“Let’s think for a second. Doctor, what do we already know about anything extraterrestrial?” Field Agent Aris said, leaning over on a nearby desk as Alezander took a sip from his frappuccino. “I’m sure there are some that you’ve researched before. You can’t just be a theoretical physicist working at a place like this and never worked with something from outer-fucking-space.”

    Alezander continued to drink his smoothly constructed frappuccino as he leaned back in his office chair. You could tell by his attire that he didn’t fancy lab coats or anything of the sort. In a casual, greasy t-shirt with a Nirvana logo on it and jeans ripped at the knees, he didn’t care much about anything. But extraterrestrials interested him.

    “Everything in space is different, agent. No matter how long you spend trying to disprove that fact, it will always be true.” Alezander stopped drinking, placing his delicious beverage on his desk. He’d stop leaning in his chair for a moment to type something into his terminal that Aris couldn’t see. “Why can’t your C.O. come chat with me again?”

    “He’s with O5,” Aris said calmly. As Aris told Alezander the answer to his question, his posture almost immediately relaxed. He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry you have to work with me.”

    “No, it’s not you. You’re fine, Aris. I was just curious why your commander would send you out like dogs instead of coming to do it himself, or at the very least, stick together with his team.” Alezander pressed the enter key on his terminal, and a large bit of code appeared on the screen, continuing to scroll on its own. He leaned back once more. “What specifically is your task force supposed to be researching? Extraterrestrial technology? Life on other planets? I can’t just give you what you’re looking for if even I don’t know what it is, Aris.”

    “We’re doing technology. Or, so my commander says.”

    “Let me rephrase that for you,” Alezander said, locking eye contact with Aris whilst still leaning back in his comfortable office chair, “you’re doing technology. You’re the one here talking with me, yes?”

    “I suppose so.” Aris finally took a seat after about fifteen minutes of awkwardly standing in front of Alezander’s work space. “Can we- or, I, get an extreme example of what we know extraterrestrial technology is capable of? We need to know their limits. Or, at least, their known limits.”

    Alezander pushed his glasses back up onto his face, halting his preferred position in his chair as he moved back to sitting like anyone else would. “I don’t think you actually want to know.” Alezander took another sip of his frappuccino, and a slurp could be heard as it was obvious that he was beginning to run out of liquid in his plastic cup.

    “I’m here for a reason. Of all the people, I came to you. Just show me what you were talking about. We’re trying to see what is currently the largest threat regarding humanity and contact with aliens.”

    Alezander placed his fingers on the keyboard to his terminal, typing in a small console. A file would then load up shortly after. He looked to Aris, motioning him to step behind his desk. Aris’ face was filled with both confusion and shock.
    “You’re kidding. That’s been there forever.”

    “You trust what they teach you in school, Aris? Explains a lot.”

    “Fuck you.”

    Alezander places a finger on the monitor, clearly referencing the famous red spot seen on Jupiter’s surface. He’d give Aris a smartass look. “What do you think that is? Can you guess?”

    Aris placed a hand on the desk, leaning over as to examine the image shown on the semi-pixelated computer screen. “I’m assuming it’s not what we were taught in school.” During the duration of the sentence, he doesn’t break his stare (which had superb laser-like accuracy).

    “You’re not wrong. To explain this to you simply, it’s a large automaton. We don’t know who, or what, constructed it, but it’s impressive and certainly not from our planet’s origin. It’s destroying the planet. Whatever made the famous red spot is a race extremely superior compared to ours when it comes to technology. It has a seemingly unlimited power supply, and we can’t inflict any form of damage upon it; believe me, we’ve tried. However, it has taken damage from something, just not from us. We don’t know how long it’s been doing its job, but it has clearly been going for a while. It’s hard to tell, but it’s destroyed more than half of the planet.”

    Aris was filled with shock, just watching the live feed of Jupiter’s surface zooming in on the complex mechanical structure. He didn’t have any idea of how to react. It’s not like he’s been told this before, and it’s not exactly something you’d hear every day.
    “That’s not the worst part, agent. The worst part is that we theorize that the automaton wasn’t supposed to hit Jupiter.” Alezander’s face began to materialize a look of fear momentarily.

    “Then what the fuck was it supposed to hit?” Aris’ pupils instantly enlarged as he realized the answer before the words even left Alezander’s mouth.

    “Us.”