My suggestion was met with smiles and nods of agreement.

The Nishi-Shinjuku district of Tokyo contains almost a third of the tallest skyscrapers in the city. As soon as we broke through the clouds, the cluster of buildings towering over their surroundings made it the obvious target.

“How do we want to handle this?” I asked the room.

“We want as many witnesses as possible,” Patrick replied. “Sheldon, how do you feel about flying down some of the wider streets between buildings?”

“Like flying down the canyons on the Death Star,” Nat added.

“I would like to do a recon pass while invisible, but assuming no obstructions, I think I could make this interesting for everyone.”

Nat had been tapping away on her tablet. “So according to my notes, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observatories are a very popular tourist destination. We could finish off by circling them a few times.”

“I will add that to my itinerary.”

Nat sat back, crossed her arms, and frowned. “Is this actually going to work?”

I shrugged. “If by this you mean the overall strategy, I think so, yes. We’re just going to keep at it until there’s nothing else on the news but saucer sightings.”

“Ready to go,” Sheldon announced. “Cloaking field off. Hold on to your buttocks.”

The view changed abruptly as Sheldon went into a steep dive. I put out my hands to steady myself, although there was never any feeling of motion within the ship. We dove almost straight down, then curved to horizontal along a long, wide thoroughfare. The buildings and landmarks were whipping by far too swiftly to pick up on anything, and I wondered if we were shooting ourselves in the collective foot with this strategy.

“Sheldon, people need time to get out their phones and take a video.”

There was no reply, but the headlong rush abated significantly. The craft took a right at a major intersection, turning ninety degrees onto its side to make the turn. That was probably unnecessary—with inertial dampening, there was no reason to bank.

The Halo stopped at the next intersection, hovered for a few seconds, then took off in a different direction.

“We are heading for the Observatories now,” Sheldon announced. “I will spiral up the buildings. By that point, I estimate the Japanese air force will have deployed interceptors. While I do not anticipate them launching air-to-air missiles, I believe it would be prudent to, as you put it, amscray.”

Patrick laughed. “With you all the way, buddy.”

“I am not—” Sheldon cut off the rest of his response as we arrived at the base of the observatory buildings. The Halo began a wide spiral around the cluster of skyscrapers, gradually gathering altitude. There would certainly be no problem with getting phones out for videos.