[u]1950, 19 December 2020, Northern Libya[/u]

Over the Libyan deserts, a single, lonely military Chinook transport flew over sand and death, the UN flag painted on its side. The steady beating of its rotorblades was loud, but oddly soothing to some of the occupants within, consisting of about 20 individuals - Mostly soldiers, but some were clearly civilians. From an airport in southern Libya and bound for an undisclosed UN base on the coast of the country, the Chinook ride was several hours long, and some of the passengers had either fallen asleep or nodding off.

In one corner, several well-to-do Chinese nationals, scientists from the looks of it based on their clean and learnt-looking bearings, were having a lively discussion. If one were to listen closely with an advance understanding of the language, one would find out that they were having an intellectual debate on the likelihood and nature of alien contact, as well as other hot topics in theoretical xenobiology. In another corner, a pair of Singaporean soldiers, one male and one female, both without rank patches on their chest and looked like they had just left high school, were having a friendly conversation in their own country version of English, talking about missing Durians and other kinds of local cuisines. They looked extremely close, and shared some resemblence. Their nametags gave them away. Both were surnamed Chew. Some were neither sleeping nor chatting. Those were the loners; single representatives of their respective countries. In another corner (delineated along socio-political lines rather than the boxy boundaries of the passenger compartment) was a stoic Gurkha from Nepal, and in another was a Libyan soldier serving the UN in his own country, lost in his own thoughts. An Indian soldier was having a staring contest with his Pakistani and Bangladeshi counterparts.

The UNXIPU, or the United Nations Extraterrestrial Investigation and Policing Unit, had just started up to the mockery and chagrin of the world, and it was only with superior media coverage that the world was distracted enough not to throw stones or rotten eggs at the movement. Most, if not everyone, from professional political analysts down to the layperson and even some members of UNXIPU, expected the organisation/mission/what-have-you to fall apart in the matter of months. Even the Chinese scientists in the Chinooks had gotten around to that topic before - joking that UNXIPU was a holiday getaway, someplace to have some fun discussing about alien life and contact scenarios. Increase in UFO activity or not - that was how it was. Most experts would put the increased reports down to how the world is increasingly becoming interconnected, allowing trends and memes to spike unimpeded, causing mass hysteria on an unprecedented scale that was only fortunate not to be destructive. There were numerous explanations. It didn't have to be mass hysteria. Some of the more positive detractors had it down to an increased population with increasing literacy rates and the resultant eyes on the sky. With the proliferation of communication networks thrown into the mix, the result was increased UFO activities.

"This is the pilot speaking. Approaching Uniform November Bravo. ETA 10 minutes." A voice that sounded British spoke calmly into the headphones worn by the passengers. "Hang on tightly to your bladders, sirs and maams." The voice finished with a twist ending that was quite a departure from how the service announcement began.