《Trial of Feasting Insects》


 Prologue - The End

    Earth, Arizona Desert 1985


    The ebony night sky filled with starry twinkles of light was magnificent; it felt as if no light pollution dared to come close to the majesty of it all. Every time Corporal Portren came outside for his cigarette break, he was once more awestruck at the sight and easily fell into his own thoughts. Such thoughts predominantly revolved around this military base he had been stationed at and what he would do after.


    It was his final year of duty, and his journey had been smooth sailing with no deployment or significant injuries. Whether his luck would keep up with him this year, he didn¡¯t know. Maybe his addiction would finally be the thing to put him in his grave. Even so, he continued smoking away. With the last vestiges of the small orange flare coming to life from a puff of the cigarette, Corporal Portren heard hurried footsteps behind him.


    ¡°Corporal Portren, I¡¯ve got big news.¡± Portren instantly sighed as he heard a fresh recruit calling to him from a few feet away.


    ¡°Spit it out rookie. My smoke¡¯s got three puffs left, and I¡¯m not wasting them.¡± Portren replied.


    ¡°The Sergeant called the base¡¯s comms, telling us to get a couple men and head over to the coordinates he sent. Says something is coming in hot from space.¡±


    Great, this is just what he needed in his last year of service: unknown missions specially commissioned from that kook of a Sergeant. Portren reminisced about the last time this happened. The supposed intel was about a demonic animal or something of the sort causing mayhem. Turned out it was just a rabid fox that needed to be put down.


    ¡°Gather 6 other guys who are not keeping watch right now and tell them to meet me at the vans in 10 minutes. We roll out then.¡±


    ¡°Sir, yes, Sir,¡± the new recruit responded succinctly.


    Fuck it, I need one more cigarette before dealing with this mess, Portren thought as he sighed for a second time in the past 2 minutes. Sighing uncontrollably was becoming a new norm for him as he had to put up with all this crap more and more.


    Five minutes later, the last cigarette was a stub of ash under Portren¡¯s boot. He¡¯d puffed it dry, snuffing out the last embers with a pivot of his heel as a wave of clear-headedness from the nicotine sharpened his mind. For a brief second, a subtle but long-standing desire itched at the boundaries of his skull, the kind where he read fantastical sci-fi paperbacks, desiring for them to be true.


    That¡¯ll never be possible in this shitty world.


    He sighed again, scrapping the unrealistic thoughts and glanced up. The men were lined up at the vans and waiting to move out.


    ¡°I¡¯m driving. Pile in back and zip it. Try to take this seriously, and yeah, I know it¡¯s probably another one of the sergeant¡¯s wild goose chases.¡± Portren said.


    That got a slight laugh out of them.


    ¡°No laughing, now get in the van; we don¡¯t want to miss the landing of an alien mothership, now do we?¡± He said with a smile.


    Portren chuckled internally about his joke as he drove to the destination. Alien mothership? More like a random piece of space junk coming down, but one could always wonder. His men had brought all their gear just in case something happened; it was standard to be overprepared than underprepared in situations that demanded it, and who knows, maybe this time would be an outlier.


    The destination for the objects¡¯ crash was apparently only a ten-minute drive from the base, making the drive short but suspenseful. He could almost feel his men¡¯s anxiety and excitement in the air around them.


    ¡°Corporal Portren, Sir, what if this object is actually something dangerous or straight out of a sci-fi movie? What are we going to do then? Wouldn¡¯t something like that be way outside our pay?¡± a newer private asked.


    ¡°The intel and object will be something so mundane you¡¯ll never remember this outing a single day in your life. Trust me, the Sergeant is a kook. Every intel he has acquired, and I¡¯ve personally dealt with, has always been something idiotic.¡± Portren replied.


    The car was silent after that, with minor hushed whispers among the newer guys about what might happen. They sure had nonsensical ideas about what the object flying down could be, even though the possibilities of such things coming down to Earth would be infinitesimally small.


    They arrived just south of the supposed crash location. The roads to get there were non-existent, as they were now on a deserted, flat, and rocky plateau. But they weren¡¯t alone with the Sergeant, as Portren had reasoned. What met them getting out of the car was a dozen pitch-black SUVs, all lined up with very professional-looking men in black suits, each one armed to the teeth.


    This time, Portren had to curse. Something big was happening just a year before he didn¡¯t have to deal with this shit anymore. Keeping a professional military appearance, he stood straight, wiping the evident exhaustion and jaded look off his face. He looked around, trying to take in every single detail in his mind, specifically the twelve black SUVs that were lined up in a V pattern, six on each side.


    Two armed men in black stood by the driver¡¯s side door, and four stood just past the vans, lit by a pair of headlights. Everything else was a black landscape, with nothing meaningful in sight. He heard his name being called toward the front and immediately snapped to attention.


    ¡°Heyyy Portren, nice of you to show up so fast. These two gentlemen are part of a secret operation from the big men in Washington themselves,¡± the Sergeant said as Portren walked over to them, followed by his small crew of privates.


    With an unmistakable look of distrust, one of the men in black said, ¡°Hey sergeant, no one is supposed to know about this. Why did you call your men in? This is something top secret; now we¡¯ll have to¡­¡± the man¡¯s words trailed on, checking his watch, and every man in black cocked their guns seeming ready to fire on his command.


    Portren froze. What the hell had the Sergeant gotten them into? Anxiety filled him as he got ready to bear his arms until the man he had just thought about once more spoke.


    ¡°Gentlemen, gentlemen. You don¡¯t have to worry about these folk. They are only for my personal security and have signed NDAs with pretty ¡°intense¡± consequences for breaking them.¡±The general shifted his posture straightening up his back.


    As soon as the word NDA was brought up, the men in black immediately relaxed their guns.


    So that¡¯s what the damn thing I had to sign to get my paycheck was. Man, they have been fooling me this whole time, Portren thought, but didn¡¯t make any facial or bodily movements when he heard the Sergeant say that.


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    ¡°Very well, let¡¯s get down to business then. In...¡± The man checked his watch. ¡°In about five minutes, an unidentified object will crash land one hundred yards to our east. We have no idea what it is, we were only told it was moving erratically, proving it isn¡¯t a random piece of space debris.¡± The man in black continued on.


    ¡°The object, based on its trajectory path, seems to have flown at an almost impossible speed from deep space outside our solar system. Then, it slowed down significantly without any visible means before entering the planet¡¯s gravity. After that, it stopped and hovered above Earth for a couple hours, only continuing its descent this evening.¡±


    The other one clarified, flicking his gaze to his watch, seeming pressured for time, ¡°This is something entirely top secret, and only a couple of the higher-ups know besides the scientists who collected the data. We don¡¯t want ANYONE to know what will happen here tonight, hence the smaller security teams.¡±


    Portren was absolutely dismayed by the news. He had thought the kook of a sergeant was just on another goose hunt, but this time, it was a full Bonafide mission. Especially how the men in black wanted this to become a completely silent operation and were willing to kill them without hesitation. But what could he do? He was just a corporal and would just do as he was told and think nothing of it.


    Portren saw the Sergeant¡¯s face light up with a great big smile, utterly different from his own reaction.


    ¡°See, Portren. I got a big fish tonight. We are going to see some aliens.¡±


    Portren knew the Sergeant was a little wrong in the head; he was a good guy, despite how Portren talked about him, and he truly had a passion for wanting to see the paranormal. This drive and motivation he had was partially why he had received so many promotions. But the main reason he had gotten high up was his ability to masterfully shift his personality to a more professional side when he needed to be more sophisticated. Otherwise, Portren just thought of the guy as quite the fanatic, willing to chase any lead for a shot of witnessing the supernatural.


    The conversation between the Sergeant and the men in black continued for a little longer with causal glances from Portren seeing the one man in black still repeatedly glancing at his watch.


    Why the hell is he doing that so much, Portren confusedly remarked.


    He sighed not knowing the exact mindset of someone so suspicious, and walked back over to his team, briefly filling them in on what was happening. Excitement spread across their faces as they practically bounced in place, counting down the minutes.


    Then, the time just about arrived. One minute before the object was supposed to touchdown, Portren heard the general say, ¡°Team, come over. Let¡¯s prepare for the bogie to make its mark on history.¡± They hurriedly marched over in a straight line while arming themselves with the rifles slung across their backs.


    Thirty seconds before the object landed, Portren could swear he saw a small red light in the dark night sky moving at a rapid pace, faster than any satellite could move. ¡°Whoa, do you see that? Is that the object?¡± a new recruit asked.


    Everyone immediately saw and tracked it with their eyes as one of the men in black clarified, ¡°That¡¯s the unknown object in question. Everyone prepare for the impact. We move in after it lands.¡±


    It came down so fast it looked like a jet in the sky was making a suicide crash into enemy lines, easily reaching hundreds of miles per hour in a straight shot. A brilliant, red cone of light was the only part of the object that could be seen, formed from the formidable heat and pressure that came with crashing through the atmosphere. When it had fallen to the altitude of a typical airplane¡¯s flight, the entire night sky was tainted with a deep crimson color like a brilliant red firework had just gone off.


    The next second, it shot down to their elevation almost faster than the eye could see. Portren immediately braced himself for what should have been a massive explosion, but nothing came. Silence engulfed the scene, a temperature drop caused tiny goosebumps to form on his skin, and an eerie stillness became present. At the same time, the red cone of light was replaced by the black of night, becoming void of color.


    Portren was almost frozen in fear for what was to come. It shouldn¡¯t have been possible for no explosion to occur, even more so for the object to stop on a whim. He was still wrapping his mind around everything when he heard a couple of words from the men in black.


    ¡°MEN, FOCUS, LET¡¯S GO.¡±


    Without any hesitation whatsoever, Portren watched as the man¡¯s words were followed, and all their men rushed in front, running cautiously with pistols in their hands.


    The Sergeant spoke, ¡°Well, let¡¯s go meet the extraterrestrials, my personal security team.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t long before they made it to the object in question as they had almost sprinted that 100 yards to get there. However, what was before them didn¡¯t appear particularly remarkable. It looked like a strange, slightly purple and black rectangle, no bigger than a six by four block of wood. Little features were shown besides an oddly smooth surface anda feeling of some unearthly power emanating from it. He heard curses from the Sergeant beside him, something about how no damn aliens would fit inside something that small.


    For a moment, nothing happened, and everyone remained unmoving, guns aiming straight at the object. Without any warning, the box started to move independently. The sight was so bizarre that Portren even heard gasps of fright from the stoic and apathetic men in black.


    The object seemed to open in an extraterrestrial-like manner, transforming into a pyramidal shape. A tiny wisp of purple light was released at the very top, which somehow coalesced into an image.


    It was very similar to that of a HUD installed on expensive military goggles, specifically night vision ones. But instead of displaying a compass with a crappy map, it contained what appeared to be some sort of text. Portren thought it was clearly foreign text, but it was unlike a modern language and somewhat resembled ancient glyphs.


    He looked around, seeing expressions of astonishment on everyone¡¯s faces as their complete attention was latched onto the projection. Even their guns were no longer drawn on the object and were lying by their feet.


    The display started to flicker, and line by line, the glyph-like text converted itself into English words. The process was slow, and the silence became all the more apparent as everyone tried to piece together the meaning. That was until the Sergeant broke the tension-filled atmosphere.


    ¡°Look! It¡¯s somehow adapting and producing language we can understand. This HAS to be the work of some intelligence far beyond ours!¡±


    As soon as the Sergeant finished speaking, it was as if the object understood his words. It rapidly translated the rest of the text, and only a second later, it concluded. Everyone read what the object said with an almost possessed look on their faces. They needed to know what this otherworldly thing was presenting to them.


    Sentient Life Detected...


    Translating And Decoding Interface.... 1... 10... 100%... Complete


    Greetings, Sentient Species. We Are The Coalition Of Connected Worlds.


    This Artifact Will Prepare You For Integration Into The Coalition.


    Come 40 Years, Your Species Will Be Thrown Into A Trial To Forge Champions Of Your Species


    Proceed? Warning: Death Is Inevitable Once The Trials Appear. Preparation Will Minimize That.


    Yes Or No?


    As soon as everyone finished reading the message, they all looked towards people with higher ranks, waiting for them to make the call. Meanwhile, the higher-ups also looked conflicted as they didn¡¯t know a drop of information about what was happening.


    One of the men in black shouted at a subordinate that Portren did not see, and the subordinate brought over a suspiciously old-fashioned black phone that rang relentlessly. As the conversation continued, Portren heard the man say several suspicious things across the telephone and prepared for the worst.


    ¡°Sir, yes, contact has been made¡­. Yes, it is alien technology¡­. Yes, under wraps¡­. Yes, such an object is dangerous¡­ Yes, we will proceed accordingly.¡±


    Not long after the call was finished, the man up front said NO, and the artifact understood. It closed back up, returning to its original shape of a rectangle, and then proceeded to reverse how it plummeted to Earth, almost teleporting right back up into the atmosphere and then into space. This happened without a speck of dust or air blown away like it ignored the natural laws. Everyone stood there shocked at what had just happened.


    The men in black glanced back and forth, silent orders conversed between them. One checked his watch again, his face as apathetic as ever. Portren felt his blood go cold, noticing a shift of tension in the atmosphere as one man in black¡¯s hand twitched to his holster.


    ¡°Are you shitting me? This was the chance for humans to advance. Why the fuck did you guys say no to that and make the damn alien artifact disappear? Do you guys know what¡­.¡± Before the Sergeant had any more time to speak, a gunshot was heard. This was followed by 6 more, and finally, the moment had caught up to Portren as he heard one last shot followed by pain wracking his upper body.


    The last thing Portren heard before darkness crept into his vision was, ¡°Sorry, gentlemen. I¡¯m only following orders. No one can know this happened.¡±