He had read the report for the third time now but he still couldn't quite grasp the scope without starting to shiver in excitement. They had found another artifact, in the middle of the black rock desert, just unearthed by a recent earthquake. It was another stroke of pure luck. Or could it be even called luck at that point?

Sometimes it felt like someone wanted these things to be found given the sheer convenience. No matter what it was, it was better that they had gotten them into their fingers before any other country could. Who they were? The Department of Extraterrestrial and Unnatural Phenomena D.E.U.P. A small, well-financed but relatively unknown former sub-department of the NSA, that was founded about ten years ago after the first artifact was discovered. Since then the D.E.U.P. was conducting experiments with the obviously alien device.

And he was General Andrew Horatio Hobbs, head of the department and also the midwife of this project. Back then he had explained to the president the consequences this find had and urged the founding of the D.E.U.P. Having him as the leading man hadn't been his first intention but it was a nice side effect. Even after ten years of slow progress, he would still describe his department as the most important in the whole Department of Defense.

The current president seemed to agree with him as he raised the budget once again making it possible for the D.E.U.P. to finish the work on the new research center in Petropolis. The whole undertaking had cost the taxpayer around 10 billion dollars but the return was worth it. The facility had maybe the most high-tech labs in the whole world.

Today was finally the day one of these new labs was inaugurated.
Hobbs stood up from his wide dark oak desk and walked to a mirror nearby. He checked his uniform, it was always important for a bunny in his position to look impeccable. He was, after all, not only leading but also representing the department and if his scientist was right, he would be representing a lot more than the department today.

A knock on the door announced new developments. A chubby raccoon wearing a lab coat walked into the office. She held a clipboard in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.
"General Hobbs." She said in an informal tone bored tone of someone who tried to conclude discussions with lesser minds as quickly as possible. She gave him a quick stern look before eying the clipboard from underneath her glasses.
"Mrs. Shannon, is it time?"

Shannon nodded. "The field is stabilizing and we are getting readings inside the expectable limits. The coupling to the artifact works as intended."
"Splendid." He rubbed his hands. "Then let's waste no time."
"Just one thing, general." Shannon stepped into Hobbs's path as he was about to leave the room. "I am concerned about the security. Are all safety precautions in place? Because whatever we transport to us might be hostile."

"Everything is taken care of Mrs. Shannon." He said and smiled reassuringly. "The guards are in position."
"Very well." She turned around and walked with him down to the lab. The wide room was full of technical equipment and cables that were stretched across the room like the silk in a cobweb. The most eye-catching thing though was the pedestal in the middle of the room that was surrounded by big metal half-domes which were attached to robot arms.

"The anomaly will manifest soon. I would not advise you to look towards the pedestal during the manifestation stage." Shannon casually walked to one of the bigger devices and started typing on a keyboard there. "Okay everyone, commencing startup routine."

Shannon hadn't lied the moment after she said the word routine, bright blue lighting shot from the half-domes towards the base of the pedestal. Hobbs had to turn his gaze away. Just hearing the thunder was slowly killing his sense of hearing.
"Containment field stable!" A scientist yelled through the noise and Shannon replied equally loud. "Ending stage one in 3..2..1"

Again, like she was the commander in charge of light and noise, the room fell silent again. Hobbs slowly opened his eyes again and turned his head towards the pedestal. It worked! Someone or rather something was standing on it. If he had to describe it, he would use the words shaved ugly monkey. The creature had a towering presence which was only underlined by the suit it wore.
Hobbs stepped closer to the pedestal, awestruck he was unable to even utter a sound. They had done it, they caught an alien.

"Intriguing." The creature said looking at his hands. "Though not yet apparent how delightful this will be." The entity looked around and tilted its head gently to the side as it saw him. "Ah yes, you."
"You can speak our language?" Hobbs said even more surprised.
"From my point of view, it is rather surprising that you can speak it." The creature looked down at the bunny and grinned widely.

Hobbs swallowed his pride and tried to keep a friendly look on his face. "I… do. First of all, to whom am I speaking?"
"Oh, names do not have any worth to me. But you can call me Advisor if you wish so."
"Advisor? Well then, Advisor, as an envoy of planet Earth I want to welcome you on…"

"I am well aware of where I am. Tell me instead, why did you intrude on my privacy?"
Hobbs exchanged a quick look with Shannon who seemed as confused as he was. "We wanted to establish a first contact and…"

"No… no, that is no way to establish a diplomatic channel." The Advisor shook his head. "As far as I know diplomats would consider it to be rude being confined like this. You want something, do not bore me."

"Well…" Hobbs sighed, he had imagined a first contact to be either violent or characterized by mutual interest. Not a bored creature dictating the course of the conversation. But if that thing wanted all cards on the table, it could have it. He was never opposed to a quick solution. "We have discovered a few artifacts and they seem to be linked to your…" Hobbs faltered for a moment looking at what stood there in front of him. "… your species? Race? Whatever… we want to understand these devices and you could help us with understanding their purpose."

"I would rather not." The Advisor said and his eyes were pinned at a part of the room behind Hobbs. There, bound to lots of cables, the artifact lay. The item itself was a black polished ellipsoid with no discernable features. "Ahh… the dimensional entangler. That explains the how. Just a few other details are in the shadows."
"You know this artifact?"

"Oh yes… my species constructed it." The Advisor grinned again. "And now you try your hands on it, without even understanding it in the slightest."
"Oh we figured a lot out..." Hobbs snapped his fingers and Shannon ran to him. "Tell him what you found out."

"As far as we figured out the device has its own microgravity which is also influencing the gravitational characteristics of things around."
"Uhh… interesting, you made the first surface-level observations. Very well." The Advisor said and made it sound like he said the opposite. "And how long did that take you?"

"Well, the device is enigmatic, to say the least, it barely reacts to anything we try on it. It took us 9 years to figure out how to hook it up and..." Shannon gesticulated helplessly. "You are the result."
"9 years… you are not very good at this, are you?"

Hobbs clenched his fists, stepped towards the pedestal, and yelled. "You listen here you…"
"No, you listen." The Advisor's words echoed through the lab like it was a gothic church. "You are toying around with powers far beyond your flimsy comprehension. You are nothing more than primitives trying to understand something your language has not even developed words for."

Hobbs had stepped back from him again, he couldn't help but wonder if the ever-growing darkness in the room was just a trick his mind played on him. He needed a moment to assess the situation and ended up. A loud voice and maybe a bit of darkness. He knew that barking dogs wouldn't bite.

"Well but isn't it pretty impressive for primitives to capture a member of such an advanced species?" Hobbs now stepped so close to the pedestal that the electricity of the containment fields started to make his hair stand up. "As far as I see it, we got it well under control."

"It is risible how you cling to the illusion of control." The Advisor said and slowly touched the field keeping him captured. "But, fortunately, my mood was brightened up today so I am willing to share my generous side if you are willing to simply let me go."

Hobbs chuckled, as he expected, a wolf without teeth. "I don't believe this is possible. You will stay our guest a little longer and answer our question. The diplomats will have to put in some extra work between our species, but they will be able to work it out."

"Oh, the mere hybris. Are these that your last word, General Hobbs?"
"Wait, how do you know my name?"
The Advisor slowly, but without perceptible effort, moved through the containment field making Hobbs walk a step backward with every step he came closer. A wave of fear and a headache Hobbs had never felt caught him and he could feel a warm stream of blood escaping his nose. Instantly the shrill sirens of an institution-wide alarm were activated and an almost unending stream of agents flooded the room.

Hobbs knew that it were 150. That was the number of all security personnel in the facility. He didn't know why but not even over 100 drawn weapons gave him a sense of security at this moment.
"I would not resort to violence." The Advisor said and looked around the room. "I will react against anyone who considers barbarity." His gaze glided over the scientists who were, guided by some of the agents, evacuated from the room. The cold pair of eyes finally stopped at Hobbs and were accompanied by that horrible smile that showed t0o much joy for the given situation. "I have asked you a question, General Hobbs."
"W..What are you?"

The Advisor reached his hand out toward the ceiling and in the next moment the artifact appeared in it. "I will need this to justify whatever happens next."
Panic rose in Hobbs, he couldn't let this thing simply flee with the artifact. Nine years of labor couldn't be in vain. The militarist in him calculated the situation. 150 to one, the odds were good. His voice screamed. "DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THAT!"

"Ah, that makes me see the path clearer." The Advisor grinned while he was hit by a storm of lead. And even though almost no bullet missed its goal, the creature seemed unimpressed. Hobbs watched in terror how every round was fired just to do absolutely no damage. After a while silence returned to the room and the soldiers stared at the upright-standing creature. Hobbs helplessly looked into the faces of his personnel. All of them were terrified and bleeding from their noses.

"Now that all of you made your decisions. Let me show you something, General Hobbs."
It was just a gesture of his hand, a simple wave, that made the whole room around Hobbs explode with bright white light. In the blink of an eye, the man around him turned into ashes while Hobbs was just hurled towards the wall where the artifact had been. A sharp pain in his chest that followed him impacting the concrete was the only thing he felt in his body anymore.

His consciousness was somewhere on the brink between awake and asleep as his eyes finally transported something similar to a picture to his visual nerve. The room was completely void of living. The electrical equipment was just a bunch of molten plastic and copper. The pedestal was gone, as well as the half domes. Just the Advisor was the only thing left intact in the room.

"Peculiar…" For a moment curiosity flashed in the eyes of the Advisor as he came closer. But quickly the well-known grin was back and he shook his head. "As I said, General Hobbs, I was in a good mood. If we ever meet again, I would not count on my generosity." The Advisor stepped closer to Hobbs and turned the device in his hand into a cup of tea.
"Wh…Why… did…"

"You should take a break from all this stress, General. Drink some tea. Just a piece of advice." The Advisor grinned and while taking a sip from his cup he slowly faded.
Hobbs was alone again, and his body that previously tried to keep him awake surrendered to the pain enveloping him into merciful darkness.