The Day Our Lives Turned Grey

It was Wednesday, July 26^th, 2023. I remember it like it was yesterday. The three whistleblowers walked into the Capitol. All were calm, cool, and put together very well. I remember turning the volume up in the Oval as they were sitting down. I’ve always been interested in this topic, and for some reason, I’ve never been able to get a briefing on it from the Intelligence Community. That’s one thing I learned quickly after being sworn in: The President has no real power.

After an hour or so of pointless questions, I grabbed the remote. As I was about to turn the hearing off, one representative asked a very intriguing question: “Throughout these crash retrievals has anything non – human been found?” No way she just asked that, I thought. I don’t think anyone was expecting the answer (or what happened afterwards). Whistleblower number one – the head honcho who started all of this – tightened his tie, sat up straight, looked the congresswoman straight in the eye and said “Ma’am, there were non – human biologics found at most of these crash sites.”

The room was silent. Eyes were wide and jaws were on the floor. Then, as if this were a short Science fiction story, there was a loud scream in the back of the room near the entrance. The cameras panned that way and what we all saw that day changed our lives forever. Escorted by multiple military personnel (even some that were armed), were three extraterrestrial beings. They were short, grey, and had really large heads with big, black bug eyes. Chaos erupted in the hearing chamber. Reporters, government officials, the whistleblowers and the civilians who were there on that historic day, all ran out of the building screaming. The beings, unphased by the madness, approached the few remaining congress people in the front of the room. They loomed silently and stood in front of the representatives for a minute or two. No one said anything. They just sat there in stunned silence.

“It’s okay.” One of the Greys said. “We aren’t here to cause trouble.” Wide – eyed, one representative said, “H – how can you speak our language? Can you understand me?” The Grey’s looked at each other and smirked. “Yes, we can understand you” a different Grey said. “We can understand you and speak your language with our technology. We have a multi – species (and multi – lingual) device, which is implanted in our brains and on our vocal chords. Wherever we visit, we can change the settings.” “Fascinating!” the other congresswoman exclaimed. The third Grey approached the congress people. “Now, as cliché as it sounds, may we please speak with your leader.” 

That’s when I finally turned off the television. As fascinated as I was, I was scared out of my mind. “Lydia! Lydia!” I screamed for a few minutes, until she finally came rushing in. “I’m sorry, sir. I was monitoring the lines, the phones are ringing like crazy. The other world leaders would like to speak with you.” “Tell them I’ll call them back later. Right now, I need you to tell the Secret Service to escort the first lady back to our room, and then bring me a shot of Jack!” I sat there after guzzling down the two shots that were handed to me. *Knock knock* Oh S&%# they’re here! “Come in…” I will never forget when they walked into the Oval Office. These little Grey “people”? “Mr. President…it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He extended his hand and I did the same. “You can just call me Jack.” “Hello, Jack. My name is Zenith, and next to me is my companion Punti. Over by the door is our colleague Tata.” 

“Nice to meet you all…” I said. I was still having a hard time processing all of this. “How can I help you?” “We would like to make an announcement to the world. Your country has the biggest platform on this planet, and your language is the common tongue. Jack, to be honest there is no time to waste. So if you don’t allow us to speak, we will do it anyways, in our own way, and you won’t be able to stop us.” What was I supposed to do? I had to let them speak. “Okay…follow me then.” As I opened the door I was met with glares from top military and intelligence community officials. Out of all those people standing there, only one spoke up and said “You’re doing the right thing, Mr. President.” I nodded and kept moving along while three aliens casually followed me.

After what seemed like the longest walk of my life, we finally reached the press briefing room. As I expected, it was empty. “All you have to do is turn the camera on. We will do the rest” Zenisth said. *Click* I nodded to signal we were ready to roll. I still had no idea how they planned to broadcast this to the whole world, but somehow they did it, and so they began. I remember Punti speaking: “People of Earth, we have visited you for many years in secret. We have met with leaders you did not elect and have discussed many things that concern you. Since your leaders have not made you aware of our existence, we decided it was time to do it ourselves. There are many things you should know and we have decided what is most important for you to hear right now in this moment. In the future, you will hear the rest. Right now, we want to discuss this world’s nuclear capabilities, why there will be nuclear disarmament, and what is happening on your planet. Currently, nine countries on your planet possess nuclear weapons. This is unacceptable. A few of you are inching closer and closer to nuclear war, which is why we felt it was necessary to make our presence known today. You see, your governments don’t fight for you. All of these petty little wars are about two things: money and control. These greedy humans have corrupted your governments, and only serve themselves. They don’t care what happens to any of you. If a nuclear bomb goes off, millions of your kind will perish, but your leaders will be safe. They’ve only made plans for themselves. They don’t really care about you or your planet. If they did, they would have destroyed their nuclear arsenals long ago. Your planet is also dying. She is fading at a slow speed, but we fear a nuclear blast will increase that speed. This is why, today, we are calling on all nations who possess nuclear weapons to destroy them. We are asking in a peaceful manner. If you do not cooperate, then we will disarm them for you. You have until tomorrow to make your decision. Thank you.”

The beings left the White House and retreated to their mothership. We couldn’t see it due to their cloaking device, but after watching them fly their saucer – shaped craft above the White House and disappear, we could conclude their main ship was right above us. This was the hardest day of my life. What am I going to do? If America gives up her weapons, who’s to say Russia or China wouldn’t take advantage and launch a nuclear strike? Can we trust the Grey’s to stop them? As of now, no. “Sir, the lines are going crazy again. Who do you want first?” “Lydia, I honestly don’t know. Whoever called first I guess.” For hours I spoke with leader after leader. NONE agreed to give up their nukes – and I don’t blame them. I think I actually agree with some of our enemies on this.

At this moment we needed to make a decision – either we put aside our differences and fight the Grey’s until they are dead and/or leave us alone, or we agree to disarm. I never once thought the second option was the one we were going to choose. So, foolishly, we gathered our militaries and prepared for a strike the next day. That night I could not sleep (for obvious reasons), so I went back into the Oval. What is going to happen tomorrow? Deep down I think I knew the outcome. As I sat there thinking about my life and the decisions I’ve made, the sun started blasting through the windows. Either that, or we just got nuked. Thankfully, it was just the sun! So, after making sure my family was safe, I gave the order to our generals to start with the attack. The other countries would soon follow from the air. Given that this ship was likely over the White House, I gave the order to evacuate last night. I was the only one left, and honestly, I wanted to fight too, but I knew that wasn’t an option.

I was escorted to a secret bunker a few miles away. Our attack was being televised for the world to see. As always, I was watching. I stared intensely as the first round of ICBM’s were fired. We were so obviously shooting blind. We assumed their mothership was right above us, but we didn’t know one – hundred – percent. After our first attack ended, their cloaking device turned off and showed the world the biggest craft anyone has ever seen! It was about the size of a football field, and had tinier ball – shaped crafts coming out of every side. This is it. This is war. The spherical objects exited the mothership and flew at impressive speeds. “There’s no way we can hit those” I muttered to myself. Missiles were flying all over the city. Craft, human and non – human, were zipping through the air. There were so many explosions it was difficult to tell if they were from the missiles or the crafts. “Sir” Lydia said as she stormed into the room. “People around the world are demanding an end to this. They are protesting in the streets!” 

“There’s only one way this ends, Lydia, and it’s not going to be pretty. This is a bloodbath, and I can put an end to it right now.” “How do you intend to do that, sir?” “The only way I know how. With our nukes. They are the strongest weapons we have.” She stared at me for a moment. Her face turned bright red as she screamed “You would kill humans too! You would be killing everyone in this city! It’s suicide for everyone except you.”  “Tell me, what else am I supposed to do?!” Lydia stormed out of the room with tearful eyes. That was probably the last time I would see her. I walked over to the desk. It was old and dusty. What did I expect? We were in a bunker after all. I picked up the phone, I punched in the code and was immediately connected with the soldiers in the missile silo. “Mr. President” a deep voice answered. “It’s time” I said. “Yes, sir.” I waited for the confirmation. Any minute now two nukes would be detonating over D.C. and into that mothership. “Sir…something is wrong…” “What is it?” I replied. “The code. The buttons. They aren’t working. Nothing is working!”

“They must have disarmed them!” I let out a scream in frustration as I slammed the phone down. What am I going to do? I ruined everything. So many people are dead because of me. Suddenly, the TV went silent. I lifted my head to see what happened. The fighting had stopped. The other countries had retreated, and our own military had to fall back. One of the spherical pods floated down onto the White House lawn. Tata exited and walked to the podium in the garden. She started speaking: “People of Earth, we warned your leaders what would happen if they decided to fight instead of join us in our quest for peace. Now, you see that we were correct. They don’t care about you. The leader of America was about to use a nuclear weapon to stop us – over his own city! He would have killed you all. We neutralized that threat, as well as all the others. We did not want anymore bloodshed today, especially after seeing the citizens of this world protest their leaders for peace. That is why we stopped our retaliatory attack. We came back to offer your leaders a second chance. If they refuse, we will leave you to destroy yourselves. However, if you accept, we will help you live in peace. Now, if President Peters would come out from his bunker and make a decision for his planet, we would greatly appreciate it.” 

I take back what I said – this was the toughest decision I ever had to make. We finally pulled up to the White House. As I stepped out of the car, I waved off my Secret Service detail. If anything were to happen to me here, they wouldn’t be able to stop it anyways. Tata gestured for me to speak at the podium. “What will it be, Mr. President?” She asked with a smirk on her face. I wiped the sweat off my forehead, straightened myself out, and started speaking from my heart in front of the whole world. “My fellow Americans…my fellow humans, the last seventy – two hours have been the most stressful and scary hours of my life. I’m sure you can all relate. Myself and other world leaders were faced with a tough decision, and I’m ashamed to admit we made the wrong one. We should have listened to you. We should has asked you! We work for you. You wanted peace and we should have tried to make peace. Instead, we brought more death and destruction to our world. I know it will take time, and some of you will never, but I am asking for your forgiveness. I accept the Grey’s offer for peace. I give them permission to destroy our nuclear missiles, and I hope other leaders do the same. Again, I apologize for my ignorance.”

There was nothing left for me to say. I stepped away from the microphone and stood there waiting. I was waiting for other leaders to step up. Minutes went by and the cameras sat there filming nothing but silence. That is until Lydia came out of nowhere. She was in a full sprint from her car screaming “Sir! Sir!” I’ve never seen her run like that before. “Sir! They’re calling. They’re all calling and they all agree.” I was in disbelief. All I could do was walk away, and go sit in my office. I poured a glass of whiskey (on the rocks, of course) and sat at my desk to reflect on what just happened. The world changed today. It changed so fast and in a way I never thought possible. Will there really be peace on Earth? Can we live side – by – side with aliens? Can we live side – by – side with our fellow humans? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

I remember that period of time like it just happened a few days ago. I think about all my worries and stresses and just laugh. A lot has changed since the Grey’s first made their debut five years ago. The human race put aside their differences and became one. We united for planet Earth. This helped us stop fighting with each other and also made us more accepting of all the different alien races that have come and gone. Some have stayed (Zenith and Punti wanted the “human experience” of buying a house) and some have gone on to travel the universe and spread the word about the new and improved Earth (Tata is a great ambassador). Humanity is doing well, and is putting Earth on track to become one of the greatest planets in our solar system. As for me, former President Jackson Peters, I’m doing just fine in my little cell. Our people put me on trial for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” for the whole “almost nuking our entire Captiol city thing (It’s okay. I deserve it).