"People of Earth. I am Tausson Corwin, Commander of the Cosmic Vessel Irral, from the system Relica. The sole purpose of the Relican Squad is to save sufficiently advanced cultures from certain destruction due to planetary collisions. Soon your planet will be struck by an asteroid, obliterating all life. We are here to assist with evacuation and transportation to a suitable replacement."

From his orbiting spaceship, speaking to them through a live video channel, the stern alien commander fell silent.

400 miles or so below him, Tierney Dawson stared back, hardly believing this was real. She, as White House Chief of Staff, had been summoned by the President to the Situation Room, joining the Vice President, the Secretaries of State and Defense, and the Directors of the CIA, the FBI, NASA, and SETI for this historic event. Screens on the wall showed live feeds from similar gatherings across the globe, including NATO, United Nations Security Council, Asia Alliance Coalition, and other international bodies. But as Tierney looked around at all of those important people, she could tell from their stunned, dark expressions that all of them were thinking exactly the same thing she was:

We're screwed.

The only ones not paralyzed by what they had just heard were the two scientists who sat beside her. At the first mention of an asteroid, they had begun furiously typing on their laptops, talking to each other in hushed whispers.

Of the politicians, the President was the first to recover. As always, Tierney was impressed by her boss's cool head in the middle of a crisis. This conversation was being viewed not only by the leaders of every country on the planet, but every television channel had also been hijacked by the aliens, ensuring that all citizens of Earth were aware of the impending crisis. With billions of eyes watching, the President became the first person in humanity's history to speak to an alien.

"Commander Corwin," she said, standing at her place at the head of the table, "you are our planet's first contact with an alien race, so I'm sure you can understand our shock at not only your arrival, but also the message you bring. While your technology is clearly more advanced than ours, we are not without our own spatial monitoring systems. We have identified no objects that would be capable of such damage."

She gave a pointed look at the NASA and SETI representatives, and both of them shook their heads.

The commander frowned, drawing Tierney's thoughts once again to how remarkably similar these aliens were to her own species. While Commander Corwin stood too close to the screen for her to see the bottom half of his body, she could see the others around him: two arms, two legs, one head, even hair -- no slime or extra eyes or anything. All of them could have passed for human, if it weren't for their skin color. The skin-tight uniforms they all wore covered almost every inch of their muscular bodies, including their hands, but each of the Relicans' faces were either the color of steel, like the commander; the color of iron, like the alien standing directly to his left; or bronze, like the one standing towards the back with a deep frown.

"As you stated yourself, your technology is primitive compared to ours." The commander's tone had changed from calm to annoyed. The movement of his lips didn't match the audio, and Tierney realized he must be speaking a different language, with a translation being piped through to them.

"By our estimates," he said, "you won't see the asteroid for another fifteen days, and if we are going to evacuate your entire population, we don't have any time to lose."

"How soon will the asteroid strike?" asked the Vice President.

The commander's gray face was hard, and his voice -- deeper than any Tierney had ever heard -- was deadly serious when he said, "Thirty Earth days."

The entire room burst into a cacophony of questions and outcries, and theirs wasn't the only one. Across the globe, Tierney saw hundreds of heads of state losing it, giving in to the panic.

If they're freaking out, she thought, imagine what the public is doing right now. We have to stay calm. We have to lead by example.

Leaning over slightly, she nudged the NASA director next to her. Although the noise would have hidden her words anyway, she spoke only loud enough for him to hear when she said, "Trace the source of that transmission. Now." As he dove back into his laptop, she glanced at the President, who was still standing but not speaking. They had worked together for ten years, and a simple nod was enough for Tierney to communicate what she was doing. The President nodded back.

The iron gray alien standing beside Commander Corwin stepped forward and spoke. "We know this is difficult to accept." This alien's voice was still deep, but higher than the commander's. Tierney wondered if it was female, but other than its voice and darker color, it was identical to the commander: broad shoulders, muscles rippling beneath the uniform, and military-style cut black hair. Speaking over the clamor, this second alien continued.

"We are sending our data over the infowaves now, and it will automatically be translated into each language as it is received. We also invite up to five of your world's leaders to our vessel, to verify our capabilities and intentions."

Although clearly meant to calm the worries of those listening, the alien's words only increased the anxiety and fervor.

"Don't open any data they send!" shouted one of the NATO representatives on one screen. "It could be a virus meant to disable our technology!"

"They're luring us up there to become hostages!" cried someone from the Security Council. "They just want our resources!"

"This is all a hoax!" yelled a member of the Asia Alliance Coalition.

"Silence!" The commander's thunderous roar succeeded where his comrade's attempted kindness had failed. Every voice went quiet, and every eye was once again on him. When he spoke again, it was a low growl.

"I will grant you one hour of deliberation, and then I will shuttle down to your planet to begin discussing logistics."

"Where will you land?" asked the President, who had remained still throughout the tumult. "We have no global, centralized government location."

The commander stared back at her, his black eyes taking in the President's calm demeanor, her steady voice.

"I will land at your command station," he said.

The President pursed her lips, the only sign of what Tierney knew must be a whirlwind of emotions inside. "Very well," she said, "the United States Capitol is located at --"

"I have your coordinates," interrupted the commander, no longer looking at her. "One hour."

The screen went black.

Before the room had a chance to erupt into chaos again, the President stared firmly at the monitors with the other world leaders said, "While it would obviously be preferred to have all of you physically present when Commander Corwin arrives, that is obviously not possible given the time constraints. However, I will conference you all in again on these same channels at the time of the meeting. Nothing will be discussed without your hearing it."

"This is a hoax," the same member of the Asia Alliance Coalition repeated. "My people are searching for the source of the feed as we speak."

"We've already found it," said the NASA director, his eyes wide. "The transmission is originating from 422 miles above Earth's surface, from precisely the same location of the unidentified object we detected a little over an hour ago."

"Why do they care so much about our survival?" asked another dignitary. "What's in it for them?"

"A great question," said the President, "for when the Commander arrives." Someone else started to speak, but she cut them off. "In the meantime, I must address my countrymen, and I'm certain you are all anxious to do the same. We must set the public's mind at ease as much as we can to avoid global chaos."

Tierney had been thinking the same thing. They had to let the public know what they were thinking and planning, otherwise the country could devolve into anarchy.

"I'll see you all in an hour," said the President, and with a click of a button, all of the screens switched off.