Major Adam Carroll's POV
(Exploration Research and Technology, Kennedy Space Center)

I'm sure that there are many scientists in this world that wish for moments like this, but I'm not one of them. Having to report these particular findings is at the very least disturbing.

Sitting outside of the office of the inspector general, in the small empty waiting room made me feel boxed in. The huge oak doors opened and Sandy, his secretary smiled at me as I looked up. "He's ready for you, Major. Carroll." She looked lively in her pink dress today.

I smiled back at her and stood straightening my gray suit and blue tie. "Thank you, Sandy." Walking into the office, the doors closed behind me as I watched the Inspector banging away at his laptop. He was in his 40s though you'd figure he was younger with all the energy he had.

Venturing further into the room, he looked up at me in exasperation. "Well, what is it, Adam?"

Moving to the chairs, I sat down on the edge of one. I forgot how much coming to this room reminded me so much of the principal's office in high school. With the wood-paneled walls and bookshelves, it could have been a replica.

Bending over his desk, he started snapping his fingers in front of my face to bring me back into the here and now, John Mayfair began to scowl. "Hey kid, wake up and tell me why you are here." His fingers still rushed across the keyboard.

"Do you remember that Ion trail from deep space you had me track? Well, it made it here to our planet in less than five days." His fingers on the keyboard stopped and I had his full attention. "It entered our atmosphere and did not burn up upon entry into our atmosphere. Instead, it hovered somewhere around New York near a place where an unsolved murder occurred." I had to stop and take a breath.

On the edge of his seat with eyes wide, John leaned forward as his leather chair squeaked from the movement. "I can see from that look on your face there is more to this. Keep talking kid." He got up from the desk and poured us both glasses of water from a decanter set on a long flat cabinet to his right.

Not feeling so nervous, I accepted the glass when he offered it and took a sip. The cool water going down my throat helped relax me more. "That Ion trail veered South to the state of Louisiana. Uh... Sir, a report from the Sheriff's department to the local FBI is where it's trail stopped." Stopping for a moment, I tried to control my own fear and curiosity. "A whole town has just disappeared. Evidently, a sheriff was out on a call to a local farm, only to return and see nothing left of the town. The town is called Clarence. The population is less than 8,000. We can't keep this quiet long, Sir."

John Mayfair sat in his chair in shock, as he sipped on his water. "What are you telling me exactly? That this thing or whatever has a conscious awareness of sorts?" Standing up, he took off the navy blue jacket of his suit and hung it on a porcelain and brass knob sticking out of the wall behind his chair. Running his hands through his slightly silvered brown hair, John sat back down, blowing out a long breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in.

This is where I begin to sweat a bit. I don't expect him to believe me at all. His hands start back up on his laptop. "Sir, any normal Ion trail would have dispersed or disintegrated. In New York, it started to for a short time, then deviated its course toward Louisiana. Once there, it began to break up. I believe it may still be in the surrounding areas. Whatever it may be. My official report is already on the server." I pointed at his laptop then sat back. "Whatever this thing is, it's extremely powerful, and not from this world. We are in the dark on how to handle a situation such as this."

Turning his laptop around, he showed me the graphic details of the thing's movements with the Ion trail, found in my report. "So this thing is alive, right? Whatever floated in with the Ion trail, is alive" I nodded at him and he sighed deeply. "Alright. According to the facts in your report, I will move forward with this and take it to the Director. Something about all this just doesn't seem right. Don't worry, it's not your report, it's the thing, or creature if you will... Thank you, Major. Carroll. Please see your way out. I need to start calling the proper channels." I could see the gleam of excitement in his brown eyes as I stood up. Turning toward the huge oak doors I couldn't help but feel sad for whatever this thing is. It's about to be captured and put under a microscope. With a sigh, I opened the double oak doors and left the office, feeling a bit sad to think of a creature, so hunted.
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Richard Weston's POV
(Calhoun Manor)

Having walked off as I did yesterday, I'd figured she would have left me alone. Aria hadn't understood my outrage and anger over what she'd done, being what she is, I'm not too surprised now. Though she took my ranting and raging well.

As I pulled the fish off of the makeshift spit in the fireplace, she watched me from the couch. "Care to try some bass fish? It's pretty tasty." Easing up off the couch, she came over and sat down on the marble ledge of the fireplace about two feet away.

Starting into the fire, she held a hand up toward its warmth. "You eat this? It smells good." Her eyes moved down to the plastic I had rolled out, to set the fish on.

Pulling a thin cut of fish off of the stick, I broke it into pieces and handed her a piece with my fingertips while I popped a piece into my mouth. "Just try some, it's delicious." And it was. The flavor just wrapping around my tongue, leaving my mouth watering for more." Aria took the piece of fish from my fingers, never touching me, and placed it in her mouth.

Nodding her head, she began to chew and closed her eyes evidently savoring the taste.

"Now that we are both calm and relaxed, can you please tell me again, why you destroyed that small town and the people in it?" My nerves in my stomach were jumping like crazy. I may be attracted to her, God, who wouldn't be, but I wanted to survive even more. Frankly, Aria scared the piss outta me.

Aria opened her eyes and swallowed the fish. Turning her head toward me again, she very calmly stated. "For continued survival. If old man Farrell, and school children knew of this place, then others did too. That put my continued existence in danger. It also answered your question to me about what "my way" meant. My way is to survive in peace and obscurity. If I have kill a few out of an entire species to do it, then I must do it. It doesn't mean I like it." When I looked at it from her perspective, I could see why. Just about any of us would do the same to survive.

Picking up another piece of fish, I gestured to her to do the same. "You'll be lucky if the authorities aren't already on their way." Her brow furrowed as she looked at me. "Your entrance into our atmosphere was probably seen by our space program called NASA. Plus, you can't just make a town disappear and figure no one is going to notice either." Carefully she reached out and took up a piece of fish, quickly popping it into her mouth.

"They are a part of those metal satellites up in your atmosphere aren't they..." She swallowed and sat staring at me hard with narrowed eyes. "Tell me what you know of those that might endanger our lives."

Fear struck me hard and I backed away from her. "What do you mean by: 'our'? NASA or whoever is your problem, not mine." Promptly, she scooted up closer to me and I could feel the warmth of her breath on my cheek. Cradling the back of my head with her hand, I felt it begin to tingle. Flashes of memory crossed my mind and I closed my eyes feeling dizzy. Gripping the edge of the marble fireplace her hand moved around to my forehead where it began to tingle. Opening my eyes, I saw her wrist. No hand, but a wrist. Her hand was in my head! Was the last thought I had before I passed out.