was always searching for some means to get hold of me, just like everyone else. My fear was a powerful weapon fought off by an even more powerful God without me being aware.
"I'll be meeting with the Atlantian and Viridian ambassadors, online, Mr. Collins, in a few minutes. You have a link to the feed in your email," he ended without making certain it had been received.
Well, that was abrupt, even for him.
I set the phone while praying, which was a good thing, beyond the normal good of prayer. There were times, like that moment, I wanted to give him advice about decorum. It shouldn't be difficult to say goodbye, to let others know the calls ended.
Heading over to my computer, I couldn't shake the impulse about wanting to do more than teach him phone decorum.
Some respect shouldn't have been too much to ask coming from the foreign affairs advisor to the president. I didn't apply for the job of advising anyone. He asked me. But acted as if it never happened that way.
When I reached the computer, I almost didn't turn it on.
That momentary anger was almost enough for the adversary to win, but God knew me. Which was the reason for the poor attempt.
I had agreed to be Secretary Woodall's advisor, not that he'd treat me with respect, over the phone. At least he called me by my name. So, that was something.
I logged on, without looking at the news, and found the link.
Pressing it brought me to a side-by-side image, just like those earlier times. Neither alien was there. So, I waited without knowing where, in the country, they were.
Though curious, I was more interested in seeing what they looked like. So far, there hadn't been clear feeds. Mostly shadow, blocking out much of their faces, and limited bodies, that appeared humanoid.
Did God design all sentient life in the universe the same?
It was an impossible question to answer. Just because three species appeared similar, didn't mean all were.
Viridian Ambassador Borant appeared on the right, with no sign of Atlantian, whoever they really were, Ambassador Creel.
There was no mention of different times by Secretary Woodall. Then again, there hadn't been much spoken about them, at all.
A bit more could be seen of his head due to no shadowing. He had wolf-like ears, which I wasn't expecting. It wasn't unnerving, since the rest looked almost human, despite the short, blue hair and the yellow flesh that could be seen.
"Ambassador Borant. Thank you for flying down."
He nodded, without saying anything. Not so much as a growl.
"You said you have evidence about Atlantians, not being Atlantians, Ambassador Borant."
Another nod, followed by a low growl. "We do," the translation followed. A series of barks and growls came, followed by the translation. "They're Alruininians, from Alruinis. Your government has just sent all the information we have on them. You'll see for yourself; they are violent and can't be trusted."
The image faded without anywhere near enough time to adjust to the odd humanoid's barking and growling. There was something unnerving about the whole thing. And not just the sounds he made.
Something was off about the whole thing. But I had no idea what. Other than there was no guarantee what they sent was the truth.
If they had human tendencies, which I assumed God gave all sentient species, they were hiding things, from us. Why not just send the data, from space?
The only reason that thought came to mind was God put it there by one of His proverbial hammers to get it through my dense skull.
Before I had the chance to really contemplate anything, the other side of the screen was filled with a lightened image of the Atlantian, or much more likely, Alruinian Ambassador Creel.
Even though he was humanoid, he was even less so than his counterpart. Beyond the glowing eyes on his hairless, orange face, was the flattened nose, and slits for ears, I almost mistook as being without them.
He was much more unnerving than his counterpart, in every way, but wouldn't allow his looks to impact anything. That's not what I was there for. For the most part, I didn't really understand why I was there due to limited information provided by Secretary Woodall. But would advise as best I could on what little I witnessed.
"Thank you for flying down, Ambassador Creel," said Secretary Woodall in the same tone he used with the first.
Hisses, and clicks were released with almost no movement of his face, other than his showing his teeth, that included fangs I didn't recall seeing, before. "Your government has all it needs to come to a wise decision."
The image faded, like his counterpart, he kept it short. If I had to guess, he was arrogant, or maybe that was simply their way.
Whatever was sent couldn't be trusted, any more than the other. But at least both were coming from the same position of being on the ground, with no sign of hostilities breaking out, which is comforting.
God was the one giving me comfort in showing their nature was just like ours. For all the bad we brought to each other, by turning our backs on him, we have achieved glorious things, when focused on Him.
Judging by the past, whatever was sent wouldn't be shared with me. Which was a good thing. I wasn't an astronomer. Anything sent dealing with other star systems would've been lost on me.
There was no follow up call from Secretary Woodall for the rest of the day. I Guess it took time to sort through all that was sent by both. He'd call, or he wouldn't. Either way, I was able to focus on God.
Just like there were no calls, there were no visitors. It was time I needed to process what I'd seen. Something as alien as them had to be designed, by God, to look the way they did, for a reason. Who was I to question God's infinite reasons, for anything.