"Yes, our research indicates that many extraterrestrials harbor...less-than-peaceful tendencies," he says. He's counting on it, in fact.

"Tiberium came to us from space nearly fifty years ago. Since then it's changed the world in ways you can't even begin to imagine. Its presence has altered the landscape, ignited world wars, and eradicated the nation-state as we once knew it. But it has also brought untold prosperity and technological progress that hasn't even come close to being fully tapped.

"As for what it is, it's a green crystalline substance that leeches metals and heavy elements from the soil and converts them into a form that's easier to get at. But more than that, it grows and multiplies. It even evolves. In some ways, it's more like an inorganic lifeform than a mineral. And in it lies the key to the future of mankind, if only the world's leaders would recognize it."