"What the..." The girl eyed the screen in astonishment, watching the dot on the screen grow bigger. "Peter. Come here." She saw his scowl out of the corner of her eye.

"What do you need, Olivia?" Peter didn't bother to turn her way, causing Olivia's heart to squeeze painfully.  Ugh.  Boys.  He was so oblivious. 

"You need to see this," she responded.  Grunting, he finally stepped out of his chair, and came to her desk.

"Olivia, I was doing some really important code-" His voice tapered off when he saw what she'd been gesturing to. 

"What in the hell is that?"  Peter's eyebrows furrowed, drawing down to cover his sapphire eyes. 

"I think it's a planet."  Olivia's voice was full of wonder.  And Peter knew he detected a hint of smugness lying in her tone.  The worst student in our program, possibly discovering a planet.  Should've been him.  "What should I name it?"  She turned to him, a light in her eyes.

"I don't know, but... look at that.  There's a signal coming off of it."  Peter put his hand on the screen, pointing out the small detail. 

"Oh."  Perplexity etched itself onto her face.  "Is that what that was.  I wasn't sure."

"Yes.  It was a signal."  He knew he was being condescending, but he didn't care.  Not when it came to Olivia. 

"What does that mean?"  She turned to face him, doe eyes widening, bottom lip slipping between her lips.

A smirk crawled onto his face. "It means someone's up there."

•••••

Commander Foster stood behind them, surveying their find with eyes that could've only belonged to an expert.  "You're right.  This is a planet."

"I know I was right, Sir."  Olivia bat her eyelashes, sending a smile that only made Foster's eyes narrow. 

"Martow, that kind of ignorance isn't going to work here." 

Olivia swallowed.  "Sorry, Sir.  Now, what should we call this mysterious planet?  Do I get the honor of naming it?"  The excitement crawled back into her eyes.

"Why," Foster drew out, ice lacing his tone, "would you think that?" 

"Well, um, I found it, uh, Sir." 

"But if Caldwell is correct, you couldn't identify the fact that there was a signal."  A cold smile played with the man's lips.  "And do you know what that means, Private Martow?"

Olivia drew back into herself, shrinking down in her chair.  "Um-"  At that, the commander let his gaze travel to Peter, completely bypassing Olivia.

"Caldwell?"

Peter bit back his smile, knowing he'd be reprimanded for his glee at Olivia's failure.  "There is someone or something up there causing a signal.  If we can get into that signal, we can get in touch with whatever's up there."

"Excellent.  Martow, print out the pages of your findings and bring them to my desk, immediately.  The commander-in-chief needs to know of this."

"Certainly, Sir," Olivia said with a frown on her face, but the commander was already moving away. Once she saw he was out of earshot, she turned an icy glare on Peter. "I can't believe you!" she wailed.

Peter obviously found some humor in this situation, as he was chuckling to himself. "What do you mean?"

"You could've had my back." She averted her eyes. "What will this do to us?"

His brows seemed to disappear into his hairline, forehead crinkling in confusion. "Us? There is no 'us'."

"But, but..." Olivia wracked her brain, hoping to come away with something that tied them together. "All these months. You, know, the flirting? You would help me and then tease me and I would tease you back-"

"Look, Olivia," he started, eyes softening out of pity, "I don't know what kind of phantom relationship you think we have, but whatever that is, it's a myth. We work at the same cubicle." One shoulder raised. "I have to talk to you."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I'm just gonna go..." And Peter Caldwell ran like hell.

Towards what?

I guess that's the question, isn't it?

•••••

King Garrik sat in their technician room, calmly reading the new report.

Apparently, someone on Earth had found them out. Great. Exactly what my great-grandfather wanted. Garrik placed his thumb and forefinger on the bridge of his nose, relieving the pressure. 

"Your Majesty," one of the scientists said.  "What are we to do?"  Only those of any importance knew of the upcoming danger.  Or advantage. 

However you wanted to look at it. 

The King watched the screen for a few moments longer.  The others surrounding him fidgeted with an air of impatience.  Before speaking, he held up one finger, stopping the hurried movements of those people.  "Let them come."

"What?"  His lead scientist, Molonym Zinhorn posed, incredulity apparent in his tone.  "Sir... You cannot be serious."

"Oh but I am, Molo."   Garrik Elpetor looked upon his companions.  "Eflaicury could benefit greatly.  Think of what they could do for us.  And us for them," he added as an afterthought.  "They are so overpopulated and we have so much land to give."  He offered them a smile, which on anyone else, would've been reassuring.  But this was King Garrik Elpetor. 

This smile was meant as a warning.  Don't cross me.

Molo wouldn't stop, though, until it has all been thought through.  "Your Majesty, shouldn't we at least consider," he lowered his voice, as though the next word he were to speak was a disease, "counters?"

At the thought, Garrik's lips curled.  Ugh, counters.

"It shouldn't be a concern.  We've told our children thousands of times how dangerous a counter would be to them- to our world.  They wouldn't even fathom the idea of being with their counter."

The scientist could no longer think of a problem to tell his King.  "Would you like us to contact Earth?"

"Don't bother," Garrik smiled again.  "They'll contact us soon enough."

•••••

Peter Caldwell stood outside the doors of the conference room, straining his ear to at least catch a piece of the conversation. The government wouldn't allow him to come inside when they first contacted the planet, but they would let him be there when it came to naming who had finally found them.

At first, Peter had told them that the credit should go to Olivia Martow, rather grudgingly, but they said she wasn't deserving. In actuality, they had kicked her out of the program. About damn time, Peter had thought when he found out.

Footsteps became louder from the other side of that door, and Peter leapt back away from the door, to the wall, where he took up his post. Out stepped President Mark Tyler. A huge smile caused the lines around his eyes to stretch out. "Private Caldwell." Peter promptly saluted the commander-in-chief.

"At ease," he said. Peter let his hand fall back to his side. The president turned around, back toward the conference room.

When he couldn't sense the boy following him, he gave a wave of his hand. "Come on. Someone wants to meet you."

The bundle of nerves that some people actually called Peter, walked after the president, and stared at the screen that took up nearly the whole far wall. "So, this is the man who finally found us," came a loud voice, one that demanded the attention of everyone he was talking to. And he sure as hell got it. Peter surveyed the man. He was young, probably in his thirties or forties.

"I suppose that would be me..." Peter's voice trailed off, asking a silent question.

"King Garrik Elpetor of Elfaicury." Wow, Peter thought. I'm talking to a king! He resisted the urge to jump up and down like the child he was. "And you are?"

"Private Peter Caldwell. Of Earth," he added, a smile on his face.

"Yes, I can see that. Well, my family and I, along with our ambassadors would like to thank you. For tracing our signal."

"Of course... your Majesty. Honestly, it was kind of exciting."

The king's head tipped up, a fraction of an inch, and Peter knew he was looking down his nose at him. Ass. President Tyler started talking to Elpetor again, and Peter let his eyes travel over everyone in the frame behind their king.

An older woman, probably the queen, with two teenagers - about fourteen - on either side. The royal kids, he guessed. On his right of the screen, stood a few others. A woman, who Peter immediately guessed as Garrik's sister. They had the same honey-colored hair, and pale complexion. Whereas his blue eyes were cold and demanding, the woman's were warm and welcoming. Next to her was a man, a husband. Sitting beneath them were two young-adults, he could say. The oldest was a man, definitely in his twenties, with mocha hair, and sharp green eyes that Peter could see from where he was standing. And on that boy's left was a girl. A girl whose mahogany hair tumbled over her shoulders, cascading around her face. She never looked up, always keeping her eyes trained on the ground, or the guy who was most likely her brother.

And then she smiled. At something that Peter wouldn't've known. He felt a strange tug from his chest, and confusion swept through him. What? Get yourself together.

Before he was dismissed, he looked at the screen once more - against his better judgment - and found a certain someone's pair of hazel eyes pinned on him.

Shit.