Richard Weston's POV

The first thing I needed to do, was to concentrate on getting a set of scientists identification tags and a lanyard neck cord. All of which would be great, except the ID would have to be fixed with my picture on it. So I was going to have to call in a favor or two. Getting the IDs went smoother than I'd thought. I had been in the bathroom off of the lobby when one of the senior scientists came in to relieve himself while I was busy washing my hands. Finished, he turned toward the sink and washed his hands, then bent over to splash some water on his face. As he did, I used my pocket knife to cut the cord with the IDs which had just been hanging there. As he raised up, the cord slid from his neck and I pocketed the ID tags then walked out into the lobby, then went out the glass doors. That was two days ago.

Since then, I have been doing recon throughout the entire building through their ventilation system. Yesterday, I found their laundry rooms and all had gone home for the night, I opened up the vent and lowered myself to the ground. In a quick turn, I faced a wall full of smocks. To be on the safe side, I tried two of them on and finally found the right fit. Grabbing up a spare laundry bag, I attached it to my belt and placed the smocks inside. Jumping up, I grabbed the edges of the vent in the ceiling, pulling myself up quickly. Placing the metal vent protector back into place, I made my way to the men's bathroom off of the lobby again.

Now today, I am just waiting at the military post to retrieve my mail. Hopefully, the 'fixed' tags will be in there. A FedEx truck arrives at about 10:00 am and I check with them in the offices to see if there was mail for me. There was. Ripping open the cardboard envelope, the tags with my pictures were there. Thank you, mom! Her best friend is the mother of the guy that made the tags, an old army buddy of mine.

Driving back to the facility I see that there is a lot of activity so I hurry up and park the Mercedes way in the back. Quickly I don the smock and leave the other smock on the car's passenger seat. Grasping the bag, I ball it around my fist and move closer to the Datsun car next to me. I hate Datsun's Nothin' personal this time though. Placing my left hand on the hood, I power-punch the glass window, shattering it all over the interior. Grabbing the tag hanging from the rearview mirror, I shake off the bag around my fist and get in the Mercedes while hanging the tag. Now, I can get even closer inward since this is a military pass.

Having moved the car closer to the facility, I opened the door and stepped out, acting like another man of importance by holding my head high. Straightening my smock, I read the tags again. David Johnson, Senior Consultant in Astral Physics. Oh yeah, that was really me. I chuckled to myself as I walked to a different entrance than the one I had been using. The soldiers at the doors checked and scanned the tags to made sure everyone who was anyone, was allowed inside today. Something was happening, so I just followed the military men, and others dressed in socks to one of those huge theatre styled rooms. This had to be about Aria. The military presence outside and in the room was thick. Sitting on the right outside edge, a soldier stood right across the step from me. The room must have been built for lectures it something though it held several hundred people. At ground level, a few stragglers were filing in. Whoever was going to be speaking was going to need a microphone.

A whole bunch of soldiers comes walking in and that when I see her standing in the middle of them in a long, black, terry cloth robe. General Mc Beale steps from his place near the door to stand in front of her. Speaking into a microphone attached to his lapel, he calmly starts speaking. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Aria in her own words." The lights lowered as Aria stepped forward. She wore a microphone too, though somehow I doubt she needed one. Her eyes searched the crowd...
___________________________

Aria's POV

My eyes scanned the crowd toward the back first. So many scientists, generals, Senators, Representatives, governors, but not the one I sought. Then, I saw him in the front row. Richard. What on earth was he doing here? I looked to the general and inclined my head graciously while stepping forward. "I see that your president t was not inclined to come. So be it." Spreading out some of my molecules, I began to set off a charge. All around the room little lights like tiny electrical flashes went off on and in the walls and ceiling. I was killing off all the technology leading into the rooms through the walls, ceiling, minicams planted on people, and recording devices "Those of you with phones or other electronic devices, I suggest you turn them off now before they too will be destroyed. You have two minutes as of now." Many scrambled to turn off their phones, some their laptops. Richard just calmly turned his off and I shook my head in the negative. He raised a brow and turned his phone back on, showing me it was set to record. Nodding to him almost imperceptibly, I raised the charge in my molecules once more. Two phones exploded in their owner's pockets sending them running from the room.

"I have been told there was an Ion trail that followed me here and it is how it led to my capture. Well, first of all, I was not captured. I came to you willingly. Second, that Ion trial was there on purpose so that you could find me. Why? Simple. I have gone through this with other civilizations before you and have found it much easier to 'get it done and over with'. So you can begin to comprehend what you are dealing with." Deliberately pausing, I let my words sink in before continuing As the muttering if them all was anything but silent until I spoke again. "So here we are...and it's time for you to know, at least, the short version of my story."

From the darkness of the room, a kind scientist came down the steps from his seat and grabbed up one of the tall stools from the side of the room, bringing it to me. Thanking him, he went back to his seat and I sat down.

"Having lived beyond the atmosphere of this little world, I remember well when this it was first created. When I too was first created. Millions of years ago, I was a star that got caught up in the Event Horizon of a supermassive black hole that was about to merge with another supermassive black hole, they were spiraling at the time. The gravitational pull was so great it expedited my going supernova a bit."

"As the two black holes merged, what I call: my conception, I was pulled into the core with mass amounts of space debris and shadow mist. There I stayed for a very long time. That dark mist was eerie and strange. It moved with a life of it's own, covering random debris and me. It's energy was intense, but being the star I was, I soaked it up anyway. When the supermassive black hole inverted, two galaxies were created along with me.  Those galaxies which you call the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxies. My own molecules had inverted instead of exploding outward in supernova due to the gravitational pull inside the black hole. Because of being propelled out of the black hole at such an extreme velocity, this is what is now left of what I once was." Slowly I pulled back on the lapels of the terry cloth robe. Invisibly shielding myself inside, to protect them from my core, I pulled the molecular structure of my skin and upper ribcage drawing back to expose the powerful core in my chest. A magnificent swirling black hole. The event horizon was a bluish-purple particle haze of tiny pieces of asteroids and space matter swirling around a black core with a molten gold ring around it. (See above pic)

The men all start coming up close to inspect it with the wide eyes of children. Some seeing me as their next great experiment, others cold and aloof, seeing me as a weapon. Even Richard came up close, but I could see in his eyes that he was blaming himself for all this still. I shook my head at him so he wouldn't.

"I live, gentlemen. Even by your human standards, I am alive in my own right."