Mission to a Star

They arrived without warning! First, a blip on the radar at Mount Palomar. Then, the ships – sleek, silent, and dubbed "Scorpions" – sliced through our skies. From them stepped beings indistinguishable from us, if we were all at a genius-level intellect and in flawless physical condition. They said they came in peace. Their charismatic leader addressed a world suddenly united in awe and apprehension, speaking to the UN not as conquerors, but as… old friends? Their philosophy was chillingly clear: true enlightenment means possessing the power to annihilate, and choosing restraint. Their mission? Purely scientific, they claimed. All they asked for was our trust, our friendship, and the freedom to operate. For how long? They wouldn't say. To prove their "peaceful" intentions and unimaginable power, they offered a demonstration. An island was selected. Before the eyes of the world, a single Scorpion ship unleashed a blinding energy. When it cleared, the island was simply… gone. Vanished. Seven years later, Earth was still theirs for the taking. Yet, no demands, no overt control. Just an unnerving, silent presence. A "scientific mission" with no end in sight, no answers given. Humanity existed under their watch, a planet holding its breath, feeling the subtle shift of benevolent, yet absolute, authority. Then, the silence broke. A man ventured too close to their damaged, now off-limits ship. He was found later, a shell of himself, his personal history erased, leaving only raw intellect and fragmented whispers of "glory." Under hypnosis, the full memory returned – and with it, a terror that threatened to consume him. Jim Lawrence is pulled into the enigma. His mission: uncover what happened to this man, and pierce the veil of secrecy the Scorpions have maintained for nearly a decade. An impossible job, when the subjects are beings who could erase a planet with a thought. This is more than first contact. It's a journey into the heart of a seemingly perfect alien civilization, the horrifying truth it might conceal, and the desperate gamble humanity must take. Because sometimes, saving a "superior" race from its own terrifying sickness means venturing into the unknown—even if it means confronting your gods.