The Alpha Choice by M.D. Hall

produced from his inside jacket pocket a silvery, oval pebble, no larger or thicker than a spectacle lens. He leaned over and placed it on the desk between them, and did this without saying anything.
    Hugo looked down at the tiny object, and slowly lowered himself back into his chair.
    Tala spoke again, her voice tinged with empathy. ‘Your reaction is understandable. We can’t expect you to take us seriously, without some proof that what we say is true. With your permission, we’ll provide you with a demonstration which, hopefully, assures you as to our credentials. Of course, if you remain sceptical we’ll definitely leave, and trouble you no further.’
    He thought through what he had heard, and the possible implications. There was nothing to be risked by allowing their demonstration, and he had to admit, despite his initial reaction, his interest was piqued. They, obviously thought the demonstration would elevate their fantasy into reality, and he would like to see what was capable of doing that. He nodded.
    Tala looked at her companion, who closed his eyes for little more than a couple of seconds. As he opened them, there appeared above the desk, a group of three-dimensional images. They appeared solid and showed a blue green planet not dissimilar to photographs he had seen of Earth taken from space. Orbiting the planet were two moons. The motion of these bodies was speeded up, and he could see in the distance, as the planet turned on its axis, its star, yellow like the Sun. Approaching the planet was a matt-silver, ellipsoid object, which he guessed was some kind of spaceship. It had no visible means of propulsion, and no protrusions. If he was right, and it was a spaceship, he would expect it to have windows, but what do I know about spaceships? he asked himself.
    It was impossible to tell its size, but one thing was certain, it was heading towards the planet and, as it descended, his viewpoint altered. It was as if he was descending with the ship.  
    The approach to the surface was very rapid, and as they broke through the clouds he saw, laid out below him, a green brown continent edged by a blue sea, just as he imagined it would be on Earth.
    He/the ship’s decent noticeably slowed, as they traversed a vast mountain range. Looking down he could see the shadow cast by the ship on the rock formation below. The ship had to be the size of at least six football fields, if not bigger. As the worn crags fell away behind him, a coastline filled the horizon and, nestled on the edge of a huge bay, lay a city the like of which he had never seen, or imagined.
    The first thing that struck him, was how elegant it appeared from a distance, with buildings and spires, sweeping upwards towards high pinnacles at its centre, and that was where he/the ship was heading, at an incredible speed. Despite not being on the ship, he still felt nervous, even more so when they passed the outer boundary of the city, and there was nowhere to land. He/it began to slow, dramatically, while at the same time, one of the central buildings, in one fluid movement, swiftly sank into the ground. Once out of sight, a large landing stage slid, seamlessly, into place from below ground.  
    They descended and hovered, as far as he could tell from his vantage point, almost touching the landing stage. As if in answer to his supposition, the image rapidly expanded, bringing him ever closer to the ground, until he was to one side of the ship, looking at the space below it. He was right, the bottom of the ellipsoid hull was suspended just above the landing stage.
    He rose to a point where he could, comfortably, see the ship as well as the central part of the landing stage, and watched as they both descended below ground. Moments later, the image was filled by the re-emergent spire. Everything was back the way it had been, with nothing to suggest the ship had ever been there.
    The images disappeared. He was back in the familiar surroundings of his office, and