Prologue - 2022 CE

With a sigh, he swiped his badge through the reader, clocking out and ending a day that seemed like it would go on forever. He gazed down at the badge, which read: “Camden Wallace. Environmental Services Technician.” Fancy-ass name for a custodian. He slipped his badge into the pocket of his coat, ascended a cement staircase and joined the stream of patients, family and employees leaving the hospital. He joined the crowd waiting for the bus with a feeling of dismay. The fact that there were so many people gathered around told him the buses were running late. What’s new? He pulled his cap down low and moved to a relatively uncrowded area, slipping in his ear buds so he didn’t have to hear the inane conversations around him. They seemed particularly excited about something today.

The first bus that came was already so stuffed that only a few people managed to cram themselves aboard. Camden was content to wait for the next one, which, as he expected, came almost right on the ass of the first and had much fewer people. He managed to find an open seat and sat down feeling somewhat content. It was nice, at least, to be out of the freezing Chicago cold, even if he had a twenty minute bus ride before he got home.

Camden pulled out his phone and continued reading the manga he’d begun at lunch. It was hard to read all the dialogue on the small screen but the dialogue wasn’t exactly the series' strong point or why he was reading it. As he read, though, he kept getting distracted by the other bus riders. They were all much more animated than usual, looking at each other's phones and talking loudly. Camden closed his comic and opened up Twitter, wondering if something was going on. Maybe there was another mass shooting. The thought didn’t make him feel much of anything.

But what he saw in his timeline did. At first he thought it was a joke but again and again he saw headlines that said the same thing. Aliens have contacted Earth. It didn’t matter where he looked. CNN, BBC, Fox, MSNBC. All of them. This must be the first time all the news networks have agreed on something in years. Nobody knew much of anything yet but a communication had been received by the UN–in English, French, Russian and Chinese–that requested a meeting with “the representatives of humanity.” Camden was certain that it had to be some kind of elaborate prank but there were also satellite images of a gigantic ship that had appeared out of nowhere above Earth.

Camden studied the images. They were blurry and hard to make out since the satellites had not been deployed to photograph objects in that area of space but he kind of thought it looked like a chunkier Star Destroyer. This can’t actually be happening. Camden was so engrossed that he almost missed his stop and jumped up just as the doors were closing. The driver was nice enough to open them for him again and Camden gave a wave of thanks as he stepped outside. His nose remained glued to his phone as he ran up the stairs to his apartment.

Zoro, his cat, mewled reproachfully at him as he came through the door but Camden ignored him. He tossed his coat on his small dining table and hustled to his computer. He flipped on his television at the same time. While his computer was booting up, he opened the guide and frantically searched for a news channel. He had basic cable for sports but it was the first time he’d ever looked for the news. After some deliberation, he settled on CNN. He regretted it immediately, as he was greeted with a roundtable of loudmouths speculating out of their asses. He muted it but left it on in case there was some actual reporting, and sat down at his computer desk.

He opened Reddit, Twitter and the BBC homepage, flipping between them constantly to see if anything new was happening. Zoro tried to climb into his lap but he pushed him away, shouting, “It’s aliens, Zoro!” The cat settled down on top of the desk, glaring at him balefully. “Aliens, Zoro!” Camden repeated. “Finally something cool is fucking happening! Who knows what kind of shit they have?! Maybe humanity can finally get off this dumbass, overcrowded planet!” Camden leaned back and stared at the ceiling. Fucking aliens!

His phone started ringing. Camden glanced at the screen and a bit of his elation went away. He answered it anyway. “Hey, Ma…yeah, of course I’ve heard. I’m not living under a rock. …No, they’re not going to blow up the planet. …Because that would be stupid! Their space-faring aliens! I’m sure they’re sophisticated and civilized. I don’t know. Where's Pops?” It took him another twenty minutes to get his panicking mother off the phone. When he managed it, Camden wondered if there were a bunch of other people freaking out like her. I hope there’s not another run on toilet paper. Camden wasn’t worried. He was excited. This meant change. Real, actual change. Not the bullshit promised by politicians.

As Camden stayed online, even forgetting to eat, first rumors and then official announcements indicated that aliens were coming down tonight. They were going to land in Geneva, after the Chinese and Russians made a stink about them landing in New York. The nations of the world were scrambling to put together an appropriate group to meet the extra-terrestrials. Apparently it was more than just his mother that was worried they might be hostile. Names started to trickle out of who was flying to Switzerland. The Vice President of America along with some members of Congress. The Executive Vice Premier of China. The Prime Minister of Russia and various other top cabinet officials but for the most part, the main leaders of nations were staying home. Too bad. If they are hostile, they might have done humanity a favor by wiping them all out.

Even when it became clear the meeting was going to take place very early in the morning–in his time zone at least–Camden didn’t go to bed. He had to work the next day but didn’t think he could forgive himself if he missed anything important. Besides, how was he supposed to sleep? He spent the intervening time on various Reddit threads, arguing about why the aliens had come and what they were going to do. It was all bullshit speculation, of course, but if people could get paid to do that on the major news channels, why couldn’t he spitball some ideas on the internet?

At four in the morning, things finally began to get underway in Geneva. Camden left his feeds open but for the first time in his life, began to watch television news with his full attention. There was a great crowd of people in a large circle. The dignitaries were all gathered together, screened by security forces. In fact, Camden noticed there were tanks and machine guns set up as well. He almost laughed. Like that was gonna do jackshit against a species that could navigate space. Crowds and crowds of reporters were pressing into the screen of soldiers as well. Luckily, the CNN reporter must have had some kind of special dispensation because she was right at the front.

After a few more minutes that seemed to stretch on into forever, the camera tipped up and focused on something flying it. When it resolved into a clear picture, Camden jumped out of his chair and slammed his hands down on his desk, startling Zoro and sending the cat sprinting across the room. Four helicopters were escorting what could only be a mech. “A motherfucking mech,” Camden said in wonder. It was humanoid and steel blue, lightly armored with sharp shoulders and toes and a bullet head. Camden picked out what looked like a cannon attached to the underside of its left wrist. The hilt of a sword poked out above its left shoulder. Camden glanced at his Twitter feed and, as expected, people were freaking out. The aliens had mechs. The aliens had mechs!

The mech settled into the center of the wide space it had been given. The helicopters continued to hover overhead, no doubt with guns trained on it. A hatch behind the back of the head opened and a figure climbed out. The camera was too far away to get a good look at it but it was bipedal and seemed to have the same dimensions as a human. Camden was stunned when the alien simply jumped off the shoulder of the mech and landed easily. The mech had to be sixteen or seventeen meters. Any human would have broken bones at the very least from a drop like that. The alien casually swaggered forward, with no evidence it had hurt itself at all. This is so fucking cool.

Camden audibly gasped when the alien moved out of the shadow of its mech and he imagined most people watching did so as well. Though the alien walked upright, had two arms, two legs and the build of a tall, somewhat slender man, it was undoubtedly an alien. The skin was a blue-gray that wouldn’t have been seen on any human unless it was dead and frozen. The eyes were bright crimson and it wore a smile that showed off a mouthful of sharp teeth. Its hair was pitch black and oily, hanging in a braid down to its waist. Camden couldn’t decide if it was a man or a woman. The white jumpsuit that it wore hugged its body closely, showing that it had narrow hips and no breasts, but the face seemed feminine to him. Why am I projecting human qualities? For all I know, the aliens don’t even have separate sexes.

The alien lifted a small device to its mouth and spoke. A loud, artificial voice boomed from the mech. “Greetings,” it said, in perfect, accentless English. “From the Emperor of the Holy Xenacanthida.” Camden blinked. Was that the name of the species or maybe the empire? He got a bit of a bad feeling in his stomach at the thought that they had an Emperor. “I am his emissary, Vacil Conpte Tonxen. On his behalf, I extend his warmest greetings to all of the humans on this illustrious planet.” When the alien was finished, the message repeated in Chinese, then Russian and then French.

There was a long silence when his speeches were over but the alien didn’t seem to mind. It stood with a casual smile and waited. Eventually an elderly asian man was escorted forward by a veritable phalanx of soldiers. “I am the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the Planet Earth,” he said, a microphone enhancing his voice. “We extend warm greetings to you as well, Ambassador Vacil Conpte Tonxen.” Camden was pretty impressed the Secretary-General had pronounced the name so well. “We invite you to come and address our Security Council in a more comfortable location.”

No! Camden punched his thigh. They were going to take the alien somewhere private and figure out what was going on so they could control what the public knew. God damn fascists! The reporters figured it out as well and pressed forward, shouting questions toward the alien. The security forces held them back but couldn’t stop the torrent of questions.

The alien laughed–at least that’s what Camden assumed the strange cackle out of the mech was–and said, “I can understand your trepidation but there is nothing to fear. Like you humans, we carcha have a long history of trade, exploration and diplomacy. We have only come to greet you, the same way you humans would if you encountered a new world.”

The soldiers moved forward and surrounded the alien–the carcha?–and hustled him forward, undoubtedly to meet with the Security Council. Reporters continued to scream questions but the alien said no more. Camden watched a little longer as the security forces set up a cordon around the mech but lost interest when the broadcast switched to some so-called experts debating what it had all meant.

He turned back to Twitter and Reddit, talking and gushing over everything with strangers online. Everything had been so cool. The alien had a mech–a real mech–and had been humanoid but clearly not human. It was like a dream. What would change? What would the carcha bring? There was no end of speculation online.

At eleven-thirty, Camden realized with dismay that he had to begin getting ready for work. Even though the Earth had just undergone a seismic shift, the hospital would still be open and trash would still need to be taken out. With a sigh, he got up and changed clothes. His stomach rumbled and he realized he hadn’t eaten anything since he’d gotten home. Camden warmed up a personal pizza and washed it down with an energy drink. He filled Zoro’s food and water and then, reluctantly, left his apartment. He hadn’t thought to charge his phone, either, so he wouldn’t be able to stay on it while at work. This sucks. I need the aliens to change things now!

At the bus stop, he noticed an acquaintance named Joe Redhawk, a homeless man that often rode the bus line Camden took to work in back in an effort to stay warm. Camden normally assiduously avoided the homeless that rode around on the public transit but Joe was a cool guy with some interesting stories. He seemed too smart to be homeless but apparently Joe liked being a vagabond. Camden jogged up to him and asked, “Did you hear the news?”

Joe gave him a flat look. “I’m homeless, not blind and deaf. I think everyone knows unless they’re in a cabin in the woods somewhere.”

Camden laughed, still too excited to get angry about a little bluster. He was feeling giddy from lack of sleep as well. “Whatever, man. You want the rest of this?” he held out the half-empty can of his energy drink. Camden liked the sweet-stuff but he might have gone overboard getting the ‘Candy Corn Carnival’ flavor.

Joe took it, had a sip and gagged. “What the fuck is this?”

Camden grinned. “Can you believe it? Aliens! Real, live aliens! Aren’t you excited, Joe?”

Joe tossed the can away, careless of the fact that it spilled on the sidewalk. “Not really.”

Camden rubbed his eyes, wondering what he’d heard. “How can you not be?”

Joe snorted. “A technologically superior race landing uninvited on the shores of a New World, just looking to make contact. Engage in a little trade. Maybe to settle some uninhabited lands.” Joe shimmied his shoulders with sarcastic coyness. “Nothing much.” He grunted. “Reminds me of another group that set off exploring the world’s oceans a few centuries ago.” He grinned nastily at Camden, showing off his yellowed teeth. “Remind me, how did that go for the natives again?”