Earth Unaware (The First Formic War 1)

Great, thought Victor. It's not enough that I have a nobody. She has to be a snooty nobody. He sighed. He wasn't helping the situation. And now another precious day was wasted.

He was waiting for her the following day in the same room.

"I obviously can't go above you without going through you," said Victor. "So let's do this your way. And let me preface this by saying, everything I am about to tell you can be proven. I have evidence. It's all on my data cube, which the staff locked away with all my other belongings when I got here. Should you want more evidence, I can tell you exactly where to look to verify its veracity for yourself. Fair enough?"

"Works for me," said Imala.

"You've heard about the interference in space scrambling all transmissions?"

"Every day on the news."

"Well, I know what's causing that interference. And if you can get my data cube, I'll show you."

She was gone for ten minutes. When she returned she had a clear bag with all of Victor's personal items. He took out the data cube, placed it on the table, and turned it on, creating a holospace in the air above it.

"The interference is being caused by a near-lightspeed alien starship on a direct course to Earth."

"An alien ship?"

"That's right."

"Coming to Earth?"

"That's what I said."

"I see."

"I know that sounds insane to you. I know you think I'm insane. But my family put me on a quickship from the Kuiper Belt. Eight billion klicks from here. I was on that ship for n

early eight months. There was a very good chance that I wouldn't make it to Luna alive. And if you know anything about free-miner families, you know we simply don't do that. We protect our own. Family first. And if you don't know anything about free miners, then why do you have this job?"

"I didn't say you were insane."

"You didn't have to. It was written all over your face. And frankly I can't afford that. I need you to have an open mind and look at this evidence without having dismissed it beforehand. I don't care what you think of me. I only care that the information I have gets to everyone on Luna and Earth. That won't happen if we do this with you trying to disprove it."

"I told you I would listen, Victor."

"Listening isn't enough. You need to have an open mind. If you play bureaucrat and worry about how this will affect your standing with that new boss of yours, you'll only find excuses to bury it."

"Remember, I'm not stupid," said Imala. "I will keep an open mind. You're simply going to have to trust me."

He didn't want to trust her. He wanted to trust the person five or six steps up the org chart, but what choice did he have.

He showed her everything: the charts, the trajectory, wreckage from the Italians, video of him and Father and Toron attacking the pod, the hormigas fiercely fighting back, Toron's death, interviews with the surviving Italians recounting the pod attacking their ships. There was even footage of Victor modifying the quickship and launching it toward Luna. It took nearly two hours to go over it all, and Imala sat in silence the whole time. When Victor finished, Imala remained quiet for a few moments.

"Play back the part where we see the aliens," she said.

Victor found the spot and played it.

"Stop right there," said Imala.

Victor freeze-framed on the hormiga's face.

Imala stared at it for a full two minutes. Finally she looked at Victor. "Is this a hoax?"

"Yes, it's big elaborate hoax, Imala. I went out and invented a near-lightspeed ship just so I could prank you."

"I'm asking, Victor, because it looks completely real to me. Not just the alien, but everything. All the data. The math. The sky scans. It looks authentic, and I believe it."