Silas Stone sat in a chair in the interrogation room. He tilted his head back slightly and stared at the light bulb overhead. A tiny insect had flown inside it and was circling the filament helplessly. The light baked his eyes dry. The discomfort wracking his body left him almost unable to think, yet the more it did, the clearer his mind became.
"Are you still hoping the military will come save you?" the agent across from him said. "They only ever saw you as a tool. They protected you only to keep us from finding you, so they could demand whatever price they wanted. They just didn't realize times had changed. This isn't like 9/11 anymore."
"Oh, right. You probably don't know this yet, do you? The Car Accident that destroyed your family was actually arranged by them. They put a tracker on your wife's phone, then killed her in a car crash and badly injured your son. You thought they had mercifully used alien technology to save your son, but in truth, they just needed a more useful tool."
"They used your son to threaten you, then used you to threaten your son. That way, both an expert in alien technology and the greatest hacker in the world would remain under their control. We're the ones here to save you."
"The military only wants to use your intelligence to start wars. We're different. For years, we've ruled this country. We manipulate elections only to make the United States greater. Join us, and you and your son will have a better future..."
"What has always prevented humanity from advancing is not ignorance, but Pride," Dr. Stone said in a hoarse voice. "We can learn, inherit knowledge, and gain more understanding to overcome our ignorance. But if we harbor profound