It had been 181 hours since life on earth was changed for ever. 181 hours since humankind had learned for certain that they weren't alone in the universe.<br/><br/>The ship had emerged without alerting NASA, or any other body that observed the heavens for a living. One minute, the skies had been clear, the next, it had descended from the clouds, just off the coast of Florida. As near as anyone could tell, it was the size of a small city, and almost set up like one. The bottom looked like the lower half of a circle, but the upper section had towers and distinguishable structures. From the top, it looked like a section of a vast, advanced city.<br/><br/>At first, humanity had held its breath. Some people had expected the ship to announce that it came in peace, while others were sure it was here to say that humanity was being absorbed into its empire. After all, it clearly had technology beyond that of earth. Except the ship didn't announce either of those things. It didn't say anything, and any attempt to get close to it was repelled by some sort of invisible barrier. For almost eight days, humanity had watched it, waiting for it to reveal doom or a new age of prosperity.<br/><br/>Finally, 181 hours later, it send a single message. The sound took over every TV and radio station in the country for roughly a minute, before every broadcast returned to normal. Rather than promising peace or destruction, the message simply indicated that a single human would be allowed aboard. The individual had already been selected, as the message named a reporter, leaving most to suspect that this was to be an interview. There wasn't much in the way of time to debate the issue, however, as the message also listed a particularly trying deadline. 15 minutes. If their guest wasn't ready in 15 minutes, the window of opportunity would close, and the visitors would remain an enigma. Already, every government that could was trying to reach out to the vessel, to ask for clarification, or at least some assurance. But just like before, they were ignored. The ship had made a request, and now seemed content to wait and see whether or not that request would be answered.