Date: June 1, 2440
Time: 12:22 CST (Chicago Standard Time)
Q: What went through your mind the moment you heard an alien ship was going to land on your land?
A: I hoped it missed my house. My family’s been living in it since the 1860s.
Q: How did your community react when they first saw the ship?
A: There were a lot of mixed emotions, and a lot more people are still processing the situation. The consensus is amazement at its size. While I’ve seen bigger mountains and even a few taller skyscrapers, most of my people haven’t. This thing rises nearly 1,700 feet as a vertical wall above the surrounding land. The tallest mountain in the Ozarks is just under 1,800 feet above sea level at its peak, but it’s only a thousand feet above the surrounding valley.
Q: Did you consider evacuating your family before the landing?
A: Sadly, I don’t have a family to evacuate anymore. We didn’t have much warning. The AI system that finalized the landing site picked this area about fifteen minutes—and one orbital pass—before touchdown. I did have everyone in the immediate area move further out if they could, once we were told where it would land.
Q: What was the first thing you did after the ship landed?
A: Tried to figure out what they were thinking—and if they were thinking about what we were thinking.
Q: How did you ensure the landing zone and surrounding area were secure?
A: All roads leading into the Freehold, or lands controlled by my other interests, are toll roads. Checkpoints are manned 24/7 by my own people. No one crosses my land without my say-so.
Q: How did you plan to feed and house so many people on such short notice?
A: I didn’t have a plan. I still don’t. I’ve got a phone full of notes, ideas, and people trying to help me get one in place. What mattered was that these people fell out of the sky onto my land and needed help. The logical decision was to help with what I could and figure out tomorrow… tomorrow.
Q: Were you concerned about cultural clashes between your people and the V’ren?
A: I still am. The V’ren I’ve met seem like good people, and if they’re representative of the rest, the Freehold will be lucky to have them.
Q: Besides T’mari, who was the first V’ren you spoke to?
A: K’rem T’all, their acting captain. The initial party was six strong and included representatives from their command structure, medical, and logistics.
Q: What were your first impressions of Captain W’ren’s message?
A: He seems like a man who deeply cares for his people and his family. I look forward to meeting him in person.
Q: What stood out about T’mari when you first saw her?
A: Trite answer? She was green. Better answer? She’d just survived a battle, lost friends—maybe family—and still greeted me with poise and concern that they’d disrupted my land.
Q: Why personally invite her to stay in your home?
A: I need an advisor close at hand. She isn’t the only one I invited, but she’s one of the best suited to help me navigate this.
Q: What made you decide to speak first during initial contact?
A: Someone had to. I’m a friendly sort.
Q: Why offer sanctuary before corporate or military clearance?
A: Fuck that. This is my land. I’m not beholden to corporations or their military divisions. I’m a sovereign government in my own right as a post-Collapse American Freeholder. My land, my responsibility.
Q: Were you concerned about how Amazon or other corporate powers might react?
A: I’m sure the lot of them were pissed off. Amazon and I have had a good working relationship for twenty years. Once they realized it was better to have a strong partner than a resentful, overaged, forcibly reinstated captain, we came to an understanding. The others should have made me a better offer first.
Q: Were you worried the refugees could be lying?
A: Sure, but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. So I chose to accept them at face value.
Q: What do you expect from the V’ren in return for your hospitality?
A: Personally, I get a workforce I could only dream about. Locally, we get a huge economic boost. As a planet, we gain knowledge and technology we couldn’t have imagined finding in our lifetime. I’ve advised them to go slow—license rather than give everything away—so they become partners who can pay their own way with their own know-how.
Q: Were you surprised how fast the V’ren integrated?
A: No. My people are used to disaster relief and triage work. They’re professionals.
Q: How do you see them fitting into your long-term plans?
A: As friends and neighbors.
Q: Why offer them land instead of letting corporations decide?
A: My land, my call. I don’t need a focus group to know right from wrong.
Q: What’s your biggest fear now?
A: That no matter how much I give, it won’t be enough.
Q: How did your background in logistics help?
A: I didn’t see it as a problem—I saw it as an equation.
Q: Did you ever lose control?
A: No. I laid out the rules early. Now I’ve got 100,000 more people willing to defend this place too.
Q: What about quarantine risks?
A: We isolated who we could. But life’s risky. That doesn’t change in the face of aliens.
Q: Did anyone try to stop you from offering sanctuary?
A: Not in time. By the time anyone would’ve objected, it was already a done deal.
Q: What has T’mari taught you?
A: That we are more alike than different.
Q: What was your take on their social structure?
A: It doesn’t matter anymore. They’re here now. They’ll have to adapt to our ways, just as we’ll adapt to theirs.
Q: What surprised you most about the refugees?
A: Nothing. Their government did what looks good on paper—just like ours used to.
Q: How did it feel losing nearly 200 acres to the landing?
A: Like watching a paycheck go up in smoke. But one with a silver lining.
Q: Final thoughts—what message would you send to humanity?
A: Keep calm and carry on.
Q: And to the V’ren who haven’t landed yet?
A: Welcome to Missouri.
Q: What’s your vision for the future?
A: That Mondays still come too soon and weekends end too fast. Some things shouldn’t change.
