A massive object has appeared in the sky. Someone shouted, "It's a giant object!" It looks like something straight out of a movie—the title "Space Battleship" seems fitting. However, because such a thing shouldn't exist in reality, "object" was the only word that could be uttered in the moment. Tourists all looked up at once. Even though it was high up, its sheer scale—like a small mountain—was unmistakable. It stayed there, silent and still as a cloud.
The crowd in the plaza was panicked at first, but slowly, they began to process what they were seeing. The object resembled a spacecraft from an SF movie or a Netflix series. If it were a typical flying saucer (UFO), one might think it was a prank. But this thing, floating high above the plaza, gave off a sense of physical reality—as if such a structure could actually exist and fly in this world. People even began to wonder: Could this actually be a spacecraft?
Suddenly, someone looking at their phone yelled, "That’s an alien warship! They said it was coming to the plaza today!!"
The front and back of the ship were clearly distinguishable, with engine exhausts visible at the rear. From their vantage point below, the tourists couldn't see the top. Interestingly, something resembling an engine outlet was also visible in the center of the ship's underbelly.
As soon as they realized it was an alien spacecraft, an unknown dread began to swell in the hearts of the tourists. It was a form of primal terror. This stationary alien vessel was being watched not just by the tourists, but by the entire world simultaneously. It was being live-streamed on YouTube and spreading rapidly across global social media.
Fear is the anxiety we feel when we don't know what the future holds. Because the entity hadn't been fully revealed, the dread was doubled. But once faced with the reality, that dread multiplied into a chilling fear. The mere confirmation of its existence and its stillness in the air injected terror into humanity. Then, people realized: this wasn't a phantom fear without substance.
The thing floating in the sky is matter; it exists. It is a fear with a visible, physical reality. It is real—not a movie.
As tourists share images of the warship, people are expressing their thoughts in real-time:
"I guess I don't have to go to school or work anymore."
"Men, let's gather and arm ourselves."
"Someone find the location of the nearest underground bunker."
"This is the end of humanity."
While many are panicked, surprisingly many others seem to welcome the arrival:
"We all die anyway. Whether it’s aliens or a bullet, it’s all the same."
"The dictatorship is over. Free us!"
"The war is done. Build a new world."
"The gods you worshipped never existed. The God of the Universe has arrived."
Philosophical and realistic perspectives from around the globe continue to pour in:
User A: "If you were in North Korea, watching people being gathered in a plaza and executed just for listening to K-pop or watching Squid Game, you would feel a terror beyond words. Your whole body would shake with grief and fear. Seeing a spaceship in the sky feels like joy. It feels like liberation."
User B (South Korea): "My mortgage is due tomorrow and I have no money. I have no way to get it. I’m terrified of that. I don't care if there’s a ship in the sky or not. Honestly, this is better."
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User C (USA): "I'm an immigrant. I can't go out during the day for fear of being shot and killed. I'm scared of this reality. I welcome the spaceship."
User D (Iran): "I threw stones in the street against the dictatorship. I wanted to take off my hijab. But we lost. That is much scarier than this."
User E (Gaza): "My daughter died in a missile strike. I can no longer feel fear."
Humanity interpreted the situation in their own ways and began to overcome their fear through their own perspectives. Then, a smaller craft was seen descending from the massive warship toward the plaza. If the hovering ship was the Mothership, this looked like an alien fighter—though it was much larger, closer to the size of two or three large commercial airplanes. A hangar door opened at the bottom of the Mothership, and the craft headed straight for the center of the square.
Some tourists began to back away and flee, but human curiosity was great enough to rival the danger. As the small craft approached, soldiers and police who arrived late began pushing the crowd back.
Just as the craft came into clear view, an incredible, ear-splitting noise erupted. People had to cover their ears with both hands. They ran out of the plaza to escape the sound. Sensing the vibrations, they instinctively knew the ship was beaming sonic waves directly into the center of the square.
Strange enough, once they stepped outside the central perimeter of the plaza, the noise stopped. Everyone realized: Don't go toward the center.
Everything happened in a flash. It took only ten minutes for the craft to touch down softly. Even for a "small" craft, it was massive.
The hangar door opened. Out stepped a woman who looked East Asian, accompanied by an officer and a large unit of soldiers. The woman looked perfectly human—long skirt, elegant tied-back hair, and a calm stride. She was a beautiful Asian woman, looking as if she belonged right here on Earth.
The soldiers, however, were different. Their uniforms were pitch black, and they wore black helmets and capes. They held objects that looked like rifles, but their structure was strange; the ends flared out like the bells of trumpets. They didn't look like they fired bullets. The soldiers formed a square formation with these "trumpet guns" facing outward, reminiscent of the Praetorian Guard protecting a king in the Colosseum from the movie Gladiator.
One soldier carried an antique-style chair and placed it gently in the center of the plaza.
The Asian woman who descended from the hangar walked slowly toward the chair and sat down. She let the hem of her long skirt fall gracefully and crossed her legs. Then, she opened a book she had been carrying since leaving the spacecraft. It was Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. It was a surreal, grotesque sight. Standing before her, an officer appeared to be guarding her like a sentinel.
The tourists and soldiers were struck dumb by the sheer absurdity of the situation. People remained at the edge of the plaza, while soldiers began to control the crowd under orders from high command.
News that an alien craft was heading for the central plaza of Capital R had already reached the front lines, and more troops soon swarmed the perimeter. Vadim was among those soldiers. Meanwhile, Natasha, who was on her way out from an interview with government officials, was witnessing the events in the plaza in real-time. The soldiers surrounded the square, rifles at the ready, prepared to enter full combat mode the moment the order was given.
The President’s office was located right next to the capital’s central plaza. A craft claiming to be "mercenaries of the enemy" had bypassed the nation's entire air defense network, remaining completely invisible to radar, and landed right on the President's doorstep.
To the government of R, the military leadership, and the politicians, this was a clear act of aggression—a terrorist attack and a declaration of war. They all shared a singular consensus: an immediate counter-response was the only option.
Permission to use weapons was granted to the units stationed in the high-rise buildings surrounding the square. The soldiers controlling the perimeter simultaneously leveled their rifles at the spacecraft.
The order to fire was given.
Rat-tat-tat-tat! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A barrage of weapons opened fire at once, the roar of combat echoing through the plaza. Five minutes passed in a blur of intense engagement. Bullets and projectiles screamed toward the ship, the alien soldiers, and the woman in the center.
However, they hit something in mid-air and ricocheted away in bursts of light. Not a single shot penetrated the inner circle. A defense shield had been deployed—an invisible barrier in front of the soldiers' formation that no one had noticed.
Perhaps that was why the woman remained entirely unfazed, calmly continuing to read her book.
"Cease fire! Stop!" shouted an officer from the assault unit.
Natasha pulled a memo pad from her bag and began to record the scene. Vadim, busy controlling the crowd at the edge of the plaza with his unit, had not yet spotted her.
As the attack ceased and a heavy silence fell over the square, something began to manifest in the empty air behind the seated woman. Huge letters began to appear, floating in the sky like a hologram.
