Red Dot: Contact. Will the gravest threat come from closer to home than we expect? (27 page)

“We just attempted—without warning or direct provocation—to kill David and the rest of the crew of D9,” said Whiteton. “ETs said they have orders to follow if they are attacked, and we know they have an incredibly destructive weapon.

“Now, we personally did not attack D9,” he said, looking around the room. “But we are the leaders of the country that did. Is it wise to gather all of us together in the same place with David? Oh, and along with the leader of the coup. Would he kill us all, or abduct us for trial or punishment on D9?”

That sobering possibility brought several minutes of silence to the Situation Room.

“Well, like you said, those of us here didn’t attack D9,” said Binski. “And it’s obvious to the ETs that the coup that included the missile attack threatened us, too, and we led the effort to thwart it.”

“And I suppose it may not be necessary for the aliens with their advanced technology to physically gather us all in one place to do whatever they plan to do,” Whiteton said. “Dr. Montague, you’ve had the most contact with the aliens, with David. What is your opinion?”

Claire paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, and said, “At Denver One there is some difference of opinion on how much of a threat the ETs pose.

“My opinion, personally, is that if David is satisfied with our presentation tomorrow, he won’t carry out his orders to attack us. We and Earth will be safe. If he isn’t satisfied, he
will
carry out his orders, and it won’t matter whether we are all gathered together or not.”

Acting President Duggard remained silent at the head of the table throughout the discussion, staring at some papers in front of her. In the pause after Claire’s comments, she raised her head.

“I’m scared,” she said. “I don’t mind saying it. But the overwhelmingly important thing is that we meet the ETs’ conditions. And he should hear from the leader of the country. Now, that’s me. So I will go.”

All eyes shifted to the Secretary of State. Whiteton quickly wet his lips with his tongue and took a breath. “I will go,” he said with rare brevity.

“If I may,” Binski interjected. “I, too, hope we will all be safe. But just in case, it might be best if Secretary Whiteton did not go. Acting President, you and Secretary Whiteton form the innermost circle with President Douthart. To ensure as much continuity as possible, the Secretary should stay here.

“That is especially true because, according to the Constitution, the Speaker of the House will become President, and the new Vice President would be President of the Senate
pro tempore
, Senator Regis Jefferson; of course he and Speaker Katzer are both Democrats.

“In addition,” Binski said, “Secretary Whiteton is not scheduled to give a presentation at the meeting. I think my presence will be sufficient, and I am willing to go.”

“That makes sense to me,” Duggard said, looking around the room. When no one objected, she said, “Attorney General Taggart?”

“Well, I have to take Fitzgerald to the meeting, if he’ll go,” said the Attorney General. “And one of the main points David wants to discuss concerns our legal system and prosecution of the coup members.

“And,” Taggart added with a smile, “I really want to see the guy. I’ll be there.”

“I will definitely go,” volunteered Claire. “I have no doubt Dr. Johnson, Ahmet, will want to go, and he is the one who has had the most direct contact with David.”

The new acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and NSC member, Admiral Horace Young, was not in the Situation Room. Duggard said she would personally request that he represent the military, and felt confident after her earlier talks with him that he would.

Nicknamed Horatio, the tall, affable officer had risen from a modest start to high rank, like the fictional British navy hero, Horatio Hornblower. He had no links to the plot, and after it started he aggressively isolated coup sympathizers and participants.

“I think everything will work out,” said Whiteton. “But just in case, we need to be prepared … for succession.”

“Douglas and Raul, please handle that,” Duggard said to the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. “Set up a special team to make plans. And Aaron, contact Speaker Katzer now and tell him to come to the White House to meet with me as soon as he can. I’ll talk to him about what direction President Douthart and I would want him to take.”

As the Council hashed out additional routine details of the meeting with David, Peterman remained withdrawn and silent. Then he voiced a new idea that was almost simultaneously outrageous and eminently reasonable.

“We’re going to have to tell David to go away,” he said to the astonishment of the rest of the Council. “Assuming they decide to go ahead with their peaceful mission, we’re going to have to say, ‘We’re sorry, but your mission is causing dangerous destabilization on Earth. Please go back to your home planet or go explore another solar system.’”

“Unthinkable!” cried Claire. “For the first time, an advanced civilization has come across the galaxy on a mission of friendship, with so much we can learn from them and so much they can learn from us. And we’re going to say we can’t handle it, go away?! Are we really that weak and ignorant?”

After a few minutes of abashed silence in the room, Whiteton said in a soft voice, “There is weakness and ignorance in that response, but be fair, Dr. Montague. This is by far the most epochal, soul-shocking event played out before the world in human history. And it comes at a time we are still deeply divided. From our religious and ideological differences, the divisions between nations, races, and cultures—our growing media skills have fed the tendency to turn these antagonisms into an all-or-nothing, good-versus-evil struggle. The powerful fear and uncertainty caused by the coming of space aliens threatens to drive us into an orgy of destruction. I’m afraid we have no choice but to request that the ETs leave us.”

Claire looked with desperation around the room to find someone who would counter Whiteton’s position. No one spoke for a minute or two.

Finally, Sue Binski said gently, “I’m sorry, Dr. Montague, but we must take into account the real-world consequences of our decisions.”

Duggard called for the other Council members to give their opinions; all of them supported asking D9 to abort its mission and leave the solar system.

“That,” the Acting President said with a sigh, “is what we will tell David tomorrow.”

After a few minutes, Duggard went upstairs to the Oval Office and was soon joined by the Speaker of the House, Edgar Katzer.

“Mr. Speaker,” Duggard said as she and Katzer sat down in front of the President’s desk, in chairs facing each other, “we’ve had our differences.”

“Yes. I seem to remember the term, ‘card-carrying socialist,’” Katzer said with a smile.

“Who would say such a thing?” Duggard replied, and they both laughed. “I remember something you said about a ‘puppet for billionaires.’”

“Well, Ms. Acting President, we both have a base to placate,” Katzer said as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “But I assure you that at this critical hour, you have my full cooperation.”

“I know, Edgar. And I’m going to need it more than you know.”

Katzer looked at her with a quizzical, worried expression.

Duggard paused, took a deep breath, and said, “I am going to meet with one of the ETs tomorrow morning.”

Katzer’s mouth dropped wide open; after a few seconds he stammered, “You, you… They’re going to transport you to D9?”

“No, no. A representative of the ETs—by the way, he’s taken the name, ‘David’—will arrive on Earth, and we will meet him at Andrews Field. Myself, Deputy Secretary of State Binski, Attorney General Taggart, and Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Young, will try to convince David not to carry out his orders to retaliate for the EP1 attack.”

Katzer sat in wide-eyed silence for two or three minutes, trying to come to grips with this information. He had been briefed on the latest developments, except for the shocking meeting with David.

“Good God, Vanlisa, do you think it’s a good idea for you to meet with an ET?” Katzer finally asked. “I mean, part of our military and government tried to kill them.”

Duggard looked at the floor between her and Katzer for a few seconds, then said, “The odds that the ETs will decide
not
to retaliate are considerably better if our top leaders are there. That’s the important thing.

“We’re hoping this will end peacefully. But if it doesn’t, we want you and Senator Jefferson to honor the wishes of the voters in the last election and work to fill the main points of our agenda to the best of your ability.”

“We will absolutely follow the direction your administration is taking.”

Duggard and Katzer spent the next two hours discussing the policies most important to the Douthart/Duggard administration and what Speaker Katzer would do as the new President to promote them.

Most of the administration’s proposals were anathema to Democrats—privatization of some government services, tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, curbs in Social Security and other entitlement programs… The stickiest problems centered on nominations of a new Attorney General and for any new Supreme Court vacancies. Some of Duggard’s preferred candidates were absolutely too far right for Democrats. She and Katzer hammered out compromises acceptable to the administration.

After Duggard walked the Speaker to the door of the Oval Office, they started to shake hands, and then hugged each other.

“God be with you, Acting President Duggard,” Katzer said as he started to go. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”

After the National Security Council meeting broke up, Claire left in utter disbelief. Like most scientists in her field, she had long dreamed of contact with a civilization from another world. The wonder of meeting creatures from a different planet, feeling in her bones proof of the grandeur of life and the expanse of the universe, and communicating with the ETs about science, ethics, religion, and a host of other subjects was boundlessly exciting. She had felt an initial stab of anxiety and uncertainty when D9 and then the red dots first appeared, but followed the approach and increasing communications with the ETs with intense anticipation. Now Earth’s leaders were going to tell them to go away. It didn’t seem possible.

As she did now whenever she had an hour or so to spare, Claire went to the George Washington University Medical Center, where President Douthart was in intensive care. His condition was too precarious for her to be able to
visit him, and the memory of seeing his nearly lifeless body wheeled down a White House hallway on a gurney still haunted her. But she wanted to be near him.

After Claire stood at the ICU reception desk for a few moments, a doctor walked quickly toward her with a smile on his face. Claire recognized the physician—a short, youngish, and handsome dark-skinned man from India—and knew he was treating the President. She began to dare to allow herself to feel hope.

“The President’s condition has been upgraded,” said Doctor Khan in a slight lilting accent. He didn’t want to be overly optimistic, but in his relief, he couldn’t suppress his smile. “He’s not out of the woods yet, and will be in the hospital for a long time, but there is a good chance he will recover.”

Claire slumped against the reception desk. All the deep reserves of energy she called on after the coup to force herself to be strong for her family and do her work for the NSC drained away. “Here,” said a concerned Doctor Khan, taking Claire by the arm. “We have a chapel around the corner. You can sit and rest in there.”

As Claire and Doctor Khan approached the chapel, a casually dressed young man with neatly combed blond hair came out of the door holding two little boys by the hand. The cute, blond-haired boys, also with carefully parted hair, were about five or six years old, with the slightly taller one on the man’s right. They wore sad and confused looks on their faces. They didn’t seem to notice Claire and the doctor, but the man smiled politely and nodded.

Claire took a seat at the far end of a wooden pew, near the middle of the small chapel. There were no crucifixes or other religious symbols in the room, but the hard feel of the wooden bench, the regular rows of pews with a pulpit in the front, and the comforting silence called up Claire’s memories of regularly attending services with her own parents when she was growing up. She sat still and emotionless for a few minutes. Then she began to cry and to pray.

O
N
T
RIAL

D
uggard, Binski, Admiral
Young, Claire, and Ahmet got to Andrews Field by 6:00 a.m., Saturday, October 15, in pre-dawn drizzle and sleet. The Acting President and Deputy Secretary of State arrived on separate helicopter flights; the other three came by unmarked cars. The early hour and small size of the group were designed to keep the operation secret. They met at a small, secluded storage facility near the ET’s designated landing zone, and all were heartened by Douthart’s improved condition. Claire had been able to sit by his bed for about a half hour the evening before, and though he didn’t wake up while she was there, watching his chest gently rise and fall with regular breaths had made her feel as if a heavy load were lifted from her shoulders.