CHAPTER FOUR: THE SUMMIT
People attempted to keep to their normal lives, but they all knew what the next day would bring. The mayor of Elwood City announced the night before that the aliens wanted to meet with him at an undisclosed location, but more importantly, in person. He had to go with just his staff members, and many were given basic self-defense training before embarking in a caravan of black SUV's out of the city.
Once in the woods, they turned off on a dirt road surrounded by trees. After traveling several miles, the road opened up to a large meadow. When they were parked at a designated spot next to a "small lake," the mayor and his staff exited their vehicles and waited.
After a moment, the ship became visible, and a human-sized being exited the ship in a silver suit. Once checking over the mayor and his staff, others exited, making it so each person on the mayor's team had one escort from the aliens. They were led into the ship, which was clearly one of the three smaller ones from the infrared image, and the door was shut tightly behind them.
Rather than hallways as depicted in many science-fiction pieces, the room was large and open. It was filled with long tables and several types of aliens. Most were at sizes that could be seen in the human race. Some of them with bluish skin were very short, almost the size of a little person but slightly smaller. Others, in particular a red creature with two heads, were very tall, almost taller than some of the largest people in the world.
But there were others that weren't human-like, in particular a green blob-like figure in the center of the room. He reminded the mayor of the alien from The Fairly Odd Parents, a show he often watched with his nieces and nephews, but he was a different shade of green and seemed more astute.
Once everyone was arranged in the room, the other creature that was more like a dragonfly than a human took a spot in the center of the room. He hovered over the metallic circle in the floor, his wings flapping quickly and causing a soft breeze to flow through the room. A creature in the corner that resembled a beetle (if it were a human-sized beetle) also flapped his wings, but it was the dragonfly that commanded the room's attention.
"Hello Earth leader and staff," the dragonfly said in a very high-pitched voice, which was so much like a ring that the mayor had to resist the urge to plug his ears. The alien noticed and adjusted his tone to a level more suited for human ears, "Thank for joining us."
"You're welcome," the major nodded politely, ignoring the broken English. Chirping filled the air and the dragonfly creature was made aware of his mistake by the others.
"Sorry. English is new. Thank you for joining us. We are at different levels of English. Is this alright?" the creature questioned.
"Yes, you're fine. English is a difficult language. Perhaps you should have gone for something easier. My niece takes French in school-"
"French?" the creature questioned as another chorus of chirps and whines filled the air. "Ah, a language originating in France. Thank you," he nodded to the tall red creature. He rotated himself towards the mayor again, "The United States and English hold more power, no?"
"They do," the mayor agreed, but he did not admit he wasn't the most powerful man. This was a decision made by various government agencies—if the aliens thought a simple mayor from Elwood City was the most powerful man in the country, so be it. As long as the mayor acted in the world's best interest, he could just as easily be President. Besides, the president was busy with his own issues as he attempted to keep the country calm during this trying time.
The dragonfly seemed to fly a little higher as the purpose for their visit was made, "We are here for power. We have enemy, a common enemy. They are not far from here."
"We noticed another ship. You say they are dangerous?" the mayor asked.
"Very much so," the dragonfly said, hovering a little lower. "This is a mix of species. We are from different places, different-" he paused as more chirps filled the air as the aliens exchanged their knowledge on English. Finally he decided on the correct word, "galaxies. Most are from a similar system. They are like yours. One star, many planets. The enemy likes these. Easy to conquer.
"They enslaved many of us. We are sometimes the only free ones," the dragonfly said, turning towards the tall red creature, "or the only ones at all."
"That is hard to hear," the mayor said sympathetically. "We are in a position to offer assistance, but your technology is far more advanced than ours."
"This is a fact we noticed upon arrival. No paroling ships. The probes were a surprise. We avoided them. I doubt our enemy will be as kind," the dragonfly said, turning to the mayor to see if he was correct.
"They are malfunctioning due to the ship's size-"
Chirps filled the air and the mayor stopped talking. He could tell they were arguing about his use of a possessive. Was it a possessive 's' or a plural 's'? The mayor corrected them—a possessive 's' for one large ship.
The dragonfly turned around the room as various creatures chirped and buzzed, then he stopped on the mayor, "Your sensors are wrong. There are many ships. They must appear as one because they fly in formation. This is understandable. We knew where you stood. We have watched you for some time. You have not found us yet. But our enemy found you. That was a problem."
"I'm glad you made it here first then, but what can we do?" the mayor asked.
"There are many options. You must fight them. We will not descend to your planet again. The enemy will descend as soon as they arrive. They will enslave you. They could slaughter you. The choice is theirs, not yours. You must fight them and defeat them as soon as you can," the dragonfly explained.
The mayor nodded, "We are preparing for such a fight. What about you? You asked about power."
"That is the power we seek. We will not be able to aid you from above. You must fend for yourselves. If you survive, we can work together. If you do not, well, that is most unfortunate," the dragonfly said as more buzzing filled the air again. The dragonfly bobbed in the air, "We are apologetic. We wish it were not like this."
"I'm sure. They sound very terrible, but what do you know about them? We need information to help in our fight," the mayor said as his staff made diligent notes.
"We will give you images and...schematics of their ships. We have diagrams of their anatomy. This will show you weak points. If you can understand them, the fight should be easy. If you cannot, we tried to help you. Your people deserved to fall. Like the animal kingdom, only the fittest should survive."
"I agree with your thinking, and we are thankful," the mayor said.
The dragonfly buzzed as more of the human-sized people in silver suits presented the information, then swiftly escorted the group outside. They boarded their SUV's and drove straight to Elwood City's airport, where a private plane took them directly to Washington D.C. The schematics and anatomical drawings would be analyzed by every country in the world, and an army would be raised.
But in the night, the large ship and the three smaller ships disappeared from Earth's orbit. The dragonfly creature was right—Earth was on its own.