Part 5 of some new science fiction. If you're just tuning in, consider starting with part 1. The image above was created with stable diffusion.
Alone in his empty living room, his front door recently repaired by the magic of his Servant, James sat, attempting to meditate. Outside, a crowd of soldiers, police, and news reporters were beginning to awaken. They'd lost consciousness suddenly when James waved his sleep wand in their direction. Now, they were waking up, and a few had started shouting protests of their unanticipated slumber.
James was not a practiced meditator. Nor could he rest on the floor for very long before the urgent business of the moment forced him into action. Rising to his feet, James adjusted his bubble of protection to allow sound to pass through it. Then he had the Servant materialize a carrying case for it and the wand, along with a sandwich and a bottle of rose lemonade.
Halfway through his sandwich when the banging on the door started, James shrugged and threw the door open, positioning himself in the doorway to include it in his bubble of protection. Three soldiers had been about to break their way in. A guy in a suit jogged up. "Mr Wayne," said Suit. "The United States compels you to testify before Congress. And right now, I need to know: Is this an invasion? Do the visitors recognize our legal authority over this land?"
Shrugging, James sipped his lemonade. "Nah, they're cool," he said. "Listen, can I testify to Congress remotely? I mean, after the Army returns all of my stuff, like my computer, and computer desk, and router, and everything."
"That's unacceptable," said Suit. "You've already made quarantine moot by traipsing through a crowded neighborhood after leaving the Object. And now it seems you've acquired some of their technology. We'll do anything to keep this technology out of enemy hands, including wiping this whole block off the map. But we're hoping you'll work with us instead."
"Aren't you afraid I might be being mind controlled by them?" asked James.
"We're assuming that you are," said Suit. "We'd like to debrief you at a facility just south of the city. Will you go with me there now?"
Another suit ran up and whispered something in Suit's ear. There was a heated exchange carried out in sharp whispers. "We will return your belongings and send a team to debrief you," said Suit. "The Visitors just met with the Vice President on your behalf. Streamed live by several news outlets."
"Cool," said James. "So, uh, if I go somewhere, is someone going to try to shoot at me?"
"Not our people," said Suit.
"Okay, so just knock again when my stuff arrives," said James, closing the door.
A large military truck arrived a few hours later. It took another few hours to put everything back where it belonged. As the soldiers left, Suit came back. "There is a team arriving in the morning to debrief you," he said. "Please cooperate fully."
When the team arrived the next day, the first thing they wanted to do was medical testing. "We really just want some readings to put in the report," said Jean, the team leader.
"You know, the Visitors did medical testing on me," said James. "It was ... invasive. Traumatic, even, in ways you couldn't possibly understand. So forgive me if I refuse your tests."
"At minimum, we need temp, BP, blood, and saliva," said Jean. "Your sample will be used to determine the presence or absence of alien contamination."
"I'm for sure contaminated," said James. "I was on their ship for a month. My connection with their devices is telepathic. That's not magic. Pretty sure its nanobots in my brain."
In the end, Jean prevailed and James provided the samples. Two members of the team began asking questions. Answering honestly, one question at a time, James relived his experience with the Visitors. They broke for lunch, then resumed an hour later, continuing until the end of the day.
The questions stopped around lunch the next day. The team turned its attention to James' Visitor artifacts. He allowed these to be photographed but not handled by the government representatives. A scientist named Chet seemed particularly disappointed by this. "But we don't even know the basic composition of the artifacts," he complained.
James grinned, and used his Servant to summon a small fake-gold trophy. "Here's a prize for trying," he said. "Take it back to your lab or whatever and run any test on it you want."
"Make fun all you want," said Chet. "The trophy actually does help me."
"So, off the record," said Jean. "What's your real feeling about the Visitors? Are they a threat?"
"I feel like you guys still aren't getting it," said James. "The Visitors are powerful beyond human understanding. They'd have wiped us out long ago if that was their intent. Instead, they observe us for entertainment. And they shake things up when the show gets too boring, I guess."
"What do you think they'll do next?" asked Jean.
"They might be preparing to come out of their vessels to meet us," said James. "The reason they had me design a new humanoid, remember?"
"How many are there?" asked Jean. "How many were in the Object, if you had to guess?"
"Honestly, I'm not even sure that's a relevant question," said James. "It seemed like they might have some sort of hive mind thing going on. Maybe there's only one of them, or maybe there are thousands. Like I told you, I only ever saw two. But the same intelligence could have been inhabiting both bodies."
"Still off the record," said Jean. "Could you make another Servant with your Servant? Or other exo tech?"
"Not exactly," said James. "I could make nonfunctional replicas, but their power relies on an exotic form of matter that can't be conjured from nothing. Living substrate, the Visitors called it. I guess it's the product of some grand stellar collision long ago and there's only so much of it in the universe."
"Living substrate?" asked Jean. "Why didn't you tell us about this before?"
"Could be a weak spot, if there's only so much," said Chet.
"Yeah maybe, if you're an idiot," said James.
Everyone glared at him. "What?" he said. "It's like looking at the sun and wondering about its weak spot."
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