He woke up like it was any other day. 6:00 A.M., cup of instant coffee from his Keurig, some name brand cereal with 2% non-fat milk, 15-minute shower. Suit and tie, comb his hair over like usual, a little gel, then grab his briefcase and head out. Elevator down with Ms. Murphy again, listening to her mumbling to herself about the orange pops again. Get in his run-down smart car in the garage, and head out again.

            7:43 A.M. now, almost going to get in late. He grumbled under his breath about this asshole in the next lane trying to cut him off. The highway drive was better than usual, though, so he didn’t have too much to complain about. He took the run-down ramp off the highway, noting the recurrent presence of that giant truck tire that had appeared some two weeks ago now. He’d named it Phillip out of boredom.

            7:55 A.M. now. He was turning into the parking lot of his office building with a reluctantly determined sigh and finding his parking spot… then the sky opened up. It was nearly impossible to describe in any other way than that; it just opened up. The entirety of the cosmos lay above without obfuscation of any kind. The light of distant stars and nebulae bore down like the peering eyes of God. He was about to step out of his car but belayed that order as he saw this event silently transpire.

            It wasn’t silent much longer, as a deafening boom rang out shortly after the sky opened; windows shattered, car alarms went off, electronic devices began to short circuit and break. His car was no exception, buzzing and honking repeatedly. Now he just HAD to get away from his vehicle – that honking driving him mad. He threw himself out of the door and rushed inside his office complex to hide.

            Part of him just needed to know what was happening, though. He found his coworkers crowding up at any windows they could get to, looking up at the wound in the sky in anticipation, murmuring to themselves about what they thought was happening. He wasn’t used to speaking to anyone but his boss, preferring to stay quiet around everyone else for fear of sounding like an ass, but he found himself joining in the conversations. Aliens, a biblical event, some government conspiracy come to fruition… all sounded plausible. Somewhat.

            All conversation stopped as a deep reverberating rumble began to shake the world around them again, as if the opening had become some gargantuan speaker. Everyone doubled over in pain and held their heads to stop the violent rumblings in them. From the void in the sky emerged an enormous shape, two pyramids conjoined at the base, white as snow and bearing subtle carvings across its faces. As the final vertex cleared the starry sky, it closed in an instant and that familiar blue sky returned. The sounds stopped, and everyone hesitantly looked back out the windows at their new visitor. It hung in the air in perfect stillness, silently casting a shadow over the masses.

            He looked on in suspense at the massive shape, mind abuzz with ideas about what it could be… or what it could mean for humanity. Were we not alone after all? If so, then whatever was out there could bend space to their will to send this object to us. Are they malevolent or benign? There’d surely be news reports about this, the president might make some address, NASA would start investigating, hell, the cults of the planet would be going insane for sure.

            But for now, it was work time. He picked himself up, dusted off his suit, and wordlessly set out to his cubicle. Those company taxes wouldn’t file themselves.