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it was slicing through the wrist of the young man who had held the gun which then fell to the ground. The next flashes of the alien’s arm brought the slicer through the throats of the young man who had held the gun and the other man who had been standing next to him. The third man who had been further way from the alien did not move as he watched the alien slice into his comrades. The alien paused and regarded the man – letting the man decide what next to do. The man looked down at his two friends who were now bleeding and dying on the sidewalk.
         This one remaining was the short one with the broken nose who had questioned the alien’s accent. His eyes were wide and unbelieving but his muscles seemed paralyzed. He was confounded by a turn of events that was both unexpected and fatal for his friends. He could see his own future in their dead eyes.
         The alien saw that the man no longer mattered. “Go away!” The young man turned and ran off.
         The alien looked around to see if there were any other threats to him. He saw someone across the street look his way then turn and walk quickly down the street. He looked back at the two young men now lying on the pavement.
         “Regrettable,” the alien said to himself as he walked away. He would have to report the incident to his commanders though his actions had been irreproachable. As he continued walking, he considered the objectives of the mission to this Earth in light of what he was learning about its people. He knew that the three young humans would not be the last ones to die. He also knew that a microcosm of experience often is a true reflection of a macro environment. As he had already observed, humans were by nature predatory and dangerous. 

 
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
    “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of Nature. And it is because in the last analysis we ourselves are part of the mystery we are trying to solve.”
    Max Planck
     
     
     
         David Randall’s day began with a blast; a blast that hit everyone in the world who was linked to an electronic communication device. As David did most mornings, just before getting up out of bed he reached for his smartphone lying on his bedside table and scanned it for messages that might have come in overnight. And there on the screen as soon as he turned the phone on, ignoring the phone’s message protocols was The Object’s email blast.  Once again in every favored language of the device owner, a simple text message was displayed. It read:
     
    “We would like to communicate with Benjamin Planck. He will know how to reach us.”
     
         David called out to Gabriela who he could hear stirring in the kitchen, “Gabby, check your phone! The Object is speaking again!”
         Gabriela still clad in the running shorts and tee shirt she usually slept in came into the bedroom carrying a cup of coffee, “What are you saying?”
         David handed her his phone and showed her the message. She read it and with her natural skepticism said, “How do you know it’s The Object?”
         “I’m sure it is but you check your phone and see.” She picked up her phone from her bedside table and checked for the message. She nodded when it was there too.
         She added, “Who’s Benjamin Planck? I’ve never heard of him.”
         “Let’s google him.” They both entered the name and scanned the entries. There weren’t that many and nothing stood out. No Benjamin Planck seemed to have ever done anything notable let alone done anything that would get the attention of beings from a different world. Lots of entries for Max Planck, not so much for Benjamin.
         “This just gets more bizarre,” David said. “The Object arrives and then except for the message about the missiles the Chinese and Russians fired at it, it goes radio silent for 4 weeks and then says it wants to talk to someone that nobody has ever heard of!”
         “And even