Funny, how she was talking about how treaties and diplomacy can achieve peace just now, and they found out that Earth had two major wars and a number of little ones off the reveal of Exodus... Well, the concepts of embassies and treaties and neutral arbiters and paths of escalation and de-escalation should still apply... Well, pray the same doesn't happen here, with first contact. At least not for a long while.

"...Let's start heading back to Nivis and try to get at least, like, four hours of sleep tonight. I think... We should still be relatively open with information, and the previous decision still makes sense. We'll want to try to recover whatever we can about this FTL device... But it can wait until tomorrow. Maybe even until next week. Let's get going."

Halfway through the night cycle in the improvised visitors' quarters, there's a faint whirring sound in the ceiling, and then something drops a tiny mini-PDA (the size of a credit card) with a note taped to it through a narrow gap in the ventilation duct, on to the bathroom sink.

(No cameras in the bathroom! She's so clever!)

It lands with a bit of a clatter.

The note says:

To the aliens, if you can read this:

This device is designed to stealthily send and receive text messages to a group of concerned citizens of Nivis. As long as you only use it when not in view of the cameras (machine eyes) in the main conference room and hallways, and when this picture appears: [drawing of a check mark] - it should be undetectable to the Security people. You should not use this unless you need to. It is unlikely but possible that it will be traced back to us if confiscated and analyzed.

If Lucy Carver's administration is treating you well, I'm glad. However: Trust, but verify. We are working to provide options and alternatives if they are necessary for what is right. We hope that contact between Earth and whatever name you have for this planet is good for all people, for a brighter future!

-S