A knock on Tierney's door startled her awake. She rolled over, intending to check the time, but her office couch had far less landscape than her king-sized bed, and she fell on the floor with a thump.

"Miss Dawson?" a voice asked through the door.

"Who is it?" she called, reaching up to tap her phone awake.

6:04? Who the hell is waking me up at six in the morning?!

"Agent Ito, Miss Dawson."

Secret Service?

Grabbing the blanket off the couch, she quickly wrapped it around herself.

"Is Nelle alri--?"

Her question caught in her mouth as she opened the door to find herself looking into the silver eyes of Commander Corwin.

"Excuse us, Miss Dawson," said Agent Ito, one of two Secret Service agents at the commander's side, "but he showed up on the lawn and said he had an appointment with you."

Tearing her gaze from the Relican's stunned, shimmering face, she ran a hand through her tangled hair, trying to clear her foggy brain. "Appointment? Nelle -- the President, I mean -- she said she was going to speak with you about setting up a time to dig into the details of evacuation, but I haven't seen her since last night."

And there's no way in hell she would have scheduled an appointment for me at six in the freaking morning.

The commander was staring at her in a daze, and Tierney hugged the blanket around her, suddenly hyperaware of the fact that she was naked underneath. She hated wearing clothes in bed, much preferring the feeling of the cool sheets on her bare skin. Even here at the office she could get away with it, since she always locked the door.

Meeting her gaze, he seemed to come to his senses and stared at the air above her head. "President Freeland and I communicated during the night, and she said to meet with you in the morning. The sun rose an hour ago. I assumed that was ample time to prepare."

"Ample...?" Tierney held her tongue. Her brain was awake enough to know that she couldn't risk insulting humanity's only hope.

Flashing her best politician's smile, she said, "A simple misunderstanding. For humans it's customary to wait until both parties have confirmed a time and place before the meeting is actually considered scheduled."

"I see," he said with a frown, still not looking her in the eye. "Should I return to my vessel and wait until you confirm the appointment?"

Was that sarcasm? With the translator's monotone voice, it was hard to tell.

"No," said Tierney. "You're here, I'm here, let's meet."

Commander Corwin swallowed hard and took a step towards her.

"Wait, wait!" she cried, holding up a hand to stop him. "Not now! I --" She pulled the blanket back up, which had begun slipping down her shoulder. "I need to get dressed. Can you wait out there? I'll be ready in about ten minutes."

The Relican commander appeared relieved and quickly went back into the hallway. Closing and locking the door behind him, Tierney rinsed her mouth with water and then popped a few mints as she put on the suit from her overnight bag. Throwing her hair back in a long braid, she set the couch back to rights. Without bothering with any makeup other than a colorless lip gloss, she accepted the commander into her office.

"Would you like us to stay, Miss Dawson?" asked Agent Ito, eyeing the Relican.

She almost said yes. She didn't trust these aliens one bit. Believing them about the asteroid was one thing -- she couldn't afford not to, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. But she still wasn't convinced their intentions were purely altruistic. However, she needed to give the impression of trust, and she couldn't do that with bodyguards.

"No thank you," she said, giving the agents a warm smile. If they didn't agree with her decision, the didn't show it, simply nodding and disappearing down the hall.

"Okay," she said, taking her seat behind the desk and turning her computer on, "I think first you had better outline what your plan is for getting everybody out of here, and I can assess what's feasible and what's not."

The commander remained standing, surveying her office. His eyes landed on her overnight bag, which she'd accidentally left out, with her toothbrush and toothpaste sticking out the top. "Do you reside here?" he asked.

"No, but I had a late night." Tierney grabbed the bag and went to stuff it in the closet. When she opened the door, she revealed several outfits hanging inside.

"Do you have many late nights?" the commander asked.

This wasn't going well. Last night she had sworn to herself that today would be different, that she'd make the Relicans forget about the mortifying events of yesterday. And here she was, answering the door all but nude, and coming off like a lonely workaholic.

She gave him her best fake smile. "This is a demanding job. I have to be ready for anything." Returning to her seat, she gestured to the chair on the other side of the desk and said, "So about your plan to get humanity off of Earth and out of harm's way...?"

Staring warily at the chair in front of her, he said, "I prefer to stand."

Was he being confrontational? Or was she just paranoid? "Of course," she said, still holding her smile.

He seemed relieved, and stood as far away from the desk as he could. "One hundred vessels will arrive later today, including the cart," he began.

"Is the cart the planet-ship?"

"Squad."

"Excuse me?" She wasn't sure she'd understood his translator correctly.

"The cart," he said, "the means of transporting your people across the galaxy."

"Did you say squad?" she clarified. "Does that mean yes?"

His back straightened and his chin tipped up, casting off his surly demeanor to leave only the proud soldier remaining. She forced herself not to look at the enticing map of muscles that rippled beneath his uniform.

"The Relican Squad has spread such a positive influence across the universe, that the word itself has come to mean affirmation."

Positive influence? The only thing you're spreading across the universe is your semen.

Tierney bit back her very undiplomatic retort, afraid of revealing how she really felt about the whole volunteers thing and ruining humanity's only chance at survival.

"I see," she said simply. Turning to her computer, she began typing. "A hundred ships, you say?"

His stature deflated a bit at her tepid reaction.

Good, she thought. Someone needs to cut these guys down a peg.

"Regarding the... cart," she said, "you're certain 7.5 billion people can fit on it?"

"You may be more crowded than you're accustomed to, but yes," he said, sitting awkwardly on the edge of the couch.

Visions of humans being packed together like cattle in squalid conditions sprang to her suspicious mind. "How big is it? How many square feet per person?"

Commander Corwin tapped on the sleeve of his suit, and Tierney saw some digital numbers appear on the screen. After a few calculations, he said, "Using your unit of measurement, there will be 10.2 feet for every person on the cart."

Ten feet? How enormous was this thing? Tierney did the math in her head. "It's 7.5 billion square feet?!?"

His pride recovered as he said, "7.7 billion, actually. The same size as your moon."

Doing her best to keep her mouth from hanging open, Tierney put this information on her list, noting to reach out to Director Willoughby and ask him to look into how having another moon-sized object so close would affect Earth.

They spent the next couple hours discussing the logistics of relocating an entire planet's population, including the limitations of the Relican conveyance technology, how the Relicans would coordinate the location of each conveyed group of humans so they wouldn't get in each other's way, what the humans would eat and drink, right down to management of human waste and shelter. The commander remained tense throughout the meeting, but Tierney felt much more relaxed than she had the day before. She was in her element. Not just in her office on Earth, but planning, organizing, thinking of potential issues and solutions -- this was where she excelled. This was why she was the right person for this job.

"Our world is quite fractured," Tierney said, staring at her copious notes so far. "Many groups are at war with each other, and not all of the fighting has stopped since your arrival. We're going to have to keep those sects apart from each other if we want to have a peaceful journey."

She noticed his metallic eyes staring at her lips, and realized she was chewing on the end of her braid. Tossing the wet hair over her shoulder, she said, "I guess I need to have breakfast."

"You haven't eaten today?" he asked in surprise.

His arched eyebrows and wide eyes again reminded her of how similar they were to humans. Even though she was looking right at him, it took her a moment to notice his gray skin color -- she'd grown so accustomed to it during the meeting.

"Somebody hijacked my morning," she said, typing a few more thoughts before she forgot them.

Commander Corwin stood abruptly. "Forgive me," he said, looking confused. "It was not my intention to --"

"I was kidding!" she said quickly, standing also.

Is this it? she thought in a panic. Did I just condemn humanity with a single sarcastic remark?

"It was just a joke," she reiterated, coming around the desk to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. This has been very productive and I truly appreciate your time. Breakfast can wait; humanity can't."

His expression remained stern, and she felt her heart racing. If Nelle were there, Tierney could bring the commander to see her and smooth things out, but the President had left overnight to begin a tour across the country. Americans seemed to be handling everything reasonably well overall, but Nelle had scheduled an exhaustive tour over the next two weeks, conducting as many town hall meetings as she could with the intent of convincing the country that she was acting in their best interests.

"Perhaps we should procure some food for you before continuing," he said.

"I'm fine, really," she said, but her stomach betrayed her, growling so loudly they probably heard it up on his ship.

She gave a defeated laugh and said, "Okay. I'll go grab something. You can wait here."

The commander started toward the couch, but then he asked, "Are you going somewhere public?"

"Umm, the cafeteria isn't public per se, but it's available for all White House staff."

"And they'll be there?" he asked, his face revealing some unknown internal struggle.

Where is this going?

"It's still a little on the early side," she said, "but there will likely be some others there, yeah."

Throwing his shoulders back, he pressed his silver lips firmly together. "I should accompany you then. Increased interaction between humans and Relicans increases interspecies tolerance and acceptance."

A rather clinical way of saying it, but Tierney had to agree -- although walking side by side with a Relican felt a bit deceptive, since she didn't fully trust them herself. But if Nelle was pushing herself to the limit to instill confidence in the Relicans' plan, Tierney could do her part.

The cafeteria was nearly empty, save for a handful of lone staffers, and a few interns crowded around a single small table and snickering among themselves. As soon as Tierney and Commander Corwin walked in, the little conversation there was fell silent, and all eyes were on the two of them. Tierney knew acting normal wouldn't cut it, so she met their fears and suspicions head on.

"Morning guys," she said. "You all know Commander Corwin, and that he and I will be meeting often to coordinate the evacuation."

The commander smiled at them, but it was a stiff, uncomfortable smile.

"I've already shared with him how proud I am of our staff here," Tierney continued, "and that our team comprises only the most professional, talented, and open-minded people our country has to offer. I hope he has the opportunity to see all of this firsthand in his interactions with you all." With a friendly nod indicating that she was done, she headed for the vending machine.

"What is that?" Commander Corwin asked, eyeing the cash she was pulling out of her purse. He kept his voice low, since the cafeteria was still quiet, and his translator somehow picked that up and whispered the question to her.

"This is a dollar," she explained, "the basis of American currency."

"You still have a currency-based economy?"

Feeding the dollar into the machine, she pressed the button for a breakfast bar. "You don't?"

He looked offended at the idea. "Not for a few hundred years."

"I'm not so crazy about it either, to be honest," she admitted, grabbing her breakfast from the bottom of the machine. "It's the source of about half of humanity's problems. But getting people to give up their money would be harder than... well, getting them to travel to a distant planet."

"Perhaps now is an opportunity for positive change."

At first she thought he was being condescending, but meeting his gaze, she was startled at his earnestness.

Can these guys be for real?

She shook away the thought, unwilling to shed her suspicion based on a single seemingly sincere comment. Turning around, she saw that the cafeteria was now empty.

"So much for my rousing speech," she muttered, taking a seat.

"I thought it was well done," said the commander, staying by the snack machines, "despite the slight fabrication."

"Yeah, sorry about that," she said between bites. "I couldn't come right out and tell them to be nice to you without sounding like an elementary school teacher, but it had to be said."

His gaze slid down to her mouth, and he stared with a dark, distant expression. Thinking she had something in her teeth, she brought her hand up. He glanced in alarm up at the ceiling, then slowly paced the perimeter of the room. She had finished her cereal bar by the time he'd made it back to the vending machines.

"That was your entire meal?" he asked as she got up to throw the wrapper away.

"It is today," she said, heading back in his direction and pulling out another dollar. "What do Relicans eat?"

He was standing in front of the drink machine, and when she came up beside him to buy a water he started to take a step back. Then something twitched in his jaw, and he stayed where he was.

"The names would mean nothing to you," he said.

She was so close to him that she thought she could smell the scent of his ship on him -- metallic, sharp. But where the smell had been at times oppressive on the ship, this was a subtle aroma, just enough to tickle her senses and remind her that this man was from another world.

"However," he continued, his rumbling voice becoming even lower, "in preparation for relocation, my Senior Medic studied the human diet extensively, and found that many of the nutrients you require are identical to those we consume: iron, zinc, copper, and more -- what you call metals. Only we require far more of these elements than you."

The lights above made the specks on his face shimmer, and a sudden realization struck Tierney. "Are you... metal?"

He nodded. When he spoke again, Tierney wished she could understand his language so that emotionless translator wasn't always talking over him. His voice was so soothing.

"Our bodies consist of approximately forty percent metals," he said, "with most in our epidermis."

Metal. Once again Tierney felt herself hypnotized by the Relican's glimmering skin. Her finger twitched with the urge to know if his cheek was as soft and smooth as it looked, but she remembered what First Arrat had said about how they didn't touch unless they were mates.

That's definitely not going to happen, she thought, for more reasons than I can count.

But right then, with his silver eyes boring deep into hers with some unspoken question, she found she couldn't think of a single one. All of the problems that she was responsible for solving fell away, leaving only him -- the shimmering, steel sculpture in front of her. A statue of the perfect man.

Even his lips sparkle...

"Tierney!"

A shrill voice rang through cafeteria. Tierney wondered how long her heart had been racing, and felt a warmth in her cheeks. Commander Corwin appeared equally flustered, taking more than a few steps back as he watched a woman practically running towards them, clutching some papers.

"Tierney!" she cried again. "You have to see this."

"What is it Donna?" Tierney asked, grabbing her bottle of water. She hastily downed several gulps, anxious to rid her face of the flush she could still feel.

Donna, a grandmotherly woman who was one of the few people here Tierney trusted, thrust the papers into Tierney's chest. "This is being circulated among the staff, and it's only a matter of time before someone on Grant's team leaks it."

Tierney skimmed the first handful of lines on the paper, disgust twisting her stomach. Hoping she was managing to keep her expression neutral, she turned on the commander.

"Have you or any of your people been in contact with Jonas Spade, the Vice President's Chief of Staff?" she asked.

"No." He eyed the paper in her hand with suspicion, but there was no way she was letting him see it.

"Good," she said, allowing herself to seethe now that she knew where to direct it. "If you'll excuse me, I need to take care of something."