President Rickner appeared on screen across all cable networks and social media platforms, at once, and he addressed the world.

"Citizens of the United States, and citizens of the world. I am here to speak to you all tonight, not as people of different nations, but as ONE people of the planet that all we call home. We are faced with a threat in which the likes of we have never seen. Recently our satellites discovered a number of objects far outside of our own solar system. In time we were able to deduce the nature of these objects. With our advanced technology we were able to discern that they are without a doubt a large number of unidentified spacecrafts rapidly approaching Earth. I say this to you now, not to cause panic or fear, but to let you know that the United States has set forth the full might of our capabilities in order to create a strength to deter whatever the nature of this ensuing force has to bring. At this time, we are undertaking efforts to establish communication with the crafts. I want you all to know that until then we will assume that there is a strong chance that our first encounter can be a peaceful one, but also that regardless of their intentions we will have more than enough might to defend our world should we need to do so!"

That was it. Nothing about the refugees of Ezgar, nothing of the Ark. After watching I sat with Jacob, Tomiya, and Morales once again in the faraday room behind the bookshelf in Jacob's penthouse.

"Smart, I guess. Rickner's speech throws the eyes of the world off of the United States and the secrets that we've been keeping and back towards the sky. Nothing like another threat from space to unite us once again." I said in regard to the Seoul impact years ago, when the world briefly halted its conflicts to join hands.

"Yes, I suppose that was a good move, but we still don't know exactly what caused him to release as much or as little information as he did. After all, he left quite a bit of the story out. Not that I think any of us expected him to cry "extraterrestrials" so soon either. All we know is that China had gained a visual on the approaching crafts. We don't know exactly how clear their data is or to what extent they know of it." Added Morales.

"That and the fact that all eyes were narrowing in on Teebler Corp. Part of his speech must have been in hopes to justify all the economic wrongdoing that've been taking place." Said Tomiya.

"It must be a bit of each." Jacob agreed. "I am well aware that tensions between the East and West have become as shaky as ever. Not that I've ever really cared for politics. No offense to either of you." He motioned towards Tomiya and Morales. "But I assume that the moment we discovered China had gotten eyes on the approaching force, those not in our little loop came to a conclusion. That it was best not to let things fester as they have been. After all, just about everyone in America was being enlightened about the fact that Teebler Corp. is in cahoots with the government in some way. It wouldn't have taken those in the East long to connect the dots. They would have realized that the U.S. withheld this dire information for some time, and I suppose they thought it best to get ahead of the story. Get the guns pointing away from us and out towards outer space for the time being." As Jacob said this he was spinning back and forth in a desk chair fidgeting his hands. Typical Jacob.

"Mm, that makes sense." Added Morales, who was watching Jacob awkwardly spin around in his chair like a bored child, hardly acting like he was having a very important conversation. "And it makes sense that he wouldn't mention the Ark, or the people of Ezgar. It would reveal that we have been withholding extremely important information from the rest of the world. I'm sure that would not have helped with our international affairs."

"No, I'm sure that it would not have." Said Tomiya, letting out a frustrated sigh.

This was a tough situation for us, and it didn't seem like we were being informed as we should be. It was still up to us to continue the manufacturing, which we could, but we didn't know what new variables we would be facing now. We of course were still keeping a treasure trove of secrets from the people of the world. Things that other nations would literally kill to know. At what point do we have to stop hiding it all? And then I remembered, that probably isn't going to be how this is going to go. Our so-called leaders will do all that they can to keep these secrets in American hands.

What came next is exactly what anyone might have guessed. Rioting and panic broke out across the globe. Some nations and even areas within the U.S. had to enact martial law and instill curfews. The civil unrest set in quickly. With such little information given to the public all anyone could do now was panic.

Our own workforce wasn't deterred from continuing to produce. The J-2's now made up the majority of Teebler Corps. manufacturing force. The problem quickly became that we were running out of materials. Trade halted around the world as other nations began to stockpile supplies in order to boost their own military defenses. From what we were told, there were constant summits being held between all of the major world leaders. This was slowing things down for us. We didn't know exactly what was being said at these meetings. Clearly Rickner was not divulging the true nature of the tech we were developing in America. This meant that every material we were outsourcing for our manufacturing was trickling down to what we had stockpiled or what we were able to obtain within our own borders, which was not nearly enough. Everything from titanium and silicone to the beryllium, used inside our reactors were nearly depleted within just a few weeks of the announcement. These were just the problems we faced in our work. On the outside things were looking even more bleak. Almost immediately the panic that ensued turned into something darker.

Fear gripped people's hearts in every part of the globe. There were groups that sprang about radical ideas, and quickly gained large followings. Scared people convinced other scared people of one thing or another, basing their beliefs on made up ideas with no foundation of truth. There were groups that claimed that this was all a hoax by the governments in preparation for the next World War. This was one of the more believable lies. Other large followings took a stance on believing that the approaching ships were an extraterrestrial life that evolved far beyond the human race, and they intended on enlightening us. No matter which conspiratorial group it was, there always had to be extremists within.

Terror attacks and violence became much more commonplace in the days that followed the release of this news. Many unessential businesses closed their doors one by one. Nobody wanted to work, everyone tried to hoard. And every action that any of us had was overshadowed with mistrust of our fellow man, all driven by fear of knowing that something ominous was headed our way. This went on, and the real truth remained with a select few.

Most schools closed. Even if they hadn't, Tomiya and I weren't going to risk letting Oshie go back. She knew more than most now about what was really happening. Both Tomiya and I hoped that the secrets we told her weren't listened to at the time. Jacob thought it was unlikely, when we told her those things the whole of the government was scrambling to save face. And as long as we kept our heads down and Oshie at home we wouldn't be bothered.

Tomiya's mother came to stay with us at the townhouse for the time being, helping us care for Oshie while we continued our work. We hired our own private security as well. Stories of large mobs and violent crimes that weren't being covered on the news spread over social media now, though it was hard to tell what was real nowadays. I would not be surprised if sooner or later the government would be forced to implement a true nationwide martial law and start censoring things in order to mitigate the panic and destruction that came with it. But as time went on the wildfire of the fearful populace began to lose its fuel. No one was being forced to stay home, or to close their businesses. So, some, but not all, chose to do what they could in order to continue on with their lives, this was a surprising relief.

Teebler Corp. and the U.S. government still had its supply issue. Until one day Jacob presented an idea. It wasn't even a new idea or one of his own design, he told us. But it was one that was finally a real possibility given our new technology.

"We will start to mine off world." He said one day in a briefing. And he laid out exactly how we could do it. With half our new fleet and a number of larger space shuttles we could send a large force of J-2's with the proper excavating equipment to retrieve what we must. There was still enough time to harvest the material we needed and get it back in order to continue our production.

"Where?" They asked him. A question I already knew the answer to.

Jacob's dreams always went beyond what he thought he'd see in his lifetime. It just so happened that this idea, one he had heard proposed by another scientist long ago, could be made possible now.

"16 Psyche" an asteroid located in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Jacob said that the mission could start almost immediately, and because it could be piloted by the J-2's it could be undertaken at a speed far surpassing our human limits.

"16 Psyche" is a large asteroid, and already confirmed to hold many precious metals. It was estimated that this asteroid alone held in the quintillions of dollars' worth of rare Earth materials. And if we couldn't find all that we needed there, the Asteroid Belt was filled with other large celestial bodies that would no doubt contain the resources and materials we now needed for our endeavor.

Once again, when presented with this new option, our leaders were not overcome with joy or thankfulness for another chance at salvation. What they saw was a mountain of gold. Riches beyond riches were now out there for the taking, and only they had the power to reach out and grab it.

As you might have guessed the endeavor went immediately underway. Nearly half of our new age space crafts as well as our J-2's began the mission. They took to the night sky in our ships from the military bases, unseen by most as they left our planet hauling huge amounts of machinery for the excavation. Massive payloads that we could never have hoped to move with our old rockets. And in just five months they were due to return with enough materials to create what Jacob assumed would be twenty-fold upon the manufacturing we had already accomplished. A force stronger than if all the world combined to give us what we needed. There was no downside to it.