re: Contact Possibilities
I would go with 2) and 3).
Face it, if they're smarter than us; they have to be very careful about blowing our circuits with direct contact. This initiation will be simplistic and moderate and only those paying attention will care to unravel it.
I'm not even sure direct contact is possible. But I can see knowledge being handed down surepticiously. We'll just have to wait and see. As the media becomes more open to it, and the general consensus is that there ARE other life forms out there, maybe they can move closer with confidence. What may be decades for us, can be a mere blink of an eye for "them".