Episode 1

“There it is!”

She pointed toward the remnants of the alien craft. In San Francisco, sightings of the infamous tripods had dwindled over the past month, with reasons known only to the inhabitants of Betelgeuse—located 500 light-years away.

The star system had gone supernova just a few months prior to the invasion in August, and scientists had been monitoring incoming vessels emanating from the direction of Orion’s Belt—the former home of Betelgeuse. The purpose of the aliens' arrival was evident.

As humanity had observed the signs of impending stellar collapse since 2022, the Betelgeusians likely detected similar indicators much earlier in their history. Our abundant liquid water resources had inadvertently signaled our presence, detectable by technology akin to the James Webb Space Telescope, effectively rolling out the welcome mat for carbon-based intelligent life from across the galaxy.

Speculation arose that the aliens' invasion suggested that habitable planets with substantial water supplies were rare in the galaxy, prompting a millennium-long journey to reach us—specifically targeting Earth.

Once on an interstellar course, altering trajectory is nearly impossible. The motherships currently in orbit had been tracked by human scientists for months, decelerating from speeds of up to 0.8 light speed. This advance notice, however, provided little comfort.

The shocking global announcement in July 2023 prompted a response from the US government’s Defence Against Alien Invasion (DAAV), colloquially referred to as “Dave” by many. Unfortunately, their efforts were still in the early stages when the attacks commenced. Despite the devastation, it was estimated that about 20% of the global population managed to survive the ongoing apocalypse.

These invaders were not utilizing warp technology; their crafts were generational ships powered by magnetically confined antimatter sourced from onboard beta decay. After a millennium-long journey, aided slightly by the effects of time dilation, the aliens were finally here.

Despite the knowledge we had gained, not a single human had encountered a Betelgeusian yet.

As a group of survivors arrived at San Bruno Park, nestled between bustling downtown and the serene suburbs of Silicon Valley, Cassandra Carlisle, a third-year graduate student, was the first to spot the wreckage.

“Look, there it is!” she exclaimed again.

From their base in Palo Alto, this group of ex-Stanford physics graduates had heard news via shortwave radio of the first successful takedown of a tripod. The area was cordoned off, with FAA investigators, military personnel, federal agents, and scientists swarming around what remained of the alien structure.

“That’s the closest I’ve been since invasion day,” Kurt Gimmel, her post-doctoral partner, remarked, eyeing the remnants. The devastation weighed heavily on him, as he had lost much of his family during the initial assault.

“It’s the closest I’ve ever been. Thank goodness,” she replied softly, pressing against him in solidarity.

“I can’t wait to get my hands on some alien technology,” mused Jake Valdez, a research electronics engineer.

“Let’s go,” Kurt said, snapping out of his reverie and moving up the hillside, with Cassandra and Jake trailing behind.

Upon reaching the summit, Kurt retrieved a pair of binoculars.

“Searching for debris they might have overlooked?” Jake inquired.

“Uh-huh.”

“Burn marks! Kurt, look over here!” Cassandra shouted, pulling him in the opposite direction of his initial survey.

“I see wreckage!” he called out, but his friends were already racing down the left slope.

Navigating through the trees, Kurt pursued them and soon found them gathered around a charred patch that revealed no remnants.

“On to the next one!” he yelled back as he continued forward.

His friends caught up with him, where he stood transfixed by a metallic wreckage about the size of a hot tub, nestled within a small clearing surrounded by dense woods.

“Awesome!” Jake exclaimed.

“I’ve been anticipating this for three months. I can hardly believe it,” Cassandra said, trembling with excitement as she gently brushed her hand over the alien remains before the two young men could react.

“We’re in luck; it’s barely scorched,” Kurt noted.

What they discovered seemed to be a compartment—a bulkhead section containing exposed, torn electrical wiring.

“Jake, there’s bound to be electronics in here; check out the exposed wiring,” Cassandra remarked.

“Oh my God, they use plastic insulated copper wires!” Jake exclaimed, the group's electronics specialist.

“And this panel is secured with some kind of screws; they might require an Allen key,” Kurt added.

The team could hardly contain their enthusiasm as a new field of interstellar technology unfolded before them.

“It’s not precisely an Allen bolt,” Cassandra noted, referencing their previous research on a vacuum pump mechanism from their compact fusion reactor project at Stanford.

“Funny you should say that,” Kurt replied as he carefully pried open a panel, revealing a multitude of colorful wires.

“Yikes! There are actual electronic components in there!”

“Let me see,” Jake responded, struggling to examine his section of the bulkhead.

He leaned closer to the narrow gap. “You’re right!”

“I can see actual chips and components resembling resistors and capacitors!”

“What if this all turns out to be Russian?” Kurt mused, only half-joking.

Meanwhile, Cassandra continued to explore the wreckage, snapping photographs. Pulling back some insulation, she gasped in disbelief.

“Guys! This isn’t Russian. I’ve found alien script on this instrument panel!”