Reporter: Dr. Laakkonen, given the increasing unrest around the world, isn’t it time to come clean? Is there or is there not an alien infection?

Laakkonen: There is not. We have one crew member who was injured in some kind of accident. No virus, bacterium, or other biological pathogen, terrestrial or alien, has been detected. No other crew member has succumbed to any similar effect.

Reporter: Then why is the ICDC involved, Doctor?

Laakkonen: The captain of the mining vessel was unsure of the circumstances and, in an abundance of caution, requested our presence and a quarantine. It is our mandate to respond to all such incidents.

Reporter: Why is the quarantine still active, then?

Laakkonen: We have not ruled out a non-biological basis for the injury, such as a toxic agent of some kind.

Reporter: But surely that’s not within the ICDC’s purview?

Laakkonen: Our staff are onsite. They are, for better or worse, part of the quarantine. Since they are as skilled and well-trained as anything that another agency could field, they might as well be useful.

The reporter, unable to make a dent in the official patter, sat. Another reporter immediately stood.

Reporter: Doctor, we’ve gotten hold of a list of specialists who’ve been consulted on this situation. Cybernetics? Xenobiology? Xenoepidemiology? Is that even a thing? How do these apply to the mundane circumstances that you are trying to portray?

Laakkonen: We don’t second guess our field staff, sir.

Reporter: Okay, Doctor, let’s try this. Is there evidence that this is alien in origin?

Laakkonen: Technically, we don’t have enough information to rule it out.

Reporter: But do you have enough information to rule out a purely terrestrial source?

For the first time, Laakkonen hesitated. Ivan understood the rules as well as everyone else. She couldn’t lie outright. If she did, she would be done as a media spokesperson. But misdirection was okay.

Laakkonen: Opinions are still split on that question.

The reporter scanned his notes for a moment, then sat down.

Another reporter stood, instantly recognizable. Roberta Harrison from Topic Zero was generally considered to be equal parts piranha and pit bull when pursuing a story, and it was significant that she was part of today’s scrum.

She consulted her tablet for a moment, then looked up at Dr. Laakkonen. Her expression could best be described as a predator considering how best to disembowel its prey.

Harrison: Dr. Laakkonen, isn’t it true that your crew member is suffering from considerably more than a mere injury? In fact, isn’t he or she in the process of being converted into something completely non-human? And didn’t the agent responsible for this transformation, in fact, try to EAT the mining ship? Isn’t that really why everyone is in quarantine? Because there is a real, credible danger of an alien presence that could bring the literal Gray Goo scenario to pass?