Following an unbelievable real-time performance on America's Got Talent, a team is formed to locate a woman who vanished in Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, intelligence reveals her connection to an unidentified spacecraft, leading the White House to determine that she poses a significant threat to U.S. national security. Consequently, finding this woman now ranks as a higher-priority mission than tracking terrorists.
In truth, a dispute breaks out among U.S. government agencies over who should hold the authority to arrest and interrogate her. Ultimately, the ODNI (Office of the Director of National Intelligence) brokers an agreement between the various departments.
The resulting organization is composed of:
- FBI (2 members): For domestic and local police coordination.
- CIA (3 members): For gathering intelligence on spacecraft from Territory U and R.
- DIA (3 members): For satellite surveillance and field agent deployment.
- NSA (3 members): For signals intelligence (SIGINT) and cyber operations.
- Scientists (4 members): Including a physicist and three others.
The team is officially named the Joint Space Threat Response Task Force, or JSTR. The direct reporting line shares information simultaneously with four individuals: the White House Chief of Staff, the President, the Secretary of State, and the Vice President. Under normal circumstances, primary reports are delivered to the Chief of Staff.
The leader of this entire team is Scott W. Turner, who has just turned sixty. A retired Army General, he graduated from a prestigious New York military academy before entering the service, living his entire life as a soldier. The fact that he is actually a high school friend of the President remains unknown to the media. The President’s decision to appoint Scott specifically to this organization signals a profound level of trust.
Scott is a logical, philosophical, and goal-oriented man.
He was once a member of the Democratic Party. He liked the progressive stance that prioritizes social equality and human rights over rigid tradition. He also appreciated the idea of spreading democracy worldwide to showcase American excellence. However, as time passes, he begins to feel a growing distaste for the attitudes of those who support the party. Though he never voices it, a sense of repulsion builds in a corner of his heart.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Immigrants, Muslims...
Hispanics, Mexicans, Drugs, and "ignorant" Black people. And one more: the Chinese...
Scott believes that what these terms represent could darken the greatness of America. He grows increasingly angry at the Democratic Party’s tolerance toward these groups. While he cannot shout his hatred aloud, he finds it intolerable that his own daughter, son, or friends might adopt such "tolerant" thoughts and behaviors.
America was great in the past and will be great in the future. He is infuriated by the fact that he must stand by and watch these elements ruin the country. Yet, Scott cannot change reality; he merely watches from a distance.
After becoming the leader of the organization, Scott dispatches two agents to countries U and R. While the aerospace vehicle is not aggressive,
the vital mission is to find its weaknesses.
Additionally, they must find the Asian woman who gave that incredible performance on AGT.
JSTR’s cyber agents scan the woman’s face from the TV broadcast and
upload it to a supercomputer. Using AI scanning connected to CCTV cameras across the U.S.,
they set an alarm to trigger if a face matches hers by more than 90%.
Fifteen days have passed since the aerospace vehicle was discovered,
and roughly the same amount of time since the woman disappeared from Santa Barbara.
So far, she has not been found. Then, the alarm rings.
A person resembling the Asian woman appears on the large monitor.
She was spotted today at noon at Pier 14 in San Francisco.
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Scott shouts in excitement:
"Search all her possible next destinations!"
"The next location is the street in front of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco."
"That’s Market Street in downtown San Francisco. Check the entire street!"
"Yes, sir..."
"She is passing in front of the Montgomery subway station. The face is an exact match."
"Lucas, Henry—both of you go to San Francisco right now and verify."
"Scott, how should we handle the arrest? If she’s an alien, there might be heavy resistance..."
"Hmm... the police are closest. Tell the SWAT team she’s a terrorist and have them arrest her. Don’t mention anything about aliens."
"Scott, her final destination has been found. She is sitting still on a bench. Bringing up the satellite feed."
Through the satellite, the woman is seen in real-time from above.
She appears to be wearing very ordinary clothes.
Wearing pants instead of a skirt, she sits with her legs crossed, staring silently at the entrance of a building.
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llik sits on a bench in the forecourt of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in downtown San Francisco.
Founded in 1984, the museum reopened in 2008 in its current form—a repurposed historic power station. It is a space that reflects identity through culture, art, and modern works rather than just Jewish history itself; a place that questions the present rather than merely exhibiting the past.
However, it is currently closed. Beyond the glass doors, the lobby is silent and dark, with no sign of anyone entering or leaving. Only the city's ambient noise brushes past the closed entrance.
The museum's forecourt is much wider than expected—a modern plaza unfolded between high-rise buildings that stand like folding screens. The afternoon light glimmers faintly over the smooth stone pavement, and instead of tourists, a few exhausted office workers and homeless individuals sit scattered on the benches. It is a place where people of the city linger to catch their breath rather than to see an exhibition.
Illik leans back and looks up at the sky. The narrow strip of blue cut between the buildings looks like a crack leading to another world. Every time the wind blows, the sound crossing the plaza hits the empty museum walls and echoes back.
Illik closes his eyes and rests against the bench.
From deep within his distant memories, golden-hued roads blown by sandstorms and the blue sea appear in turns. A very long time ago, he traveled through the lands now called Iran and the sites of Israel. It was a time before the Common Era (B.C.), when neither calendars nor era names were properly recorded.
The world in those days was much simpler.
People found their way by looking at the stars, and city gates closed when the sun went down. The markets were a mix of the scents of spices and wine, and there were people who shared bread even with strangers. He recalls sitting by a fire under the desert night sky with nameless people, laughing together without understanding each other's language. That journey was as warm and leisurely as an old song.
But when he opens his eyes, there is only a city of cold glass and concrete before him.
Though the names of the lands remain after thousands of years, the expressions of the people living upon them have completely changed. In news segments and people’s conversations, that region is no longer a land of spices and starlight. It has become a name stained with anger, fear, and never-ending tension.
Illik looks down at his hands.
He remains the same being, but it feels as though only the world has grown old.
"It was... truly good back then," he mutters in a voice so small no one can hear.
--------------------
"What is that museum she’s looking at?" Scott asks.
"Ah... It’s the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco."
"Right... anyway, did you deploy the SWAT team?"
"Yes, they've been contacted."
"But why is she just sitting there?"
"That museum is currently under construction and closed to the public. There’s no one else in the plaza in front of it..."
Furthermore, since it is winter, it is too cold to be sitting on a plaza bench.
Yet, she remains motionless, legs crossed, staring intently at the front of the museum.
Illik sits like that for 15 minutes, appearing to do so intentionally.
Everyone in the JSTR monitor room watches her. They see the SWAT teams swarming in via satellite.
The SWAT team exits their armored vehicles, surrounds the woman, and shouts.
The woman calmly places her hands on her head and kneels.
It looks as if she has been waiting.
Handcuffed, she is loaded into an armored vehicle and taken to the police station. Scott speaks with a puzzled expression:
"Hmm... contact the FBI field office in San Francisco and have them move her from the police station to the FBI."
—-------------------
Five hours after the arrest, Scott receives a text from Lucas and Henry, the agents who went to San Francisco:
‘Target secured. Moving to LV base. However, this woman is asking for someone.’
Scott calls immediately upon reading the text.
"Lucas, what do you mean? Who is she asking for?"
"She wants a person named Jun-ho from South Korea to be brought to the U.S."
"Why?"
"She says the South Korean government needs to know what she has to say."
"I don’t understand... regardless, bring her in."
Scott orders a background check on Jun-ho. His profile appears on the large monitor:
- Age: 65
- Career:
- (Former) Vice Minister of the South Korean Ministry of National Defense
- (Current) Advisor to the South Korean Ministry of National Defense
- Family: None
Scott issues one more command:
"Request cooperation from the South Korean Ministry of National Defense to investigate this individual named 'Jun-ho'."