A couple of days passed with preparations and anxiety. The people of Argos

  had changed, from the slow and lazy group of people to a fast-paced society.

  Advancement was accelerated, and exploration was progressing, but people were

  not happy. There seemed to be no ease of mind. No peace inside the hearts of

  humans. Fear was often discussed, and Konoya spent most of her days trying to

  work her way through people’s minds. Then, in the middle of the second night, the

  north cameras went offline, and in a matter of seconds, everyone was up and alert.

  “This is what we waited for,” said Bara. “Anais, Giuli! Do you see anything?”

  “I can’t see anything in infrared,” answered Anais.

  “Quickly turn all lights on. It might be cloaking its body heat,” said Bara.

  Giuli’s voice proved how pumped with adrenaline she was. “I have visual. I

  think. Its wearing something that makes it hard to pinpoint. It distorts light.”

  “Dispatch the drones and shoot on sight,” ordered Bara.

  “He is incredibly fast, and it looks like he is trying to approach you with what

  looks like swords. The few bullets that make it to target seem to be washing over

  him. Is it due to his speed or his armor, I can’t be sure,” said Anais.

  “Swords? Don’t take chances. Shoot, everyone shoot!”

  Jain, who was looking at everything through the monitors, turned to Alex. “He

  is very fast, but it seems like it’s working. He is slowing down.”

  “Everyone, get out and shoot it until it can’t move. Aim for the chest,” ordered

  Bara.

  His maneuverability made him a very hard target. It looked like he was

  dodging the bullets.

  Albert, who was the one further out on the wall, saw him approach from

  underneath and sheath his swords.

  Then he climbed the wall with one agile leap and stopped. He stood in front of

  Albert for a brief second, then a hail of bullets fell on him. Some words in a yet

  unknown language came out of his lips. He fell down immobilized, and Jabir came

  above him pouring some liquid on the edge of his hands, which dissolved the foam

  and allowed for Bara to tie his hands and legs. They removed his weapons and took

  him to a room while wrapped with restraining bands like a mummy.

  For four days, everyone worked hard to gather as much information as they

  could from his weapons and armor. Meanwhile, Konoya, who was the only one in

  contact with him, tried to learn basic things about him. She started decoding his

  language with the help of Orcish that he was fluent in. He was very comfortable with

  technology, and he understood the process of teaching the machine his language

  immediately.

  His weapons were made of some strange metal alloy, which at first look did

  not have anything special other than being incredibly tough yet lightweight. Upon

  further investigation, it turned out that the blade was made with some technology that

  would vibrate the edge of the sword and keep it sharp. Although it weighed next to

  nothing, it could cleave through a tree. He was also equipped with a small

  weaponlike device that fired short bursts of electrons in a cone shape that could fry

  electronics within a few meters’ distance. It could also focus the beam and burn more

  precise targets further away. His uniform was a mesh of one-atom-thick layers of

  different elements with composite sheets in between providing protection from

  virtually anything and could distort most electromagnetic signals that tried to bounce

  off of it. It was hard to categorize his arsenal as that of a warrior or an assassin.

  In the couple of days it took to identify the properties of his equipment,

  Konoya had made a complete translation of his language. He spoke something that

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  looked to be the root of all the other languages of this world. Also, his looks would

  categorize him into the elf kind of lore back on Earth, but since his diet consisted

  primarily of animal blood, they decided to call his race Vampires. The statue that had

  long troubled humans finally had found its origin. A species that was nearly

  impossible to separate from humans unless thoroughly examined.

  “Hello, Eldon. My name is Alex. I am the leader of these people here. Let me

  start by asking you, why did you attack us?” said Alex in his native language.

  “Who are you? Where did you come from?” asked Eldon.

  “We are humans, and we came from the stars,” Alex answered vaguely.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Eldon fearlessly.

  “I would rather switch this conversation into one where I ask the questions,

  Eldon. You attacked us by taking out our cameras. Now you should focus on

  answering questions.”

  “I did not attack you. If I wanted to attack you, you would be dead by now,”

  said Eldon arrogantly. “I was merely curious about you. I thought you were someone

  else.”

  “Who did you think we were?” asked Alex.

  “I can’t answer any more questions now,” said Eldon.

  Alex left the room to talk with the others.

  “Bara,” said Alex, “from what you saw, is it the truth? Could he had taken all

  of us out if he wanted?”

  “I hate to admit it, but it’s possible,” said Bara. “If he hadn’t stopped, he would

  have entered the city without much effort.”

  “I don’t know if that’s useful now, but I know how to defeat him,” said Steve.

  “So, if we were to go against a few of them, we have weapons that are

  effective against them?” asked Bara.

  “Not exactly,” answered Steve. “A direct plasma shot would probably go

  through the armor he was wearing, and even if it did not, it would cause a lot of

  damage. But plasma is slow, and he seems to be able to somehow dodge bullets.

  The answer is quite simple. Lasers. A high-power laser would go through the armor

  like it was paper.”

  “Have you tested this on his armor?” asked Bara.

  “No,” answered Steve, “but we don’t need to. The camouflage technology he

  uses works in a way that would not reflect a laser beam. It would try to absorb it.

  Also, it is impossible to dodge a light beam.”

  “Great job, Steve,” said Alex. “Prepare a couple of weapons like that as soon

  as you can.”

  “And how will we aim them?” asked Bara. “If he starts moving the way he did,

  then we can’t aim at him”

  “Any solutions to that, Steve?” asked Alex.

  “Not really. It’s hard to program a robot arm to target something it can hardly

  see. His armor renders him almost completely invisible to most sensors.”

  Alex sighed. “Prepare the weapons, and let’s hope we don’t have to fight

  more of him. In the meantime, we need solutions for the targeting,” said Alex and

  took a deep breath. “Now, what do we do with him?”

  “We might need to let him go immediately,” said Jain.

  “That makes more sense,” said Juuda. “Why do you say so, though?”

  “If he is not back to his base, there might be more coming soon,” answered

  Jain.

  “Well, I think that he has not harmed us, so we let him go in a gesture of good

  will. Also, we have a prisoner now? What are we?” said Juuda in an angry voice.

  Alex raised his eyebrows and opened his eyes wide. “You’re right!” he said.

  “This is not the right way. What are we to do if he does not comply and talk? Kill him?

  No! We need to let him go!”

  They all looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

  “I will try to talk to him one more time and then let him go. It’s a risk we have

  to take. In the meantime, a weapon against a possible fight with him should be our

  top priority,” said Alex, as he moved toward the room in which Eldon was kept.

  “I am quite disappointed, Eldon,” said Alex, sitting in front of him. “You made

  an aggressive move against us, and then you refuse to talk to us.”

  Eldon leaned his head to the left and curiously watched Alex talk.

  Alex continued, “Your aggression, however, has not put any of us in danger,

  and therefore, you are free to go. I only wish you could understand that we are not

  your enemy. If you need something or you decide to talk with us, come to the front

  door during the day. Like a friend. We would have much to discuss.” With that, Alex

  stood up, and Nick entered the room, giving him his gear.

  While walking toward the gates of Argos, Eldon could hardly hide his surprise.

  Partly because he was let free and partly because most humans would approach him

  as he walked to take a better look. Like they had no fear. They were amazed by what

  humans would consider his near-perfect characteristics.

  The following days went by with Argos spending more time and resources developing

  technologies based on the items found on Eldon. Without them, however, research

  was not very fruitful. The glass that everyone on the planet seemed to be using for

  various applications had its own unique abilities, which were discovered and

  reproduced. With just a few artifacts, Argos began developing technologies and

  materials that would otherwise be far from conception.