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here and this is the reception I get? Well, if they expect me to
explain who I am, they can go to hell. They can ponce about all day for all I
care. Jan was no stranger to scrutiny: she made a living in front of
hundreds of twenty-something graduate students. “Sorry if I’m late,” she
breezed. “Traffic was a right Elliot.” She was quite pleased with herself for
her performance. It was a safe bet that none of them would understand the slang
that she had picked up from her students. It was obvious that the PM had no
clue who she was and equally obvious that he expected her to identify herself.
    A man in a poorly-fitted suit stepped over.
“Dr. Colbert?” he asked as he held out his hand. “Dr. Harold Livingston; Home
Office Science, Research and Statistics.”
    Jan took his hand. “Dr. Livingston” Don’t
say ‘I presume’. “I presume you can explain why I’ve been asked to come
here?” Bugger, I kind of said it anyway. In vino veritas… Pull yourself
together!
    “As you may have already guessed, it has to
do with your rather unusual conference call on Sunday morning.” Livingston’s
face gave the impression that they were discussing nothing more serious than a
crank call.
    The Prime Minister looked relieved to know
who she was. “Dr. Colbert, thank you for taking the time to join us,” he began.
“What can you tell us beyond what was in your report?”
    Jan wasn’t bothered by the company but the
question did manage to catch her off guard. “Beyond the report?” she asked,
buying a few seconds to think. There was something I was thinking about when
I was lurching to the door with my third glass of wine in hand, but what? Her
eyebrows raised involuntarily as it hit her. The way they walked – their
balance as they turned in front of the camera. They probably have tails. She shook her head. “Nothing of any import, I’m afraid.”
    Dr. Livingston was not to be deterred.
“Then there might be something of no import?”
    Jan shrugged. “From the way they moved, it
looked like they were balanced by tails.” She could see the PM raise an ironic
eyebrow. Livingston, however, smiled and nodded.
    “We received imagery from the Americans
that confirms your suspicion, Doctor,” he said. “And I  believe, sir, that
it supports my suggestion. Perhaps the information itself is unimportant, but
Dr. Colbert managed to determine it from almost no data at all.” Livingston had
turned his head back towards the PM as he spoke.
    “And almost no data rather sums up
our current situation at the moment.” With a slight nod, the PM turned to Jan.
“Dr. Colbert, we would like to send you to New York. The UN has been given the
task of organizing our planet’s response to the alien incursion and we’re
sending staff to represent our government. “ He looked at her for a moment. “I
am certain you will have no difficulties in proving your value to the team.” He
nodded at Livingston who politely ushered her out of the room with a smile.
    Jan was less than settled on the matter. New
York? I have papers to grade, lectures to give. “Dr. Livingston, I haven’t
agreed to go anywhere, or hadn’t you noticed?”
    Livingston stopped in the hallway outside
the door to the cabinet room and smiled indulgently at her. “Yes, it was all
rather abrupt, wasn’t it? Three minutes in that room and they expect you to
uproot your life and save the world!” He leaned forward a bit, lowering his
voice in mock conspiracy. “You wouldn’t really refuse such a request, would
you? Not when you can make a difference, surely?”
    Jan sighed. “Not if you put it that way,”
she said as she stared down the hallway. If only I had gotten a
teleconference booking for the second instead of the third. She was
suddenly very sober.
     

Red Flag Mineral Co.
    Sixty
Meter Observatory
    Mauna
Kea, Hawaii
    January 9th, 2026
    M ike sat up on his cot, staring at the coffee maker where a half pot
of sullen, black liquid sat on a cold