The Return of the Manhattan (17 page)

CHAPTER 32

The president’s limousine arrived within the hour to take Laura and Brad directly to the White House. In the meantime, Dawson’s secretary found another dress to replace the one Laura had been wearing. The dress wasn’t nearly as beautiful as the one needing replacement, but as she modeled it for him, Brad’s appreciative eye traveled from head to toe as he spoke in a tone filled with awe and respect, meaning every word, “Laura, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen!” He thought to himself, ‘With or without clothes.’

They arrived with little fanfare, and were ushered directly to the Oval Office, to meet the president who closed the door behind them. “Welcome to the White House, Major Anderson.” The president seemed calm and spoke in an outwardly warm and friendly manner, although Brad knew he was seething inside. “And Miss Ashton, it’s a pleasure to see you.”

“Thank you Mr. President, it is indeed an honor.” Laura spoke sincerely and gave him a slight smile before going about her tasks, opening her case operating the sensors on her computer.

Brad shook his head negatively and motioned with a slight wave of his hand for the president to pay no attention to what she was doing as he greeted him. “Sir, I’m relieved. I’m sorry we had to meet this way, however, I’m glad you agreed to meet with us without further delay.”

The president’s voice lost some of its friendly tones as he spoke, “I’m tired, so quit playing games, Major, let’s get down to business.”

Brad stalled, “After, we had our little agreement, Mr. Dawson treated us well. I don’t know where he found the dress for Laura so quickly, but it fits her well.”

“Brad,” Laura interrupted, “I’m finished.”

“Good, how many?”

“Seven! Plus the tape recorder he was using.”

“Thanks,” he turned his attention to the president, who stood astonished, not knowing what to think. “Sir,” he went on, “we did a quick scan of your office, and found seven bugs. They are disabled, as well as your tape recorder. Sir that should explain why I could say nothing before.”

“But, I—I had the office checked yesterday!” exclaimed the president.

“Laura, why don’t you point them out so he will believe us, and we can get on with our work?”

Laura quickly found five of them which were well hidden but not difficult to find. “Sir, the other two are embedded in the wooden paneling of your desk right about here and there.” She pointed out the exact places where they could be found. “I wouldn’t want to destroy your desk digging them out, but it looks like they’ve been there a long time.”

President Dugan shook his head as Brad pointed out, “I think the FBI can analyze these, and discover who manufactured them. Brad suggested, “Sir, why don’t you sit down, and we can get started?” He continued as the president sat down, shaken. “The story we are about to tell may sound unbelievable and far-fetched, but it’s true.”

The president sighed, “It seems as though you may have an apology coming. Please accept it. You were saying?”

“I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Laura Ashton, who you saw earlier today, but didn’t properly recognize as the expert she is, and why she is here.”

“I’m sorry Dr. Ashton, Major Anderson is right, I’ve been a fool. Please go on. I’ve got many questions, but they can wait.”

“Apology accepted, Sir, and please call me Laura.”

“All right, Laura.”

Brad continued, “Three weeks ago when our aircraft was reported missing—we had an experience with a ‘UFO.’ No one has yet proven the existence of such phenomena, unless you or the Air Force has purposely kept that information classified. Let me assure you, they exist, or at least one such vehicle exists. Our aircraft was drawn into that vehicle which is comparable in size to our own fictional Enterprise of Star Trek fame.” Brad paused to assess President Dugan’s reaction.

The president sat back farther in his chair and spoke in a reserved manner, “I don’t believe a word of what you’re saying, but I’m listening. Go ahead.”

“The vehicle was built by the United States government, and completed in 2603, over 600 years in the future. Laura represents the future President who gave the authorization for the craft to be sent back into our time.”

“I find that hard to believe, but go on.”

“I did too, Sir, and you know how stubborn I can be.”

“I do; that’s why I’m listening.”

“I don’t want to disillusion you in any way, but right now you are powerless to leave this room or use your phone, unless those in control of the UFO allow it. They would allow you to conduct any business they deem of a dire nature, but they will be the judge of that. This is not a threat, but I think you will have time to hear us out! You can test the door or the phone if you like.”

“I see; that’s not necessary. I believe that much.”

“If you had been on that ship the last couple of weeks as I have, you would have been convinced, or thought you were dreaming, and in either case, it’s not an unpleasant experience.” He looked over at Laura and smiled, “See what I mean?”

“I think I do,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

“In any case, the ship christened the Manhattan is orbiting overhead, and providing us with the capability to communicate like we did with you earlier, to broadcast over every satellite network in the country, or to neutralize any force that attempts to stop us, as those thugs you hired as FBI agents found out the hard way. The Manhattan is also providing a force field around the C9 in the hangar at Andrews, protecting it from anyone attempting to enter against my orders. Those military police or maintenance personnel innocently trying to investigate the C9, I suppose under your orders, will be okay in a matter of hours. How many of these occurrences will it take for you to believe us, Sir?”

“We have a common trait. Stubbornness! I don’t make up my mind in a hurry, but I’ll admit I can’t find any other plausible explanation for what has occurred. What about the rest of your crew and the patients?”

“Medical expertise six hundred years in the future is far beyond ours; they simply took care of Dana Higgins, causing her body to speed up the normal process and completely heal itself. The rest of the crew and patients received similar medical help, but were under another type of demobilizing force, sort of a hypnotic state, that prevented them from remembering any of the events they were part of.”

“And the interceptors?”

“Unfortunately that shouldn’t have happened. Naturally, we were protecting the aircraft with a force field which the missile couldn’t penetrate. The missile barely left the first interceptor when it struck the force field, and the ensuing fireball destroyed both fighters. They were far too close, and we didn’t expect them to fire at us. We were ready when the second pair fired from far enough away to allow time for us to prevent a recurrence. Can you explain why they fired?”

“No, those were not my orders. I’ve already ordered a full investigation. I promise you we’ll find out why.”

President Dugan seemed to warm to the story, and looked much more interested as Brad continued, “Laura has a marvelous little computer with mainframe capacity there in her case which she has programmed to show you more about the Manhattan, and then we will discuss our mission.”

Laura began by projecting virtual reality images in the room. “What you see is an image of the Manhattan in orbit over Washington. It’s invisible because of a warping of the reflected light and radar frequencies. That technology is an advanced version of the ‘stealth’ aircraft that fly here in your time.” She spent nearly an hour going over details of the ship and some of the technological advances that could be demonstrated on her computer that she was free to divulge. She then activated the medical programs and scanners demonstrating how their physicals were conducted. “I think you’d better have that cyst removed from your lower back; it shows signs of malignancy.”

“How did you know about that? Dr. Billings has been trying for weeks to schedule me into surgery to remove it.”

“I think that should prove to you we are who we say we are,” she replied easily. “Now we will release our hold on your phone system.”

Almost before she stopped talking, the buzzer sounded on the president’s desk. He pushed the intercom lever answering, “Yes, what is it?”

His secretary heaved a sigh of relief, “Sir, I’ve been trying to get through to you for over an hour! Howard is ranting and raving about a press conference due to start in fifteen minutes. Almost every staff member is out here demanding I let them break the door down and find out what’s going on. The Secret Service agents are beside themselves.”

“Get the cabinet together and let them choose a few congressional leaders, and have them ready to meet with me in one hour. I’ll call Howard in here in about five minutes.” He turned to Brad, “I’ve got to say something to the American people. I scheduled a press conference for nine, thinking I would have some answers by then.” He looked questioningly at Brad and Laura, “I can’t imagine where the time has gone!”

“Sir, under the circumstances, we might be able to help you with a prepared statement that your press secretary can release to the public. I’m sorry we had to go to such an extreme as we did in that broadcast, but we are under a deadline which can’t be moved forward under any circumstances.”

“I guess I deserved that, but now—what do you suggest? Until I know the entire story, I don’t know what to release.”

Laura spoke up, “Let me suggest this to be read by your press secretary:

‘Last night’s broadcast was not sanctioned by the president. The president did not order the interceptors to shoot down the C9. As you members of the news media know, that story was unauthorized and broadcast on most networks without approval of this office or any of your networks, but was perpetuated by some unknown persons. Our earlier information was incorrect; the interceptors did fire on the C9, and in the process destroyed two of their own in one case, and were only firing warning shots in front of the C9 in the other. The C9 was intercepted as a matter of national security when it appeared off the east coast of the United States without proper flight authorization. The circumstances of this incident are under full investigation. The C9 landed safely at Andrews Air Force Base this morning at ten o’clock Eastern Standard Time, and all crew and patients are safe under observation at Walter Reed Medical Center. The president will give you more details as soon as more details are known. Thank you.’”

“Thanks Laura, I think that will do fine until we can discuss this further. Do you think you can repeat that for my press secretary when he comes in?”

“No need, I’ll have a printout for him in a minute.” She grinned, giving him a look which made him laugh out loud.

“I think I met my match in both of you.” He flipped the intercom lever, “Send Howard in.” Howard came in taking the paper the president handed him. “Howard, just read that, and don’t give out any more details. That should be easy, since you don’t know any more. Apologize for me for not being able to attend. You can tell them that I will be in session with the cabinet and we are working on the matter.” He paused as Howard read the paper, “And by the way, get General Williams to personally take care of notifying the families of those two fighter pilots, and have him give them my sympathy.”

“Sir, this is brief and to the point, but I don’t think it will satisfy anyone.”

“I suppose not, but that’s all they will get for now. If they ask for more, tell them you’re sorry, but it’s the truth and that’s all you know. Promise them a more complete news conference tomorrow which should get them off your back. And I want you in the staff meeting if you can get back soon enough.”

“Thanks, Sir; I’ll do what I can.”

As soon as the door was closed and locked, Laura spoke up, “Sir, another bug was activated, but I’ve taken care of it. It sure looks like somebody wants to know what’s going on in here.”

“Sir,” Brad broke in, “it looks like somebody didn’t want us to return. As an Air Force Officer, I don’t think those interceptor pilots would have shot at us, on their own, without a heck of a lot more justification than that.”

“I agree; now let’s continue where we left off.”

“Mr. President, everything we have told you so far is yours to do with as you like. I’m sure you will want your staff partially informed. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to inform the rest of the nation about a UFO, but that’s up to you. We have some suggestions along that line that might help which we can discuss before tomorrow’s press conference. The rest of our information is the heart of our mission. Please treat this as information ‘for your eyes only,’ as it is vital to the preservation of the world’s civilization in the twenty-seventh century.”

Laura began her computer show once again, “Essentially, our civilization has depleted the world’s supply of oil, and our mission is to bring you enough advanced technology, to allow you to reduce your consumption and waste of petroleum reserves, so we will have enough for our own needs in the twenty-seventh century and beyond. The C9 has been modified by our crew on the Manhattan and is now equipped with electromagnetic propulsion units and systems which will accomplish our goals, if similar equipment is manufactured and installed on all military and civilian aircraft worldwide. Following those installations, we will help with the transition with this type of power for all transportation systems including private automobiles.”

“Is that why the C9 was silent while taxiing in?”

Brad grinned, “That’s right! They make very little noise.”

Laura paused for a moment before continuing, “The second part of our mission is where you come in, and it is the most difficult. If you choose to accept, it is to insure that once our mission is accomplished and our future civilization has enough oil to meet their needs, my president in the twenty-seventh century will fund the ‘Manhattan II project’ and allow the cycle to take place. This black box pictured here is what we could classify as a ‘super-safe’ and cannot be opened, even in our time, with any known technology before the time lock expires in the year 2583. As you can see from these demonstrations, it’s impervious to all sorts of explosives, acids and any known substance. It can’t be opened before its time has expired short of utterly destroying it with a nuclear blast.” She went on to explain the contents and the president’s part in preserving the secret and providing the needed information to his successors until it would be opened.