In a café in Beijing, a Russian diplomat sat waiting, an anxious man looking around and checking his watch.
He was waiting for someone, and although he tried to act naturally, his hand slipped and a glass of water fell to the ground and shattered.
The waiter came quickly: "Let me clean it up now."
"No need, it doesn't matter."
But the waiter continued his work indifferently.
"Anything else you want?"
"I'm waiting for someone, leave me alone."
"You're waiting for me, but you didn't even see me."
He was standing before him, having approached without any sound.
With those cold eyes and scarred face, without a doubt, it was him.
The man sat before the Russian diplomat and extended his hand for something, he wanted something from the Russian.
The Russian handed him an envelope with several organizational seals.
He opened it to find handwritten information in several different scripts, referencing a research base affiliated with China's Ministry of Science and Technology.
In the vicinity of Beijing.
Research name: Laozi Wisdom and Philosophy.
As always, the Chinese like to name everything ambiguously.
The sound of rain tapping on the café windows could be heard, what better time to start than this.
"By the way, you can go too."
The Russian diplomat stood up and looked at him one last time, but he didn't care at all: "I hope you succeed."
At the research base, dozens of Chinese researchers were present, professors of literature, history, philosophy, medical sciences, and physics and materials engineers.
All of them were discussing, taking notes, and writing reports. The noise was so loud that it made concentration difficult for the guards present.
There was a monitor in the hall showing another hall, the hall was dark but a spherical object was visible on the monitor.
He watched the Chinese through a small camera connected by wire to his tablet: "Seems like whatever it is, it's related to that other hall."
He was wet and muddy from the rain and tried to enter in a way that his presence wouldn't be felt.
It was as if he was waiting.
A flash of lightning struck and he broke through one of the base's doors with his shoulder, no one could distinguish the sound of the door breaking from the thunder.
A soldier came to check and found only a wet trail on the ground, he thought maybe one of his colleagues had gotten wet in the rain and come inside.
The soldier continued his patrol and the man walked behind him like a shadow, his movements exactly like the soldier's, even his breathing was quiet but matched the pulse of the soldier's breaths.
There were no cameras in the corridors, whatever was happening here wasn't meant to be recorded.
The man suddenly stopped and the soldier continued on his way, he had reached the hall he wanted, several scientists seemed to be present in the hall.
He opened the hall door and entered: "Hello, sorry if I'm interrupting."
"Who are you?"
"They told me to come and draw a hand sketch of the appearance of that thing, since digital recording apparently requires permission."
One of them, in a white coat: "Okay, no problem."
"There's paper and pencil here if you don't have any."
"Really thank you, my papers got wet."
"Did they keep you outside long?"
"Yes, they even told me I had to stay outside the car the whole time."
"It was the same for us at first, if nothing else, this is humanity's first contact."
First contact?
What the hell are they talking about?
Now that he looked closer, this thing wasn't connected to anything but was suspended in the air at a short distance.
He sat down and began to draw, directly facing the floating sphere.
He paid attention to anything that might be important and drew professionally, one design after another.
One of the professors pointed to the monitor: "Who is that sitting there?"
Another professor came before the monitor: "He's turned away, if he turns back we'll see him."
"Probably from the literature or history department."
The second sergeant in charge of the hall approached the monitor, though it might be difficult, he knew everyone because that was his job.
Even though it was dark and he was turned away, his broad shoulders were still visible.
These weren't the shoulders of a literature or history professor.
Turn around.
Turn around so I can see.
The man turned and looked at the camera in half-profile, then turned back toward the sphere: "He's a tough guy, do you recognize him, Colonel?"
Yes.
Of course I recognize him.
I didn't see his scarred profile and his relatively long hair was in front of his face.
But the day they asked me to come here, they gave me a file with a name and told me: if you see him, don't engage with him, just report it.
Operational officer of the Intelligence Protection of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran: (##### . ######) ###.
The sergeant went to the second hall and told one of the soldiers to announce code number three.
He entered the hall.
All eyes except one, who continued drawing, turned to the colonel.
"Something wrong, Sergeant?"
The sergeant glanced at the designs in his hand: "I have something to discuss with the designer that requires you to leave."
The sergeant had never made such a request before, of course it wasn't a request but an order.
When the last person left and the sound of their footsteps faded, he went behind him: "Unauthorized entry into military zones is forbidden even for diplomatic and consular guests and carries punishment."
The man turned and now his scarred profile was visible: "Don't talk so much Chinese, I'm more comfortable with English."
So it really was him: "Unauthorized entry into military zones..."
He quickly cut him off: "I understood that much."
Bastard. "Does the Iranian government accept the consequences of your actions?"
He stood up and went toward the colonel: "I've come on behalf of the Iranian government for mutual cooperation in joint scientific discovery."
"Joint scientific discovery?"
"You couldn't get everything out of Yemen, whatever remains is in the hands of Iran, or in other words, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran."
Obviously I'm lying, except for the sword I barely borrowed for this mission, there's nothing else.
But in negotiation, do future commitments matter? I'll let them research the sword under supervision and give me access to the floating sphere's research, under the pretext of transferring more objects, we'll both keep the sword and not pay the research costs for the sword itself.
One of the scientists was called to the hall, when the old man in the white coat entered, he stood beside the colonel and the mysterious man, the colonel began telling the story and the mysterious agent's requests.
The scientist turned to the mysterious man: "When can I see the sword?"
He reached into his coat and pulled out an object resembling a candlestick: "Right now."
The sergeant was a bit surprised: "You said you have a sword related to this unknown object? What is this?"
Light up.
A blade of fire and light appeared before the colonel's face.
Everything was visible on the monitor, the shock and astonishment of all the professors and scientists at that moment caused a sound like cheering and clamor throughout the base, which was heard in the hall too, a sign of the value of what was in the mysterious man's hands.
The scientist knew how important it was to understand the energy powering the sword, and even if nothing could be gained from the floating sphere, from an energy source that emits light and heat, the mysteries ahead could be solved.
The scientist began speaking to the mysterious man: "I'm the head of the research department and the decision-maker here."
"I already stated Iran's conditions, do you want to add anything?"
"No." Huf. "I agree with all the conditions, and I'll even send a letter to the Iranian embassy and the Ministry of Technology and Information regarding cooperation in a joint project."
I thought he'd object to the one-sidedness of the demands, so I was prepared to retreat from my positions, but it seems he really wants the sword.
Extinguish.
The mysterious man extended his hand for a handshake: "I look forward to working with you."
Fizz.
The floating sphere, which had shown no reaction until now, slowly descended to the ground and something like a door slid open.
The thing with an unknown nature finally opened, and the rush of guards and professors from the first hall to the second began.
The sergeant, the mysterious man, and the scientist didn't know what they were dealing with.
Inside the sphere was dark, but something moving was visible, arms, legs, a body, and now a humanoid creature resembling a male human but with white hair and green skin, wearing something like a uniform.
All three took a few steps back.
It pointed at the Iranian agent.
It wanted something from the Iranian agent.
Its gaze was on the sword in his hand.
So it had been waiting for the sword the whole time? If it hadn't come here from the start, it would have stayed in the sphere.
The scientist, with trembling legs, was approaching the creature, he knew it was wrong, but this was an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime.
He stood before the creature and raised his hands as a sign of goodwill: "Hello."
The creature grabbed the scientist's collar and threw him, this creature hadn't come with goodwill and only wanted its sword.
It went toward the Iranian agent and tried to take the sword by force, but was pushed back by a strong punch to the face.
The sergeant first looked at the scientist and saw that he could get up, so the agent also engaged the creature and grabbed its collar.
The guards and professors reached the hall and watched the struggle of the three with astonishment.
The creature punched the sergeant's ribs and jaw, pushing him back, but the Iranian agent kicked the creature in the stomach and threw it down.
"That's enough, you bastard."
"Stay on the ground."
But the creature charged again, lifted the Iranian agent off the ground and slammed him down, taking the sword from his hand.
As it was getting into the sphere, the sergeant attacked from behind and locked his arms around the creature's neck.
The Iranian agent, staggering, got up and ran toward the sphere.
All three were inside the sphere when its door closed.
The sphere floated into the air again, and a white light surrounded it like something burning.
The scientist was shouting: "Get out of there!"
The sphere pierced the base's ceiling and disappeared into the sky at a speed beyond comprehension.
The sphere was moving through a tunnel of light, in the darkness inside the sphere, a red light suddenly lit up.
The creature had activated the sword, and the struggle between the three continued.
The Iranian agent tried to hold the sword's hilt in a way that the creature couldn't use it, but the creature's strength was greater than the Iranian agent's, and the fiery blade of the sword was approaching the Iranian's shoulder and neck.
The sergeant, seeing this scene, charged at the creature with a loud shout, and the creature fell onto the sword in its hand, and the sword split part of the sphere.
Through the created seam, white flames entered, and fire reached the bodies of the three.
The sphere deviated in the tunnel and spun constantly while moving at great speed.
The Iranian agent and the sergeant grabbed onto anything they could see and held on.
And a heavy collision.
The sphere was practically split in half, and the creature fell outside.
The Iranian agent exits the sphere and covers his eyes, an intense and hot light burns his eyes.
He opens his eyes a little and sees a green and vast plain, and the sun is at its highest point.
The creature had fallen a few steps away, so he cautiously approaches it, and with surprise sees that half of the creature's upper body is burned, and in its burned hand it still holds the sword.
"Fool."
"If you had grabbed onto something instead of that ridiculous sword, you'd be alive now."
He staggered out of the sphere and fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?"
The sergeant, after a few moments: "Yeah, I'm fine."
The Iranian agent picked up the sword and put it in his coat and went toward the sergeant.
"Hey, any idea where we landed?"
Huf. "No, but we're not in China anymore, it's midday here."
"I figured that much myself."
The Iranian agent helped the sergeant up: "Hurry, we need to go."
"Why?"
"If this crash is a celestial object, people and police will swarm, and we don't even know what country we're in."
"But at least we should take the creature's body."
"To take its body I'd have to let go of you, and I don't touch the body of an alien creature that might have unknown diseases."
No problem, I'm used to hard days.
This is just another hard day.