‘Why the hell are there soo many people on the road’ Sam figured that the roads would be free and clear by now but the opposite was true. He only had about seven minutes left for the ‘The Submission’ to begin and he was fifteen minutes from home.

The cell towers must have been overloaded since he could not get a call through to his mom or sisters, he had no data either so could not pull up the broadcast on his phone. Luckily every single radio station was playing the same thing.

“This is Julieta Cisneros with KERA public radio, we are sitting in studio with Dr. Henry Bloke and Dr. Craig Winters, both PHD doctors with specialization in Planetary Science and Astrobiology. Dr. Winters, we are here at the final minutes before what is most certainly going to be known as the most impactful event in human history and perhaps to the surprise of all humans, we are not in control of our fates. For the first time since we harnessed the power of tools, we are at the complete mercy of some external force. In these final moments what is going through your mind and what can we possibly tell our listeners who know that whatever happens from here on out, they are most likely never going to be in control of their fate like before”

There was a notable pause before the man responded.

“Well… Julieta, we are at the cusp of the greatest shift in the human experience and everything after today will be different, but I don’t accept your premise that humanity is no longer in control of our fates. We are if anything more aware that all we really have is how we control ourselves, how we react and handle ourselves in these times is what we need to hold onto above all else. These times are going to try all of us in profound ways, and we are all going to be tested on what it means to be a human and are in control of how we respond. It is up to us..”

“-Dr. Winters, I apologize for the interjection but we must now go live to our Senior White House Correspondent, we are finally seeing the president come into the livestream.”

Traffic seemed to be at a standstill now, but Sam didnt notice the lack of movement, he and every other human on earth was solely focused on the words that were about to come out of the President of the United States.

After a few moments of silence and some sounds of people shuffling around came from the radio, Sam heard the Presidents voice.

“My fellow humans, for as long as people have existed on this earth we have looked to the stars and wondered if we were alone in this universe. Nearly three months ago, we received an answer to our question. Not only are we not alone but we number along hundreds of thousands of intelligent species all over this galaxy, many of whom have created customs similar to what we consider strictly human; family, religion, culture, science, love, fear and even war have been present in our Galaxy for millions of years before we existed. Today, we have gathered here to take part in one of those customs. Just as humans have claimed dominion over this earth and the rest of its resources, there exists another more powerful species that claims dominion over this Galaxy and all planets within.

The Alkanii have existed for over 1.3 million years. They dwell from a part of the Milky Way that we know as Messier 75 which is about 67 thousand light years away, their history is vast and even more complicated than our own. In the coming days, months and years the Alkanii have promised to provide us with technology and information that will revolutionize how we see the world but for today they have provided an explanation as to why they have made us gather here.

Tradition is like a religion to the Alkanii, they hold their traditions in the highest of regards, they take precedence over anything else, individual rights, laws, even life. The Alkanii consider their traditions as the reason why they have been able to survive certain periods of struggle in their history, why they have been able to defeat their enemies and how they have been able to multiply their influence over other species. They have thousands of traditions which dictate all aspects of their culture, there are traditions that provide guidance on how they eat, how they rest, how they mate and how they rule and all these traditions are followed without question.

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One of the oldest traditions for the Alkanii is the “Ov-rakt” which translates literally as “Best-Servant” the origins of the Ov-rakt are traced back to the very beginnings of the Alkanii empire when there were hundreds of warring tribes on the mountains of their homeworld the Alkanii tribe would capture several villages and make each village choose a few fighters to represent them. They would pit these fighters against other villages fighters to determine the fate of their respective peoples. The victorious fighter would have their people spared, the men women and children would be considered subjects of the Alkanii and would have the opportunity to integrate to the empire or live in peace. The village of the defeated fighter would be destroyed and its people enslaved. The Alkanii believe that this tradition was and still is a brutal but effective way of adding to the strength of the Alkanii empire.

This brings me to why we have been made to gather here, The Alkanii have taken to the celestial skies to expand their empire and have been expanding for nearly two hundred and fifty thousand years. They are on a never ending campaign with the purpose of growing and strengthening their already vast empire. Now they have reached the edges of our solar system and the planet earth along with all of humanity have been chosen to participate in this seasons Ov-rakt.

Our planet will need to participate for us to maintain any semblance of the way of life we are used to. The Ov-rakt has grown into an interplanetary tournament, and humanity will fight against seven other alien species to save our village.

There will be countless questions regarding this but here are the main points that we want to convey today.

One; we effectively have no choice. The United States government in conjunction with the U.N and non U.N countries have weighed our options. The Alkanii have demonstrated beyond any doubt their power to subjugate, dominate and even destroy us if they desired to. If we as a species decide not to participate or the individuals chosen decide not to participate then we, and our planet effectively, will cease to exist.

Two; this is a winner take all tournament. There is no second place. Seven other alient species and their home worlds have been forced to take part in this tournament. Only one of the eight species will survive this.

Three; we will have ten fighters represent us in the tournament.

Four; We do not choose our fighters, the Alkanii have analyzed our physiology and have advanced algorithms that will choose our fighters at random.

Five; we are going to be provided with delegates to assist us in preparation for this tournament, there are certain rules, customs and strategies that we must be advised of.

Six; the tournament will begin approximately ten years from today. In the meantime the Alkanii empire will allow us to do whatever we can to prepare for this tournament. They have promised to keep their involvement in our day to day lives to a minimum as long as we follow their customs in preparing for the Ov-rakt.

Seven; a ceremony must be held to choose our fighters, it must also be lead by the Alkanii.

Eight; that ceremony will begin now...”

A woman interjected just then Sam could not remember the journalists name, he was lucky if he could remember anything, he sat in disbelief at the words he was hearing come out from the Presidents mouth. There were numerous gasps coming from the radio, rattles and shuffling almost muffled out the womans voice.

“uhh, for our listeners out there we are now seeing a figure enter the room, he uhh is standing about 8 foot tall with a dark lens like material covering his face and a giant cloak covering him from head to toe, or from top to bottom rather. There are three and now four more umm Alien figures walking in, each seemingly the same height” had the journalist not been so perplexed by the four aliens she would have noticed that all but one of the aliens shared a similar outline to their lens like helmets, the first alien to come out seemed to have more of a pronounced shimmer on the outside edges of its lens. A few seconds after the last thing came into the briefing room the president stepped aside and the eight foot tall figure seemed not to move a muscle.

“Humans, we are Alkanii” Sam felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck, its seemed like the voice could have been standing next to him with how clear it was.

“Humans, you are unworthy servants” a noticeable pause occurred between each utterance.

“Humans, you may become worthy through the Ov-rakt"

“Humans, prove yourselves worthy to join the Alkanii empire. Prove or die, there is nothing else for you.”

“Humans, the first for the Ov-rakt is…”