“You are a very lucky man, Mr. Dennard,” said Dr. Griffith when Eugene finally opened his eyes.
“Where am I?” Eugene asked feeling sore everywhere.
“You are in Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C. You were airlifted here three days ago after the good doctors in St Croix were able to stabilize you enough for transportation,” said Dr. Griffith.
“Where is my wife and kids?” Eugene asked coughing.
“Your wife is in the waiting room outside. She can come in now but just for a short time,” Dr. Griffith responded.
The lead nurse brought Emily Dennard in the ICU room.
“Hi honey, I had an accident…are the kids OK?” Eugene asked.
“Eugene, my god! We have been praying for the last five days. Kids are OK, my mom is at home with them,” Emily cried aloud. “I was so worried about you. The doctors said that your heart stopped three times but they have a cardiac emergency room in St Croix hospital so they were able to bring you back.”
“Oh, I am so tired. Feels like my lungs are on fire,” Eugene said coughing a bit.
“You apparently came up from 70 feet depth way too quickly causing some damage to your lungs. You lost also a lot of blood. We have kept you in special hyperbaric recompression chamber for two days. You have also been receiving medication that helps your lung tissue to recover,” Dr. Griffith explained.
“Has anybody called the President? I was supposed to be back on Tuesday,” Eugene asked.
“President Lincoln was here earlier today. You don’t have to worry about work right now, honey,” Emily said wiping her tears.
“I need to tell him,” Eugene said and started coughing again,”I need to tell him what happened.”
“He knows that you had an accident, honey,” Emily said.
“No, I need to tell him what happened at the bottom,” Eugene said coughing blood.
“Mr. Dennard, you need to rest now. Your body needs rest to recover from the trauma,” Dr. Griffin said and asked a nurse to increase sedatives on IV flow. Eugene slipped back into sleep.
“Mrs. Dennard, your husband will be OK. He is still in critical condition and we will keep him in ICU for next couple days but the worst is over,” comforted Dr. Griffith.
News on Eugene Dennard’s scuba diving accident were soon in the headlines. Reporters interviewed the crew in St Croix, US Virgin Islands and were able to locate the two couples, a Minnesota couple on their honey moon and a couple from Netherlands who were witnessing the accident. Details on how the brave young dive master rescued unconscious Dennard were shared. Graphic pictures of Dennard’s blood gushing on the boat deck and Elon’s heroic actions to save him were reported. Without Elon’s quick actions Dennard would have been dead.
Some news channels learned that FBI was investigating this event that raised speculations on a cover-up. Some journalists were speculating that the accident might be related to President Lincoln’s re-election campaign. Was there some political agenda behind this event? Perhaps this wasn’t an accident but an assassination attempt?
After two days more details were discovered. Reporters found out that there was a giant squid that was swimming away from the scene. Some speculated that Chukkas might be behind this accident. President Lincoln had been a big proponent of Chukkas and had pushed through the immigration bill that allowed expedited naturalization process for Chukkas arriving to United States or its territories around the world. Perhaps some disgruntled Chukkas might have targeted Lincoln’s staff?
The fact that the White House hadn’t made any official statements on this accident was also quite suspicious. Soon the accident was dominating the attention of the media and Lincoln’s re-election campaign lost multiple points in daily polls.
Two days later Eugene Dennard was moved from ICU to a private room in the hospital. President Lincoln came to the hospital to see his Chief of Staff.
“Mr. President, I need to tell you what happened at the bottom in St. Croix, “ Eugene said still coughing.
“It’s OK Eugene, you had a scuba diving accident. I have received a full briefing of the events. You were lucky to have that brave young man Elon as your dive master. He saved your life,” Adam responded.
“Mr. President, something happened when I was at the bottom. I saw a giant octopus, one of those Chukkas. He tried to capture me with two arms and tentacles. I had to fight back, then the Chukka hit me with his beak on my neck and I started bleeding. I had my diving knife and I managed to hit him a few times and after that he let me go. I filled my BCD to get quickly on the surface and then everything went black,” Eugene said coughing.
“Chukkas tried to kill you?” Adam asked with concerned voice.
“Yes, Mr. President. He tried to capture me from the back and he had some patterns moving on this forehead. He hit my neck with his beak and there was blood everywhere,” Eugene pointed out to his neck. “Did the dive master see anything?”
“Elon said that he saw a giant octopus moving away and a cloud of blood when you floated to towards the surface,” Adam said. “He didn’t say it was a Chukkas. This changes everything - Chukkas trying to kill my Chief of Staff is a very serious issue. I must discuss with the Cabinet how we will respond to this.”
“It was a very scary situation. I have been doing a lot of scuba diving when I was at college. I have never been so scared in my life, Mr. President,” Eugene said coughing a bit.
“Well, keep this matter to yourself for time being. We must be careful with news media on this topic. You need to focus on your recovery now,” Adam said firmly. “Take care of yourself, Eugene. I’ll see you soon.”
“I spoke with Eugene this morning. He is recovering and already feeling better,” President Lincoln said. “However, he told me that this was not an accident. He told me that a male Chukka tried to kill him down at the bottom. The Chukka hit him on the neck cutting his artery as he struggled to get free. The dive master did confirm seeing a giant octopus swimming away from the scene.”
“Chukkas tried to murder your Chief of Staff? This is outrageous - I knew that we cannot trust them,” said Gina Montez.
“FBI has also questioned the four other divers and two of them confirmed seeing a giant octopus down there. So we have three witnesses confirming Eugene’s story,” said Jing Li, Attorney General. “We need to hold the Chukkas accountable for this horrible act of violence.”
“How do you want to communicate this to the news media? We are in the middle of primaries and this story could give even more ammunition to the Democrats,” John Roberts asked. “We need to consider the story in the context of your re-election campaign, Mr. President.”
“I know, John. We need to control the story before this goes out. I agree with Jing that we need to find the Chukka who did this and hold him accountable. Was there any evidence like DNA in Eugene’s dive knife? He mentioned that he managed to hit the suspect as he was fighting for his life,” Lincoln asked.
“I will pursue all possible avenues to find the suspect, Mr. President,” promised Jing Li.
“Enrico, can you ask Julia to call up a meeting with Ogun and the Elders as soon as possible? We need to hear the Chukka’s side of the story before we go public with this,” Lincoln requested from Enrico Donovan.
“Shouldn’t we wait until we are able identify the suspect, Sir?” Jing Li asked.
“Chukkas most likely already know about this incident, and I want to put some pressure on their administration to get a quick resolution,” Lincoln said firmly. “I don’t want to leave this issue open for too long. It would just hurt us on the re-election campaign.”
“I will arrange this meeting as soon as possible, Mr. President,” said Enrico Donovan.
“John, once we have the meeting with Chukkas please organize a press conference. We need to get the story out before Democrats get a whiff of this. It will be a media circus for a few days,” Lincoln said looking tired.
Meeting with Chukkas administration wasn’
t easy to organize. Chukkas had started building their capital city near Pitcairn islands, halfway between Peru and French Polynesia in the middle of Pacific ocean. They had selected the building site on purpose far away from human influence. The international waters near Pitcairn were outside of shipping lines and the ocean was full of fish. This new site was almost as pristine as their old capital used to be in the planet Odin.
The meeting logistics were organized by Oracle and Alexa. They negotiated a US Navy aircraft carrier ship George Washington to anchor in front of Adamstown, Pitcairn. The 38 people living on this small rock had never seen such a huge ship before. President Lincoln, Julia Koski and Jin Li arrived on a helicopter from Totegegie Island that had the closest airport suitable for Air Force One.
A Chukkas space shuttle emerged from water and landed on the flight deck of George Washington. The meeting was held in the officers lounge under strict security. Oracle and Alexa provided simultaneous translation service.
“I assume that you know what this meeting is about?” asked Lincoln from Ogun and the eight Elders.
“We have heard what happened to your Chief of Staff, Mr. Dennard. It was a very unfortunate accident,” Ogun said.
“Eugene survived but is still in a hospital in very serious condition. He said that he was attacked by one of yours,” Lincoln said firmly. “We have three witnesses who saw a male Chukka leaving the site after the attack.”
“We have the Chukka who was involved in this accident. His name is Orin-Gun and he is waiting in our space shuttle if you want to talk to him directly. He was also seriously wounded by Mr. Dennard but he has already recovered thanks to our medical staff. I can assure you that there was no intent to do any harm to Mr. Dennard,” Ogun said adding a gesture to emphasize the intent.
“Can you explain what happened down there in St Croix waters?” Jin Li asked.
“Orin-Gun was doing research on the northern coast of St Croix when he saw a human approaching him. His goal was to collect data on the wall that drops off down to 13,000 feet depth. The human approached him in scuba diving gear. Orin-Gun flashed a greetings message welcoming the human and reached out with a friendly gesture to scrub human’s back like is customary among Chukkas. Human did not respond in a friendly manner but instead pulled out a knife and hit Orin-Gun in between his eyes. To protect himself against this aggression Orin-Gun hit the human with his beak causing a wound and the human started bleeding. The human tried to hit him again with his knife and Orin-Gun hit his arm to prevent any further damage. The human used scuba gear to escape and lift himself to the surface. Orin-Gun swam away seriously wounded to his vessel where two other Chukkas attended his wounds.” Ogun said staring Jin Li in the eyes.
“We do understand that Mr. Dennard did not understand the Chukkas customs and greetings. It is our understanding that it is customary in human encounters to extend your right arm to shake hands when greeting another person you haven’t met before. Likewise, Orin-Gun was following Chukkas customs. We consider this unfortunate event as an accident. When you are ready to make your judgement, please also consider that Orin-Gun is the son of Ogun,” Onun added watching Jin Li.
Lincoln’ face was pale. “We would like to discuss this matter privately. Please excuse us for a moment.”
“We shall wait for you, President Lincoln,” Ogun responded.
President Lincoln, Julia Koski and Jin Li moved to another room to discuss this new information.
“So, it appears that Eugene tried to kill Ogun’s son who just tried to greet him. This would look really bad in the press if this story gets out. We would look like idiots,” Lincon said.
“Do you trust them? Should we talk Orin-Gun directly?” Jin Li asked.
“Clearly they know much more about our customs that we know about them. Ogun is their leader and the Elders are in agreement. He obviously has thought this through, and even though his own son was injured he wants to agree that this was an accident,” Lincoln was thinking aloud.
“We should agree that it was an unfortunate accident, this way both parties can save face,” Jin Li proposed.
“I think we should also apologize on Eugene’s behalf,” Julia said. “He clearly didn’t know their customs.”
Lincoln was thinking for a moment. “OK, we agree that this was an unfortunate accident. I need explain this to Eugene. We really need to learn their customs much better, and we cannot let anything like this happen again.”
President Lincoln, Julia Koski and Jin Li moved to back to the officers lounge.
“Ogun, the Elders - we accept that this event was an unfortunate accident. On behalf of Mr. Dennard I would like to extend our apologies to Orin-Gun. We are very sorry that he got wounded,” Lincoln said.
“President Lincoln, we accept your apologies and we wish Mr. Dennard quick recovery,” Ogun said.
“We would like to learn more about the customs of Chukkas, and also educate our people on your customs. We think this would be mutually beneficial,” Lincoln said.
“We are happy to share the customs of Chukkas. Oracle has been with Chukkas for two million years, he knows our customs well and will provide Alexa a summary that you can use to educate your people,” Ogun responded.
“Thank you Ogun. It was good to meet with you and the Elders,” Lincoln said. “I have still one personal favor I would like request.”
“Of course, President Lincoln.”
“Please call me Adam,” he said and explained the favor he was requesting.
Ogun agreed and made a laughing gesture with his four arms.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, The President of United States,” John Roberts said as Adam Lincoln walked behind the podium in White House.
“Good morning. My Chief of Staff, Mr. Eugene Dennard is currently recovering from a scuba diving accident. He was diving on Saturday in St Croix, US Virgin Islands when he encountered a male Chukka, named Orin-Gun who was doing research on the wall that drops off down to 13,000 feet depth on the northern coast of the island. There has been a lot of speculation in the news on what happened so I want to make the record straight.”
“While Mr. Dennard is an experienced scuba diver this was the first time he encountered a Chukka in their natural environment in the ocean. Orin-Gun attempted to greet Mr. Dennard in their customary friendly manner. Dennard was not aware of these customs, misinterpreted the intent and attempted to protect himself. Orin-Gun reacted also in self defense. Unfortunately as a result both parties got injuries in this accident. I want to emphasize that this was not intentional but truly an unfortunate accident.”
“Both Mr. Dennard and Orin-Gun are now recovering from this accident. They met last night in George Washington Hospital and greeted each other again, now following the customary protocols. Mr. Dennard knows now how the Chukkas back rub works and Orin-Gun knows how to shake hands with humans. They both expressed apologies and wished for speedy recovery to each other. Their families were also present. Here is a holovision clip of this meeting.”
President Lincoln shared a 3D holovision clip were Eugene was shaking hands with Orin-Gun who was giving a back rub to Eugene. Ogun was holding Abby and James on his four arms while giving a back rub to Emily using his fifth arm. Everybody was laughing, even Chukkas were making laughing gestures. It was just a perfect family portrait and holovision clip.
“All's well that ends well - we for sure have learned a lot from this experience. My opponents in the election campaign are trying to erect walls and slow down immigration and naturalization of Chukkas. My message to you is to tear down those walls and allow Chukkas to become citizens of the greatest nation in the world, the United States of America. Our nation was built on the ideas of equality and liberty. Those ideas are truly universal and are shared by our friends who arrived to our planet as refugees.”
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