[ WP ] For years we thought spacecraft were being sent out for exploration , NASA have just announced they 've been driving back an invasion , and as of today , they have failed .

The rumbling noise grew as dust fell from the ceiling of the concrete shelter. Inside the hot crowded room hundreds of people were abuzz with fear, fear of what their world looked like above. The dust-filled cots were mostly empty as their usual occupants huddled in groups on the floor. The few who chose to ignore the alarm sat numb on their cots, staring blankly out into the room. 
 
 Among the group who chose to ignore the warning was a man and his son, the boy resting his head in his father's lap as he slept. The man's cot was in the corner of the shelter against a wall in a darker section of the room. Above was a broken light that would have otherwise kept his small gray corner a fraction brighter. The man had a hand placed upon his son's head, moving it through his hair as he slept. 
 
 Looking at his watch the man breathed in the hot dusty air. The time read 10:40 PM. 
 
 *Sixteen hours*, the man thought to himself. 
 
 Sixteen hours ago, the man recalled, he was getting ready for work, watching morning cartoons with his son. The pictures played through his head hundreds of times since then. One second his son was laughing, the next no one seemed to breathe as the TV cut to an emergency broadcast; the President sat at a microphone flanked by other men. 
 
 *This is a message not only to the American people, but the rest of the world. Today, the culmination of over fifty years of research and spaceflight has led us to this moment. This moment however is not the one we envisioned when we first stepped foot upon our moon. For lack of time I want to be clear and concise in what is going to happen in this next twenty-four hours. * 
 
 The man shuddered at the memory and attempted to clear his mind. It was not effective. 
 
 *NASA, as you know it, is not exactly what it may seem. The first moon landing taught us many things, one of which was never released to the public for fear of panic. On that day in 1969 we discovered something sinister, something that today will change humanity as we know it. * 
 
 The man remembered the tone of it all, the scared cold eyes of the president, the feeling of impending doom. 
 
 *We discovered a distant species, one that was arming itself and organizing rapidly. These last few decades the United States and NASA, along with a dozen other nations, have been using exploration as a proxy to help drive back an invasion. The vessels we have sent had been militarized, the crews and their families briefed, and various leaders on this Earth had been informed of this growing threat. * 
 
 The man then recalled the last transmission before the TV went dark. 
 
 *As of six-o'clock this morning, those vessels and their crewmembers had been lost. We could no longer fight their forces back. This broadcast is to serve as a warning and to prepare the world for what is to c -- * 
 
 The walls shook as a thunderous volley of explosions struck above. The man breathed in deep the hot and dusty air again and looked up towards the surface. Children cried and people screamed as the explosions grew louder, the shaking more violent. 
 
 `` Dad,'' the boy opened his eyes, awoken by the chaos. 
 `` When is it going to end?'' he asked groggily. 
 
 The man looked down from the ceiling as a crack formed above. He fixed his eyes upon his son's. 
 
 `` Soon,'' the man said.
