OVERTIME IN THE OFFICE AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL

The lunch break had just ended and they were back to work. They knew when they came in the morning, they would have to work overtime today to get the job done.

    It was predictable what some institutions were doing. School, hospital, factory... But there are some places that were unpredictable. This company was such a company.

    Kenan had been working here for about four years. When asked where he worked, he gave a uncertain answer. "Avant-Garde Consulting." The word "consulting" was understandable, but most people didn't understand, even when he explained what they were doing.

    When Kenan took off his headphones, he heard the sound of the television on in the office. This was one of the reasons for using headphones: Not hearing the sound of the news channel that is always on on the television. “Can you work while listening to the news?” he asked Serkan, as he had asked hundreds of times. Serkan didn't answer as always. He probably hadn't heard. He wasn't hear the news. "Does anyone listen to the news," Kenan wondered. He had turned off the TV several times. At that moment, most people were starting to grumble. It was weird, but he wasn't going to voice a logical comment for this situation. He didn't want to make a comment like, "Such irregular noises help people focus on their planned work. The silence that occurs when these noises stop is regular and causes people to shift their focus to it." Such a comment was already the first comment that came to people's minds. "I shouldn't confused my mind," thought Kenan. However, a second and third comment had already occurred to him. All of these comments were so embarrassing.

    Now, the person to mess with was Tuna. Tuna had started work two months ago. Kenan liked messing with Tuna the most. "Because, because," thought Kenan but he couldn't continue. He hadn't thought about why yet.

    “Tuna,” Kenan called out.

    "Yes?"

    "Don't look at the TV, okay," said Kenan. "Try to guess the time by listening to the server and its news."

    Tuna started listening to the television. “…and here we are with the 2 pm news,” the host said. He smirked and didn't answer. Kenan have disappointed and left there to go to someone else.

    It was 9:37 pm and everyone in the office was working. They knew they couldn't work efficiently as the clock ticked, but they would work until the night. Maybe even until morning. Overtime was an activity that would not be preferred for Friday evenings.

    The news and talk shows were passing one after another. Kenan, on the other hand, was listening to an hour-long version of a song he liked. By the time it was finished, he had planned to open its ten-hour version. He noticed an irregularity in his field of vision. When he lifted his head, he saw that Defne was making weird hand gestures to him. “Was Defne in the office today?” he thought this as he took off his headphones.

    Everyone gathered in front of the television. There was a "BREAKING NEWS" headline and the presenter was talking trying to keep her calm, "It started about two hours ago... uhh, a lots of news started to be reported from different parts of the world two hours ago. The numbers of these reports have been multiplying. It is not yet known what this phenomenon is. There is a similar sky in different parts of world, regardless of day or night. There is a lot of sparkle in the sky. We can't say anything definitively, but people associate it with aliens. We have received several zoomed clear images. We bring these images taken by amateur astronomers to our screens... Each of these sparkles seems to consist of a group of vehicles. Ihh... Now we ask your permission for a while. In order to avoid misinformation, we need to verify the information and sources we have received. We will be with you again in a while." The broadcast stopped and the ads started.

    Everyone in the office was silent for a while. The silence was getting more and more awkward, then Kenan's forked voice was heard. "Who would think of writing a 'BREAKING NEWS' headline in a situation like this? Then they streams the footage as if it were a normal broadcast. So the news crew is seeing everything as normal?"

    No one answered these questions, of course. Neither Kenan answered to these.

    After a while, everyone sat in the nearest place they could find and started making small talk. Everyone had a lot of questions in their minds, but no one was voicing them by addressing everyone. They have wanted to ask the most important question first. But no one knew which was the most important question.

    Serkan was the first person to address the group. "So what are we going to do now? Will all the work in the world stop? If it does, how long will it stop? Or will we continue to work?"

    Everyone turned their eyes to Selen. Selen was the manager of this unit and everyone was waiting for her answer. Selen and others initially considered this question a philosophical question, but since the person asking the question was Serkan, it was understood that it was a business question.

    “How about we take a break? Let's we eat while we watch the news and then get back to work,” Selen said. After thinking for a while, she continued, "We don't know how much this 'alien' situation will affect us and the flow of life."

    When they returned to work, the questions in their minds became a little clearer. Everyone was working and chatting at the same time. The TV was muted. Even Kenan had taken off his earphones, which was a strange experience for him.

    "How long will they stay in the air? Won't they land?" Defne asked.

    Usually there would be silence for a while and someone would start to answer before they had finished their thought to break the silence.

    This time it was Tuna who started to answer. "I think they would just observe for a while. They examine how we behave after we noticing them. If we don't act aggressively, they will come down."

    "I think they will descend eventually, but this period may not be short. Maybe they will wait hundreds of years. Thus, generations will be formed who were born knowing their existence and don't fear them," said Defne.

    "Unless, of course, we reach them by then, " said Tuna.

    "Maybe they won't allow it. As we get closer to them, maybe they will move away from us," Defne continued.

    There was a lot of discussion starting with "Unless, of course" and "maybe". It was mostly just dialogues that went nowhere.

    "Maybe they're not examining whether we're harmful. Maybe they're just planning to attack us," said one of them.

    For the first time, Serkan was included in the conversation. After his answer, the collective conversations stopped, everyone slowly focused on their work and they finished the overtime in the early hours of Saturday morning.

    "I don't think they will attack us. Why would they attack? We have scarce resources in our world. We have the naive thoughts that this scarcity will happen everywhere. This is not true. What is on Earth? Let's think about resources: nitrogen, oxygen, argon, water, iron, copper... The galaxy has plenty of them, if they need them. It doesn't make any sense to come here just for a few billion liters of oxygen or for water. Hydrogen is everywhere in the galaxy and so is oxygen. By the way, I didn't mention that you've noticed, but these are aliens that have come to our planet. They have the ability to come here. We're talking about creatures with the technology to come here. It shouldn't be too difficult for them to obtain water from hydrogen and oxygen. Let's say they are looking for a planet to live in at the appropriate temperature and condition. There are at least thousands of planets that can meet these conditions. It is mathematically low probability for them to choose our planet for this purpose. Let's say this low probability has come true. Let me repeat. So they're looking for a planet to live on. Let's add some emotion. They are looking for a planet where they can live, desperately searching. They have to find, they have to find in order to survive. So their goal is to survive. Do you think they would risk going to a planet and entering a war with its native creatures? I also find this probability of this very low. What do you get when you multiply all these probabilities? My result: I'll do my overtime and finish the work that should have finished on Monday."