3 PM: The White House (Meeting Retilia)
President Peter Ratherson was sitting in the Oval Office waiting for his National Security Advisor, Helen Marshal, to arrive. In addition to their normal activities, Ratherson wanted to talk to her about the recent White House murders, the hacking of the White House computer systems, and a new almost religious interest in a man called Oria. He was not expecting Helen to be bringing a guest.
Helen encountered no resistance in setting up her usual Sunday afternoon tryst with Ratherson. In fact, Ratherson anxiously waited for Helen and imagined making love to his 31-year-old beauty. In preparation for their meeting, Ratherson ordered his staff to leave and to give him some privacy. He was sure his wife Heather knew nothing of his affair with Helen and he wanted to keep it that way. He always coupled his and Helen’s trysts with affairs of state. Ratherson knew that even if Heather knew of his affair, she would not leave him. The press frequently accused him of having affairs and his political enemies chastised him for being immoral and of poor character. None of this mattered when Helen was in his presence. He immensely enjoyed her company and the physical nature of their relationship.
When Helen arrived at the White House, she knew there would be no one to escort her into the Oval Office. Only a few secret service agents would be on duty and they normally let her pass unchallenged. This time would be slightly more complicated since she was escorting Commander Retilia.
Getting Retilia into the White House without attracting attention would be difficult since it would be nearly impossible to disguise him as a human. Retilia was a full 8’ tall with leather like skin and eyes on both sides of his head. His mouth protruded from his face, was full of sharp pointed teeth accompanied by several sets of fangs.
Helen worked out a plan with Retilia. They would disguise him as some sort of pet with Helen leading him on a choke chain and leash. The guards would see he clearly was not human and most likely would not suspect Retilia being an intelligent life form. Unless of course, they thought Helen was leading a friend in for some sort of warped Halloween party.
Helen and the Commander managed to get inside of the White House. She knew there were several more checkpoints that she had to get Retilia past. Helen led Retilia on a leash through a back door into the Oval Office. Since she was such a frequent visitor, the guards let her slip by and reach the entrance to the Oval Office. The Secret Service Agents watching the entrance to the Oval Office recognized Helen and already knew that the President was waiting for her. They let her slip into the room where she released Retilia from the leash, knocked on the President’s inner room door, and walked in.
President Ratherson smiled when he saw her and then changed his look to surprise when he saw Retilia.
“Helen, I’m a bit surprised, I wasn’t expecting you to be bringing any friends. It looks like your friend is ready for a costume party.”
Helen formally addressed the President since Commander Retilia was with her. “Hello Mr. President. Commander Retilia is not here for Halloween and he is not wearing a costume. He is from another planet. Permit me to introduce you to Commander Retilia from the United Creyte Republic. He comes to Earth on a mission of peace.”
The President was shocked and became uncharacteristically silent. He stood in front of his desk looking from Retilia to Helen and back again. When the initial shock wore off and the President found his voice, he addressed Retilia. “Welcome Commander, I apologize for not having a more formal reception in which to honor you. I had no idea that my security advisor would be making such an introduction. I still find it hard to believe that you are not from Earth.”
“Greetings Mr. President, there is no need to apologize. I come here on a mission of peace. I asked Ms. Marshal to introduce me to you discreetly. We don’t want to scare your people unnecessarily. As you can see by looking at me, I’m certainly not human.”
Retilia eyed the President. He had ample muscles with a thin layer of fat. A delicious picture, which Retilia knew he would have to ignore in order to capture the entire planet and rid the Universe of the troublesome Oria. There would be plenty of people to devour later.
“That makes sense. Please take a seat, Commander, and make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to eat or drink?”
Retilia thought, I see what I would like to eat now. Helen also looked quite tasty. “No, that’s not necessary. Let’s just talk.”
“Very well, what is it that you have in mind?”
“First, I have several presents to give you as a token for our new friendship.”
Retilia pulled some papers out of his folder and handed them to the President.
“These folders contain instructions for curing several diseases that are afflicting your people. Included are cures for AIDS, several forms of cancer, and some anti-viral drugs.”
Ratherson thought, “Wow, we should get some political mileage out of these.” He then replied to Retilia. “Our people will be most grateful for your help. I’m not sure how to begin to say thank you. What is it you want in return?”
“Mr. President, we would like to initiate relationships between your world and ours. One of the first steps will be to determine the best way to introduce us to your world. Normally when initiating relationships, we let the local people determine the best approach. As such, you don’t have to associate us with those cures until you’re ready.”
“That is most generous of you, Commander. I will appoint some people to work with you in developing a plan.”
“Thank you Mr. President, we have facilities for about 20 of your people to work with us in developing initial plans” and in his thoughts added, “and cages to keep your people in for future meals.”
“Helen, you work with Commander Retilia and coordinate sending in a team from the State Department. We will probably need a few Pentagon types as well. I’ll sign the orders tomorrow. It was good meeting you Commander, and I look forward to meeting with you again.”
“Oh Mr. President, there is one other item.”
“Yes Commander”
“We have a known criminal that was last seen arriving on Earth. I believe he may originally be from Earth. At any rate, he calls himself Oria. We believe that Oria originally left Earth and took up with a gang of pirates and we consider him extremely dangerous. We encourage you to terminate him if he is found.”
Ratherson paused and considered what the Commander had just said. The Oria that Retilia spoke about had to be the same person seen on the news only hours ago.
“Commander, if what you say is true, Oria has already shown himself. However terminating him will be politically difficult. He already has established some sort of cult following.”
“Mr. President, I feared as much. Oria is a very dangerous man. I trust that you will make the right decisions. I will have a hard time selling any treaty with Earth back to the United Creyte Republic as long as Oria is allowed to live.”
“Very well Commander. We will consider your words. That is the best that I can promise you.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. That will suffice for now. We will be in touch. Have a good day.”
Helen and Retilia left Ratherson in the Oval Office and started their walk out of the White House. When the pair was finally outside of the White House, Helen drove Retilia into Virginia and let him disappear off the GW Parkway. Helen and Retilia planned to get together tomorrow once Helen could assemble a team to forward their mission. Helen’s next step required her to contact people at the State
Department and the Pentagon.
3:45 PM: President Press Conference
When Helen left the office, Ratherson sprung into high gear. With the collection of medical cures left by Retilia, he was confident of making a positive splash in the news obscuring the current focus on some of his campaign financing practices. He had just enough time to make the Sunday evening news cycle.
Ratherson’s press secretary lived nearby on
Capitol Hill. It didn’t take the White House operators long to reach him and order him to the White House in time for a 4:45 press conference. Ratherson also decided to have the Secretary of Health Education and Welfare and the Director of National Institute for Health report to the White House and join the press conference.
Bill Steiner, the White House Press Secretary was in the middle of painting the foyer of his house when the phone rang. His wife answered and let her husband know that once again, the President required him to report immediately to the White House and ruin their afternoon plans. Steiner shook his head again and wondered what was up this time that required his immediate attention. He hoped that it was not another one of Ratherson’s sexual trysts. It seemed like Ratherson frequently interrupted his Sunday afternoons to run damage control for his continual barrage of scandals.
Steiner put down his paintbrush, covered the paint can, cleaned his hands, and changed out of his paint-splattered clothing. In minutes, he was taking the short 15-minute cab ride to the White House. During his trip, Steiner had that feeling of being there before. Here we go again, drop whatever I’m doing and rescue Ratherson from another of his scandals or some other catastrophic event.
At 4:15 sharp, Steiner entered the Oval Office and found an excited Ratherson sitting behind his desk.
“Bill, I’m glad you were able to make it on such short notice. I have some great news!”
“Terrific, don’t tell me. Let me guess. The jerks that broke into our computer network have been caught, or maybe our friends in Congress have cleared you of all wrong doing in their latest vendetta against your campaign financing strategies.”
“No, no, nothing like that. That would be good news, but, I believe I have even better news.”
“Alright, I’m all ears.”
“How do you think the public would react if we found the cure for AIDS and most forms of cancer?”
Ratherson’s question caught Steiner off guard. He was hoping that the President hadn’t gone completely nuts. The two of them had a long history together and Ratherson becoming President was like winning the grand championship of all contests. The latest events had been stressful for both of them. The latest sequence of scandals had been particular hard on Ratherson. Steiner hoped that his
longtime friend, Peter Ratherson, hadn’t just gone over the edge.
“Peter, how can you ask such a question? If you are for real, the answer is obvious.”
“I know Bill, I know. This afternoon Helen introduced me to a most remarkable person. Well, he’s not exactly a person.”
“Come on Peter, you’re sounding a bit weird.”
“I’m sure it sounds that way. Helen made first official contact with an alien race!”
“First contact? Aliens?” Bill was now sure that Peter in fact, had flipped.
“That’s right. This alien delivered us the cure for AIDS, various cancers, and some strong anti-viral drugs.”
“Wait a minute! How did she meet this alien and how do you know it’s for real?”
“First, the alien was intelligent and definitely not human. Second, I trust Helen and don’t believe she’d lie. Finally, both our Doctor friend from HEW and the Director of NIH should be here shortly to verify the drugs and reports given to us by Commander Retilia of the United Creyte Republic.”
“This sounds too good to be true. Are you sure, you want to move so fast? What if we’re wrong? Also, where’s the United Creyte Republic?”
“We can’t be wrong. If either of our guests states that these cures are false, we won’t say anything. But Bill, you know about the break-ins this weekend, and the resurrection of our database issue?”
“Yes, so what’s new?”
“What’s new? Geez Bill, you know the press is having a heyday with our database. What, if personal information from the database gets into the wrong hands? Further, what if information from our database, actually makes the press? Do you know what that means?”
“Yes, yes, you’re right. This is risky. I guess we don’t have many options. This certainly will change the focus of the press.”
“You got that right. Bill, there’s one more item.”
“Go on.” Events were sweeping too fast for Steiner’s liking and Ratherson’s latest comment compounded his fears.
“Bill, please relax. Commander Retilia mentioned something about Oria, the man our DOD is following and making headlines about. As it turns out, he is some sort of outlaw, at least to the Creytes.”
Steiner’s look of concern multiplied on Ratherson’s comment about Oria.
“Peter, did you pick up the news today?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know that the public is making this man out to be some sort of Indian Spirit God?”
“So what, we can assassinate his character just like we’ve done with all the others.”
Bill gently shook his head no, rolled his eyes and then replied, “Yes, I guess you’re right.”
“Come on Bill, we’ve been here before. Face it, that’s part of how we got to where we are.”
“I know Peter. It’s just that I don’t like being so blunt about it.”
“That hasn’t stopped you before.”