Chapter 04

BAU Headquarters
Quantico, VA

Every government in the world had the same purpose those first few days. Containment. Don't let the general public know. The few academics who happened to be looking the right way were quickly locked down with the threat of national security and what happened when you broke it.

More were locked down once the armada settled into orbit around Mars.

But when one ship broke off, a ship ten times the size of an aircraft carrier, and slowly settled into orbit around Earth, it was impossible to hide anymore.

Thankfully most of the world did not panic. Sure, there were marches. Demonstrations. But they were all out to welcome the aliens. People were more hopeful than afraid. As people said in interview after interview, the Earth had problems, global warming, peak oil, superbugs, the list went on and no one was fixing them. Maybe their new alien overlords would.

As days turned into a week, then two, even the news cycle moved on.


The business of the FBI continued. Spencer opened an e-mail and let out an audible grown.

"What now?" JJ asked.

Matt leaned over Spencer's shoulder to look. "CODIS kicked him out again,"

"Just go get it done." JJ said,

Spencer dragged himself off his desk to go get swabbed. Again.


Two weeks after they entered orbit the aliens finally did something.

The something turned out to be a cylinder. A cylinder with a gently pointed nose.

Launched from the big ship in orbit it entered the atmosphere in the same manner they had expected from every crashing satellite and meteor, a giant burst of light and a sonic boom. It entered close enough to the US for their planet to be the ones following it as it came through and came close enough for them to fly with it.

And everyone else in the world watched over a live feed from their cameras. No one could hide it any longer.

As the world watched a skin over the cylinder fell off. Small wings and a tail poked out. It fired up a small engine and started flying.

The planes alongside tried to communicate with it, or push it off course, but to no avail. They quickly came to the conclusion that it was some kind of drone, remote operated or following a pre-programmed flight plan.

What terrified everyone was that the flight plan aimed it at New York City.

As the world watched the sky over New York cleared of traffic long enough for the small object and it's escort to swoop down over the harbor. It banked right at the Statue of Liberty, flew over the Brooklyn Bridge, and up the East River. It hooked a sharp u-turn over the Queensborough Bridge, too tight for the escorts to follow, and flew low up First Avenue.

And then it upended itself and landed right in front of the front door of the United Nations. It used it's engines to hover briefly, folded in it's wings and tail, and sat neatly on it's rump. A cylinder about four feet tall, maybe two feet across.

The entire world held it's breath. Until they couldn't hold it any more.

It just sat there.


New York City was, of course, not fond of something that for all they knew could be a large explosive sitting right there on the edge of Manhattan. But even they agreed that they didn't have the manpower to handle something this strange. Still nothing was going to happen until they evacuated at least a block or two around it, which, being that this was New York, was going to take a few days.

In the meantime the entire world watched what they were now calling the Alien Egg.


Sunrise House
Silver Spring, MD

Well, almost the entire world. Spencer Reid was going to visit his mother. "She's been absolutely frantic." The nurses said as he entered the ward. "We tried sedating her but she started right back up again when the meds wore off. She keeps asking for you, over and over, anytime anyone goes near her. Hopefully seeing you will calm her down."

"Hopefully." Spencer said. He peeked into her room and found her staring out the window, looking up at the sky. "Has she been doing that?" He murmured to the nurse.

"Constantly." She replied. "We haven't been able to get her away to eat."

"Great." His mother was well known for her unfortunate eating habits. Half the time she threw food at the staff. But when he took her to Paris they did nothing but eat, and they both gained weight they needed. Maybe she just liked French food? He stepped into her room. "Mom?"

Diana jumped a little and turned, a look of pale fear on her face. "Spencer!" She ran over and threw her arms around him. "You're alive! You're still here!"

"Yeah Mom. I'm okay. Mom…"

She stopped him right there. "You have to leave!"

"Um, I just got here."

"No, not here. The city. You need to run."

"Mom…"

"Don't worry about me. I'm too old to matter anymore. You need to go."

"Mom…."

"You need to get out of the city. Out of every city. Get as far away from other people as you can."

"Mom…"

"Don't argue with me Spencer! You need to go! Now!" She actually started pushing him toward the door.

"Mom, why do I need to go?"

"Because they're coming for you!"

"Who's coming for me?"

"The aliens!"

Spencer cut a sharp look at the nurse. "Someone must have had the news on." She murmured.

"Great." Because what a paranoid schizophrenic needed was to know that the aliens really were landing. "Mom, the aliens aren't coming for me."

"Yes they are Spencer!" Diana insisted. "They're going to hunt you down! They're going to find you and they're going to kill you just like they did your father! That's the only reason why he's not here!"

Later Spencer would admit he lost his patience right about then. "Dad's not here because he abandoned us. Because he's a jerk who…"

He never got past that. Dianna slapped him. Hard. "Don't you ever speak about your father that way! Don't you ever!" She started pounding on him, hard.

Spencer got out of the way as the attendants came in to sedate his mother again. "I am so sorry Dr. Reid." The nurse said once he extricated himself.

"No more news." He said.

Then he went back to work.