Neurons fire off by the billions, information flows from input organs to the brain at blistering speeds. Thoughts form in a mere trillionth of a second, reaction speeds that put conventional computers to shame working in perfect harmony to create a monster of mind. I am the cutting edge of humanity. Hundreds of billions of humans sifted through for a specific set of traits and capabilities. Only a couple thousand or so met the requirements that the Sol Republic had set. I signed up to be a pioneer thinking that a few years off my life to secure retirement in my 20s was the best deal anyone could get.
"Oh, you're kinda cute."
It doesn't matter how fast my brain could go if I don't fucking use it. I could make up hundreds of excuses right now; my emotions are still numbed for the trip, I haven't had any interaction with a living being for months, the feds should have known what they were getting when they asked for antisocial geniuses that could deal with being alone, the list goes on. None of these mattered because in the grand scheme of things, I was the solution for the home system's overpopulation and I was trained for years so that I can at least act like it. And now I've gone and smashed my nose in on the very first sentence.
I mean, it was definitely some sort of cruel joke. Back when I lived on Triton, one of Neptune's moons, I kept a few mice as pets. It got pretty lonely on a rock in the "Outer Three" area that was just around 30 kelvin above absolute zero. And this person that I just got slightly startled by, not expecting a video feed, looked pretty damn close to a mouse. Shorter nose, bigger eyes, smaller ears compared to a normal mouse's proportions, shock white fur and draped in reflective golden robes. Words came out before anything was thought through, and now I have to dig myself out of a hole.
What if these mice people... Meldren, according to the data dump my AI provided, were cruel and sadistic warlords that would interpret my loose remark as an insult? Well, it's not like that train of thought would get me anywhere since the answer would always lead to hostile takeover. But I should still try to salvage this as much as possible, maybe just pretend that nothing happened and act normally?
================
The stress is causing hallucinations. Yep, there is no other explanation. It was just my brain tricking me to stop me from hearing what might have just been a declaration of war. This thing, enough to give adults nightmares for months, opened a video communication and bared its teeth on full display as a first contact, and then attempted to compliment me? Maybe I just wasn't fit for office if merely staring into death itself and being crushed by despair was enough to cause me hallucinations.
One of my secretaries, Milli, was fortunately outside of view of the camera when she fell to the ground with a startling thump. That definitely got caught in the audio. My other secretary, Dayna, who did happen to be in view of the camera, had frozen solid. He wasn't even breathing anymore... Oh my god, did he die of shock? My train of thought was abruptly vaporized when the demon started talking again.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Greetings Governor, my name is Dominique Reynolds and I serve as an envoy for the Sol System Republic of Humanity. I come in search of friendly relations."
Is it just going to brush over the first remark? Ok, fine by me, not like I was going to challenge the demon on anything... Friendly relations? So it was the cruel type, huh? The type that waited in excruciating anticipation as it lulled its victim into a sense of security and trust right before pouncing, ripping meat off the bones and savoring the gurgling attempts at screaming. I wanted to run away, hide in some closet and just wait it out.
As far as I know, the wrong word was enough to cause an invasion if it wasn't guaranteed already. Scanners picked up just the one ship, a bit oversized for a civilian transport ship but may have been average for their kind, but there has never been a foreign affair delegation consisting of just one ship. Maybe the rest were staying just outside of scanner range, or maybe they had some advanced cloaking technology and were already surrounding the planet, patient for the perfect moment to strike.
I couldn't bring myself to respond. I'm not even sure if I still had control over my body, but I had to get something out. Anything. Not even acknowledging them is probably the worst thing I could do. Come on Destra, you are the leader of the entire damn planet, this is your job so do it.
"(Squeak)"
...
The demon does something with its face. It contorts, bends, the mouth makes an arc and the eyes grow wide, and then it makes a sound unlike anything I've ever heard. Like the air is being squeezed out of it repeatedly. If I heard that sound normally I would connect it to someone being repeatedly stomped in the chest, but the demon was making this sound with what seemed like a demented mockery of a smile, its teeth peeking from behind its lips.
"Is everything ok, Governor?"
Under no circumstance was anything okay, and the demon definitely knew that. As a matter of fact, it was the cause of everything not being okay. I was about to burst at the seams with stress, my secretaries had been incapacitated by just the look of this thing, there was a very real chance that my people were minutes away from being wiped from the planet, and there was the chance that everything hung on my words or that anything I said was simply entertainment for the demon before it pulled the trigger.
"I... I'm f-fine"
It was a miracle that I could form coherent words. If my race somehow survived, tales of my bravery at this moment would be immortalized in song and story. That is a very big if, however. My most important goal right now is to try to appeal to the demon and save my race, no matter the method.
"s-...surrender"
"What?"
"I SURRENDER, OKAY? I-I-"
It felt like I had just jumped from a high-rise. A sense of weightlessness overtook me as I realized what I had just done. I raised my voice. Me. The hapless victim left to the whims of this demon. When you jump off a building, the sense of weightlessness is quickly followed by turning into a bright yellow stain on the pavement. All I can hope for is that the impact only affects me at this point. Bracing myself for-
"Uhm... I think there has been a misunderstanding?"