One hundred and forty nine years and eight months after his journey had begun, Favuxo watched as the cadopeken space ship set down on the planet Earth. He'd chosen to make Earth the last stop of his journey in order to observe the event.
A large flat grassy area surrounded the ship. It was not a runway or landing platform, but served just as well as one. The cadopeken crew flowed out into the bright sunlight, following their mission leader. A large crowd of humans headed by sixty world leaders was there to greet the cadopekens.
The cadopeken leader stepped out in front of the crowd and held above his head a vial of the red fluid that Rezoaniel had presented to him before their journey had begun. While Favuxo and the Earth crowd watched curiously, the cadopeken injected a small amount of the substance into his bloodstream.
The body of the cadopeken leader collapsed inward upon itself. The implosion continued until the cadopeken's entire physical form had condensed into a ball the size of an atom, then the matter then exploded outward ten feet. Several cadopekens were knocked to the ground by the minor shockwave produced by the transformation. Their leader was then a stable cloud of energy with small amounts of visible matter still clinging to it through some unknown force. The bits of matter surrounded the area where the cadopeken leader's body had been, illuminating the newly creating being with a shimmering yellowish cloud.
For a few brief moments, thirty thousand human and cadopeken faces froze in identical expressions of fear and disbelief. Quickly, however, the majority of the humans began to back away from the energy cloud that was the cadopeken leader. Although a few individuals pushed forward to get a better look at the being, the giant mass of bodies withdrew by a distance of about twenty meters, as though anticipating some sort of danger.
A cadopeken crew member entered the ship and reemerged with a completely filled vial of the fluid. He handed it and a syringe to the nearest Earth representative. The woman held the vial high above her head, perhaps to let those nearby see it better. The material splintered the bright sunlight, creating a rainbow of colors on the woman's forehead. She lowered the vial to eye level, then for several moments stared into it. To Favuxo it looked as though she were deep in thought. To the humans it must have looked like she were holding a bomb, considering the clearance they began to give her as they recognized the look in her eyes. After a few moments, she poured a small amount of the fluid into the syringe as she had seen the cadopeken do, and quickly injected the fluid into her bloodstream. Within seconds, the woman transformed into a brilliantly sparkling energy cloud, yellowish in color, identical to that of the cadopeken leader.
Changing back into human form, the woman encouraged others to make use of the fluid. The vast majority had no interest, but a minority found themselves irresistibly drawn towards the opportunity to gain the mysterious power.
The events he had witnessed so far intrigued Favuxo, yet his vast experience told him that little else of interest was likely to happen for a while. In every first contact where he'd been present, or which he'd learned about from the collective consciousness, the first few days consisted of numerous failed attempts at communication. It was always later that major public unrest and occasional violent protests arose. It was the potential chaos that interested Favuxo, not the two equally inept non-telepathic species attempting to speak to each other.
Favuxo placed himself in an unoccupied hotel room not far away from the scene. Changing into a physical form for the first time in a long while, he found the bed to be quite comfortable. A television sat on a small shelf nearby, and he turned it on to the news. In order to judge how the humans would receive the cadopekens long term, he wanted to use the television to gauge the general reaction of the population to their arrival.
Favuxo was surprised to find that the situation intrigued him. He supposed that his interest stemmed mainly from the fact that he was soon to become a cadopeken, and what he was watching was sure to become an immortal part of cadopeken history. Also, in his existence Favuxo had been present at only seventy-nine first contacts. The knowledge that he carried of all the others at which favuxians had been present served as a poor substitute for experiencing the situations in person.
Favuxo thought for a few moments about the emotions he was experiencing, and then decided that he was not prepared to deal with such emotional attachment at that moment. He chose to discard it. He pushed it out of his mind.
On the television screen an old, formally dressed man with pale pink skin shuffled a few papers and then spoke. Favuxo listened intently.
"Everyone knows of the alien flying saucers that many people claim have been visiting Earth for nearly a century," the man began. "The top story today is the first officially confirmed contact of humanity with an alien species. People at the scene are still trying to figure out exactly what has transpired. Eyewitnesses report that after the aliens came out of their space ship, one of them held up a vial of blood colored fluid to the crowd, injected itself with it, and then transformed into a yellowish cloud."
The man paused for a moment, perhaps replaying in his own mind what he had said. He then continued: "We will, of course, soon have pictures and live video coverage to confirm all of this, so please stay tuned. Sources also say that aliens brought another vial out of the ship and gave it to the Premier of Syria. She injected herself with the substance, turned into an energy cloud being, then reverted to her normal human form and encouraged others to use it. A significant number have done so, as aliens brought a large quantity out of their ship. Although no official count has been taken as of yet, it is estimated that about nine hundred and fifty of the thirty thousand people in the crowd now have the ability to turn themselves into yellowish clouds of energy..." The voice trailed off. The expression on the face of the news anchor, although still stoic, betrayed that he felt he was acting out a part in an Orson Welles production of The War of the Worlds.
Favuxo changed the channel, finding a more up to date report. He found a channel which had a reporter at the scene, and Favuxo noticed something going on behind the reporter. The man seemed to be explaining the situation.
"- of the alien species has hurled a deadly ball of energy into the crowd after a human fired a gunshot at the alien. Nine people have died as a result of the alien's blast, and twelve people are seriously wounded. The human who fired the shot is now in police custody, as she was not one of those harmed." The reporter paused and a man with shoulder length blond hair joined him. His eyes were a solid dark blue, and his face showed the beginning signs of middle age.
"Joining me now is one of the leading military scientists of the United States of America, Dr. Leonard L. Gonelo. Doctor, how can the police protect the citizens of San Carlos? Obviously, it'll be hard for authorities to detain a being capable of killing large groups of people with a single thought."
Dr. Gonelo paused and tilted his head slightly upward before speaking, as though hoping to defer the question to God. "Can't lock up something that can go through walls. That'll mean we've gotta kill it. It looks as if our guns aren't workin' on it, since the bullet fired a few minutes ago didn't seem to hurt the thing. Luckily, I think a magnet of the right type could interfere with the energy patterns enough so it won't be able to go back again into the energy state whereby thoughts can happen. I've gotta talk to some other people about it, but it oughta be possible. If everybody works together really hard, we can make some kinda magnetized bullets that we could shoot outta guns. 'Course, if the rest of those things get dangerous, I really got no idea how much good we can do."
Favuxo turned off the television and went back to the scene, disturbed that he'd miscalculated. He was no longer with a physical form.
Oriented around the approximate center of the energy cloud that was the cadopeken leader, Favuxo surveyed the crowd. The situation had calmed somewhat, in the sense that the violence had been transformed into verbal warfare. Despite the fact that they played no role in the deaths, some of the spectators were voicing their opinion that the humans who could now become energy beings at any time were no longer truly humans.
A human energy being, in physical form at that moment, screamed a conflicting opinion: "You have no right to treat us this way just because we used the fluid. There isn't anything evil about being able to change to energy!"
One of the people in the crowd let out a desperate, almost insane cry: "The aliens have taken over their bodies! Those may be human bodies at the moment, but even when they aren't in energy form, their souls are alien!"
Another person quickly joined in. "We'll never let them take over the world! They won't escape here alive, will they?!" The woman paused for a moment, glancing at the faces of the people around her. "Will they??!!!"
Favuxo doubted that anything interesting could come out of this trading of insults, but he soon found himself to be once again in error when several humans changed into energy form and hurled blasts of energy at their challengers. The blasts caught a number bystanders as well, killing them instantly.
The guilty energy beings left the scene quickly. Most of the remaining energy humans left with them. Favuxo speculated they were fearing that people would blame them for what the others had done.
In an attempt to satisfy his ever increasing curiosity, Favuxo placed himself back in the hotel room. It was no longer unoccupied, so he quickly chose a room in another area of the city.
The new room was not as luxurious as the first, but Favuxo cared only that it had a television. As he turned it on, a paper taped to the top of it caught Favuxo's eye. It read: "Property of the Blue Sky Motel -- do not remove under penalty of death".
Favuxo discovered that reporters were still going over the recent events and trying to get an up to date death count. Finally, after going through the entire dial, he found a channel on which it seemed that a woman was about to conduct an interview. The interviewee was a man somewhere about the age of forty. He was visibly nervous, with his hands clenched and his body rocking slowly from one side to the other. The interviewer, in contrast, had an aura of calm professionalism about herself. She turned to face the camera and began to speak.
"I have with me now the police chief of San Carlos, Alfred Boeing. Chief, what are you doing to protect the citizens of San Carlos from the energy creatures already in their midst?"
After a few moments of nervous silence, Boeing responded: "I've decided that as soon as possible, every person in this city will be issued a gun and twenty of those magnet bullets Dr. Gonelo mentioned. Nothin'll be allowed in or out of the city until all of those creatures are neutralized."
"Chief, is it absolutely necessary to use guns?"
"Miss, guns have combated crime for hundreds of years. Doesn't it make sense to use the most experienced and effective tool at our disposal? What'd you got in mind? You think we should try throwing these magnetic things at them and hope they don't get outta the way and blast us?!!"
The reporter paused, reformulating her strategy. "You said everyone gets a gun. Does that include children?"
"It's especially important for children to be able to protect themselves. People just have got to remember that one of those monsters can come in through the wall of a house and get off an energy blast at a child way before any adult can get into the room."
The reporter asked no more questions, perhaps deciding that the police chief was providing an unquestionably positive service.
Favuxo, having heard all that he wanted to hear, turned off the television and stopped for a moment to rest. He remembered the last time he'd rested. It'd been almost a millennium since then. It'd been less than one ten millionth of his life.