It started as scattered whispers. Grainy footage from shaky cell phones, blurry clips uploaded to news stations struggling to keep pace. At first, no one knew what they were seeing, but the pattern was undeniable.
Across Earth, something was descending.
Insect-like craft, sleek and angular, cut through the atmosphere in eerie silence, bypassing satellites and defense systems without triggering alarms. They moved with precision, selecting only dense forests—Amazon jungles, Siberian taigas, North American woodlands—places where trees stood ancient and undisturbed. No bombings. No casualties. Just systematic harvesting.
Governments remained silent. Officials scrambled behind closed doors, likely as confused as the public.
Emma stared at the monitor, pulse hammering as the latest broadcast filled her lab. The reporter's voice wavered with barely contained panic.
"Unconfirmed reports are flooding in of unusual aerial activity. Witnesses describe insect-like craft engaging in unprecedented harvesting operations."
Beside her, Chloe sat rigid at the desk, fingers hovering over her keyboard. The monitor's glow reflected off her violet hair, giving her a ghostly appearance. Her usual sharp, quick-witted energy had vanished, replaced by cold realization.
Neither spoke. The disbelief that had clung to them hours ago had evaporated. There was no room for doubt now.
Emma swallowed hard, forcing herself to think beyond shock. "They're not just cutting trees," she murmured. "They're extracting something essential."
Chloe's fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up forestry satellite data. More blips. More pulses. Activity spreading faster than seemed possible.
"The Amazon is disappearing at speeds that defy explanation," Chloe said, voice tight. "Acres gone in minutes. This isn't conventional logging."
Emma turned to her desk where wood samples pulsed faintly beneath the scanner. The strands of energy within them hummed like living beings, resonating at that same unusual frequency she had detected earlier.
It wasn't just wood they wanted. It was something inside it.
"Chloe." She met her assistant's gaze with newfound resolve. "We need concrete proof to convince authorities."
"Something undeniable," Chloe agreed, already understanding.
Emma grabbed the nearest sample, mind racing through possibilities. "Their technology must leave traces—energy signatures, atmospheric disturbances, something that can't be explained away."
She tapped rapidly on her tablet, pulling up a map of reported incidents. "If we cross-reference these harvesting sites with our spectral data..." Her voice trailed off as patterns emerged on screen.
"They're working systematically," Chloe realized, leaning closer. "Not random attacks—they're targeting specific forest compositions."
Emma nodded grimly. "Which means we can predict their next move."
The lab fell quiet as both women processed the implications. They weren't just observers of an unprecedented event—they stood on the frontline of an invasion that humanity had yet to recognize.
And time was running out.