At first, Nic thought the enormous oval seam in the side of the giant alien ship was a door of some kind. He and the other fourteen Wargame players would soon see, however, that it was a screen.

The technology reminded him of the interior of his abduction room, as well as the creature—or apparatus—that eased his landing afterward. It all seemed very biological rather than technological; more accurately, it was biological tech in its own right. That’s what it seemed to him.

The “screen” on the side of the ship acted like the skin of a chameleon or some marine fish built for camouflage. Maybe that’s how they keep their ships undetectable, Nic hypothesized. Splotches of color flickered to life inside the boundaries of the oval, dancing and trading positions. They were ill-defined at first but gradually sharpened their edges.

“Wondrous,” Maqsud whispered in the private Team Scarlet chat.

“No talking,” Nic whispered back, not unkindly. We have standing orders to keep quiet. There’s no telling if they can hear us in here somehow. We don’t want to confuse them.

Crystal clear shapes and uniform colors began organizing themselves on the alien “screen.” On the two-dimensional image, Nic saw a flat surface of gray and brown with orange above it. Ground... and sky. On top of this environmental background, he noticed a familiar shape materializing—that of a Corvette. It even included all the letters of PIONEER in the proper place on its hull.

Our ship! Nic’s heart was pounding as he pieced together the alien transmission in his head—knowing that he was truly witnessing the expression of extraterrestrial intelligence right before his eyes.

He’d seen it countless times in sims, movies, and holos, but this was different. This was real. All of those fictional stories would be forever changed for him now, and he’d never again view them in the same light.

The image on the screen scrambled, replaced soon after by a similar image. Same Nereus backdrop—this time, however, it depicted the aliens’ giant white seed vessel. Ship, Nic thought. They’re trying to do a comparison, I bet. Or maybe demonstrate that they understand the meaning of both. Or they could be trying to understand our word for it...

“Ship,” said Severiano. His voice was loud and booming, yet calm, and somehow crystal clear. Nic heard a slight echo underneath—it was played both in his HUD and externally.

Hey! The Vice Chair told us to keep quiet. This guy must not know how to follow simple instructions!

PLEASE REMAIN SILENT TYRIAN SQUAD LEADER ATTEMPTING CONTACT

“Tyrian?” Jarek scoffed in disbelief. “After where you been, Nic? That should be you talkin’ to them!”

“Ludicrous,” Maqsud agreed.

“Vice Chair Crusoe,” said Nic, “I’m requesting authorization to—”

“Request denied,” the WorldGov politician answered him curtly but calmly. He spoke with the kind of self-assurance that came with a position of power, as if what Nic had to say couldn’t possibly be of more value than what someone of his stature had to say. “All of you will be silent. You will not be asked again. This is a direct order from WorldGov. Do you understand?” No one on Team Scarlet said anything. “Good.”

Meanwhile, the alien screen was changing.

The next image displayed was that of a planet. Its wispy white clouds over seas of blue gave it away instantly—Nereus. The image changed rapidly to another planet, one Nic didn’t recognize. There was a pause.

“Planet,” said Severiano.

If this is how the aliens learn our language, we’re going to be here a while, Nic thought. There’s got to be a better way than this!

The next pair of images began. When he saw the first one, he instantly recognized it as a depiction of the gray alien he’d seen inside their ship. The second image made his stomach do a somersault. He wasn’t sure how to feel. It was him—his red vac-armor on display for all to see, though his face was invisible.

“Intelligence,” said Severiano. The image flashed back to the alien, and then back to Nic in his vac armor. This time, Severiano said, “Being.” It appeared that wasn’t the right answer either. Nic wasn’t sure if the aliens were repeating the message because of its importance or if they were just adding more words to their growing human glossary. “Life,” Severiano guessed again. But that still wasn’t it. The screen showed the alien, then Nic, and then it flickered back and forth between them with greater frequency now. Severiano hazarded one final guess—or perhaps he’d been fed the answer by the higher-ups. “...Soldier?”

The screen went white. Nic swallowed. A cold bead of sweat dripped down the back of his neck.

The fourth message then took shape. Black with a metallic sheen to it—a Submachine Gun. Nic noticed in his HUD that his heartrate had increased. Next, the multicolored “skin” of the screen changed patterns to show an unfamiliar object. It was a hollow tube of some kind, split down the middle so that the two sides on the bottom didn’t quite meet, like a bracelet. It was ribbed and eggshell white in color. Affixed to the top was a horizontal row of sharp spike-like spines, bonelike in color and texture, with pointed purple tips. They protruded out of a fleshy lump that could likely store more of them.

“Weapon,” said Severiano. The screen went white. Nic felt a pronounced shift in the atmosphere of the conversation.

They’re not trying to learn our language, he realized. They already know it. They were making sure we understood something. Some kind of message. A threat... No, it doesn’t have to be a threat. It could just be the establishment of ground rules. ‘This is my ship. This is the world I come from, and this is me. These are the weapons we both use. Don’t test us...’ Yeah. That must be it.

If they wanted to use weapons on us, they already could have. If they wanted me dead, I’d be dead already.

He wished he could confer with his squadmates. He could only imagine what was going through their heads during this tense exchange.

Suddenly, there came another loud, booming voice—another human voice. But it wasn’t Severiano.

“Please... stand by,” it said. There was an alarming, warbling distortion to the voice, but it was still clear enough to understand. “First co...ntact event immin...ent. D...on’t make any s...udde... n movements.” The words were disjointed at odd intervals, with a very unfamiliar cadence stringing them together. Nic recognized it as the voice of the Vice Chair—but this was not a new message.

These were words already spoken by the Vice Chair shortly after the alien seed ship landed.

A recording, Nic thought. They played back a recording of a human voice! They want peace. Maybe they’re even afraid of us. They must have—

Mid-thought, his eyes were drawn to a new seam opening at the base of the ship, a much smaller one this time at maybe 10 meters in height. This one did reveal a door. The oval shape retracted like an opening eyelid.

Then the occupants stepped out.