After briefly introducing Sector 7's origins, Tom Banachek got straight to the point.
"You may remember that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory lost the Hound II robot on Mars."
"We told them to declare the entire mission a failure, but that wasn't the case. Hound II transmitted thirteen seconds of footage."
"This is information more classified than top secret."
As he spoke, Tom Banachek turned the laptop in front of him toward John Keller and pressed play.
John Keller immediately focused on the screen.
The entire video lasted only thirteen seconds. Everything was normal at first, showing nothing but footage of the Martian surface captured by the exploration robot. But in the final few seconds, a vaguely humanoid shadow suddenly appeared on the ground.
Then, the exploration robot seemed to come under attack. The footage began shaking, and at the very end of the video, a tall steel figure flashed past.
Then the screen went dark.
After watching the brief thirteen-second video, John Keller's expression grew even more grave.
Tom Banachek looked at him and slowly said,
"There's more than just rocks on Mars."
Tom Banachek then took out several more photographs from his briefcase and handed them to John Keller one by one.
"This is an image transmitted from Mars. This was captured when your special forces base was attacked. We believe they have the same exoskeletal structure."
"Clearly, this isn't something any other country could possess."
Both photographs were somewhat blurry, but their overall outlines were still visible. Looking at the exoskeletal structures in the photos, which clearly surpassed modern robotic technology, John Keller found himself largely agreeing with Tom Banachek.
"You're saying it's an alien invasion?"
As John Keller spoke, he looked at Tom Banachek. Yet he could not help recalling the female analyst who had been detained.