Sophia Gonzalez just wanted the day to be over already. She was not a morning person, being more of a night owl, and yet she was stuck as a news anchor for the morning show. She had to wake up at 2 AM at the latest in order to be at the recording studio at 3 AM. Then she had to go through style and makeup while being prepped for today's topics for the show that started live filming at 5 AM. And that was discounting the quite regular possibility of some sort of unusual circumstance causing for more necessary prep time. About a third of the time, she had to be at work an hour earlier and sometimes even earlier than that!
It wasn't her desire to be on the morning show. She wanted Prime Time, but so did everyone else in the business. She should be grateful that she was succeeding in New York City of all places, but she knew her worth. She was young, smart, relentless, witty, and relatable while also being gorgeous. Rare was the person who had beauty, brains, AND personality. Yet her youth also made her unproven so she was stuck in the morning slot, which was a bit of a problem. She was less witty and insightful in the morning, albeit more relatable.
So, it was a little understandable that her irritability arose first when unusual whispers brushed against her ears during a commercial break.
"What is it now!?" She huffed in annoyance. Luckily, her fellow co-anchor, a semi-legend in the station set to retire in a couple more years, also scowled at the unusual disruption. He was a stickler for a "clean" show.
"Sixty-seven seconds before we're back on air! Speak now or HUSH UP!" Salvitore May pressed.
"Sir,"
Sophia had to stop her eyes from rolling at the lack of being addressed. Salvitore's regard eclipsed her rising star for now.
"We're getting multiple reports of angels popping up all over the world! China! England! Brazil!"
Salvitore blinked twice before erupting in laughter. "Well, ain't that the prank of the year!"
Everyone's shoulders visibly relaxed at Salvitore's outburst. Sophia couldn't deny his palpable Gravitas. His response allowed everyone else to feel secure in their world view.
"Twenty seconds!" The manager shouted.
Salvitore, eyes twinkling, smiled at Sophia. "Mind if I break the news on this to our viewers?"
Sophia couldn't help a slight chuckle. "Sure. Go ahead!" Mr. May's experience offered him a deeper well to draw from when it came to off scripted reporting.
"Three...Two..One!"
"Hello again New York! While we were away it seems that humanity is being blessed with some holy visitors! Reports are coming in around the world that Angels have reappeared! No word yet on whether they rode in upon the backs of unicorns or if they took the bus! As details come available we will inform you!"
The affable smile hid the ulterior motive for his approach of the situation. By mentioning another possible fairy tale creature he demotivated the viewership from changing the channel to more "specialized" reporting while also reassuring any of those watching and wanting more information on this breaking development that this current channel would keep them abreast of any RELEVANT data.
'This morning gig ain't all bad!' Sophia realized. 'I'm learning from one of the best on how to handle these ridiculous situations that always seem to crop up during live shows. With just a quick blurb we can now return to our plan and do any quick updates as needed.'
Diving right back into their scheduled talk, stories of angels quickly dissipated from Sophia's mind. After another couple of commercial breaks, nothing else popped up worth reporting besides angels being interviewed in foreign languages. A fellow news station in England interviewing an angel in English unexpectedly went off the air within seconds of the start of the interview. Until they had any reliable, reportable data they weren't going to stick their neck out on something so preposterous. It was likely another Bigfoot rubber suit or stone alien from South America situation.
"And thank you, Stacy, for that weather forecast. I can't wait for the temps to climb out of the 40's!" Sophia exclaimed.
"You ain't ki...dd...ing..." Stacy dragged as her attention was captivated by an angel just appearing out of thin air... Right in front of the main camera center stage!
"Hi! Sorry I'm a little late! My wing got caught in the Subway turnstyle!"
The angel flared it's wings while giving the camera a brilliant smile. Stunned silence followed this declaration for several seconds.
Sophia turned to her co-anchor in horror. 'Oh my God! Salvitore is going to get smited on live TV! Why'd you have to joke about unicorns!?'
"Jeez! Tough crowd! It's like ya never met an alien before! Oh, right! Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! You can call me...Gabriel. May I have a chair, please? I'd like to discuss why I'm here..."
Wait! Did he say ALIEN!? Sophia wondered as a couple of people scrambled to grant Gabriel's request for a chair.
______________________________________
*Gabe*
'This is probably going to go horribly wrong! It already hasn't gone that great elsewhere. A lot of my fellow golems have had to flee and recloak themselves already. It's been...what...twenty minutes since the start of my grand reveal?'
At first, the ancient alien had considered making just a single connected avatar, but the political and social landscape demolished that brief hope. First, there was a language barrier. He needed to proliferate the message as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Second, the United Nations was a joke. There was no unity, just a collection of embittered, paranoid mouthpieces devoted to their own well-being. If he had shown up in any one location, then the entire world would have gone crazy trying to delve into the POLITICAL ramifications instead of the actual message of "Run for your lives!"
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
So, the alien created super durable, lifelike, self aware, problem-solving golems all tangentially cognitively connected to the ancient alien and each other. Superficially, they looked and moved like the almost assuredly decimated species from long ago.
"Thank you for the chair!" Gabriel greeted the nervous human courageous enough to grant his request. 'I probably should've asked for a stool so my wings wouldn't be trapped, but it doesn't look like a stool is readily available anyway. Oh, well.'
"Mind if I sit between you two?" Gabriel inquired politely while executing the maneuver before they could respond. Gabe looked at the older man first before focusing on the young lady. 'I think the old guy's brain committed to a laborious software update. Looks like he's still breathing, though, which is better than what happened in England. I wonder if that news reporter is going to have her funeral service in a church? I don't think any of us golems are going to get an invite, however. That wasn't the best first impression.'
"Umm... Alien?" The young lady stammered.
"YES! Excellent question! I am in fact, an alien! I arrived here, on your beautiful world, in a spaceship! I have not been hanging around in a cloud, nor do I ride some ridiculous winged horse!" For some reason, Gabe noticed both anchors pale significantly. The old man started leaking a fluid from his midsection. Luckily, the desk blocked the camera's view and humans hadn't yet integrated the sense of smell in their broadcasts.
"Did I say something wrong? I just learned English yesterday! It's a wonderfully intricate language nearly unrivaled in the galaxy for it's complexity!" Gabe couldn't stop boasting about his rapid integration of an unusual communication method. 'Of course, Earth's various languages are nearly all on the far right of the bell curve in terms of nonsensical-ness.'
"Oh, OH! It's nothing, NOTHING really! What were you saying...umm...about your...spaceship?" The younger lady seemed eager to move on from Gabriel's question.
"Actually, I wanted to discuss other things than my transportation methods. I..."
"Are you an Angel!?" Her eyes brightened before turning nervous once again. "Umm... I mean... Is your race...are you Angels?" Hopefulness creeped into her voice.
"Well... that's not the easiest question to answer..." 'Because I have to keep in mind that The Merciless Horde might eventually retrieve the broadcast during their arrival in the Sol system'. Gabe thought. 'This is where careful prevarication is required.'
"We are aware of your history, or possibly your mythology, of Angels. I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of those that came before us and any interaction with humans of this world. My race was nearly wiped out by another alien species millions of your years ago.
"I believe that human history has suffered through a Dark Age, correct?" Gabe waited for the lady's corresponding nod.
"Uh, sorry to divert from the current topic but could I get an introduction by the way? Unfortunately, I haven't been a frequent viewer of your program and I was in a hurry to get here before it was too late..."
"Hmm? Ah, yes. You can call me Sophia or Soph and this is my partner Sal." In her distraction she gave Gabriel the shorter names usually used by them while off camera.
"Thank you, Sophia. Anyway, imagine an even greater Dark Age falling upon the human race, where you were reduced to just a few thousand individuals set on a smallish island with minimal resources for roughly 23 million of your years. No paper or writing utensils. No bronze or iron. No ice cream or chocolate. Just oral history and knowledge passed down through the generations for millions of years. Our knowledge of any previous interactions with Earth is limited to circumstances beyond our control."
'Hopefully, that is the right line to take for everyone involved. The "angelic" alien race died out a little over 24 million years ago to a precursor of The Merciless Horde. For them to be remembered even to this day is a tribute to their accomplishments. They were the last great race before the onslaught of species either bent on the enslavement or eradication of all others. Countless empires had risen and fallen since their era, but the hope of their return still whispered across the galactic arms.'
'Let us all hope that The Merciless Horde starts chasing these particular ghosts! We golems and the ancient one know that the repercussions on the human psyche by using this form will cause problems, but it's likely better than the alternative. Plus, we needed instant respect. Humans like to argue until it's too late. False devotion may bring their doom, but it also has the slim chance to grant them a stay of execution as well. At the very least, we are trying to mitigate some of the "Holy Wars" that this tactic could bring.'
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Gabe was starting to wonder if Sal was mute. He double-checked to make sure that Sal was still breathing. The news man had stopped leaking a while ago, so he couldn't rely on that anymore. Soph was the only human willing to speak so far.
"If I may be so bold...can I ask how it happened? I mean...what caused your Dark Age?"
"Another excellent question, but sadly a very poignant topic: From what little knowledge of before that all that we loved and cherished was destroyed by another alien race that proclaimed that their race was the only TRUE race. This other race started a purge that consumed and burned the entire galaxy. Leaving just a scant few space capable races left to tell the tale of galactic sorrow."
'Another likely lie. Not the end result, but rather the motivation. Blaming "Holy Wars" can only be a good thing. We need to do our best to prevent humans from succumbing to their more egregious corruptions. The angelic race weren't perfect, but they were fair. Their opponents lusted over their rivals prestige, wealth, and political power. At least, that's what those that survived passed down. Regardless, the galaxy burned and has yet to be healed from those scars.'
"Poignant? What do you mean by the word poignant!?" Concern etched itself across Sophia's face.
"I mean that since the time of our initial downfall, the galaxy has remained a wretched place. The strong prey upon the weak. From what I can tell, you humans have hypothesized about why you haven't met other alien races. One of the possible conclusions is called the "Dark Forest" Hypothesis. I'm here today to warn you of that very threat.
"The Milky Way is currently beseeched by a predator species that has been called by many names. No one knows what name they call themselves, since they have not communicated with any other alien race. They were nearly wiped out by another race, and since then have devoted themselves to destroying all life that they come across, with varying forms of success. Usually they are highly successful, but not always.
"What is most relevant, however, is that what data we've collected suggests that they are aware of Earth and your existence. They are coming closer to your home world. This is catastrophic because they have weapons capable of reducing worlds of this size to rubble. AND they are historically thorough. When they arrive, they reduce not just the home world, but all terrestrial planets and largish moons within the system to dust. No more Earth, Luna, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Callisto, Titan or Triton. 'Leave no ground for roots to sprout' is what we imagine their motto to be.
"You must prepare to leave this system. Time is of the essence. They will not arrive tomorrow, so there is still hope. However, to delay is to die. The Galaxy has suffered enough loss. Do not add to it's lament."