He looked back at Henderson. “Mr. Stuart has offered to speak with us,” he said. “Do you feel we should talk?”
“Talk, yes,” Henderson said. “But I would advise against trying to threaten him.”
“Then we won't,” the President said. He looked over at his National Security Advisor. “You were at the meeting where the raid was ordered, weren't you?”
The man paled, but nodded.
“Then consider yourself on probation,” the President said. There was a pleasant tone to his voice that in no way masked the ice underneath. “And if this turns into a political disaster, I’ll want your head on a platter too.”
He paused. “And what, so far, has leaked out?”
Houseman was the only one to speak. “So far, nothing apart from rumours,” he said. “Several bloggers in the town posted notes about naked federal troopers, but most of them seem to believe that it was a practical joke rather than anything more serious. We’re pushing that forward online, helping to bury the truth under a mountain of bullshit. However, there may well be international trouble. The Russians may believe that we were testing an advanced weapon and demand answers.”
The President winced. “Then we make the call and talk to Mr. Stuart sooner, if possible,” he said, firmly. “I’ll go, personally, even if the Secret Service objects. We need to know just what we’re dealing with before we make any long-term plans.”
Jürgen nodded in agreement. Clearly, the President had more steel in him than he’d suspected. And balls too, if he was going to meet Mr. Stuart in person. Jürgen would have liked to be a fly on the wall at that meeting.
***
Kevin smiled to himself as he listened to the President. Dorsey had no idea that he and his men had carried nanotech bugs with them back to the White House, or that one of those bugs – now hidden on the ceiling – was monitoring the conversation in the White House. And yet, despite his amusement, Kevin was terrified. The sheer potential of the technology was staggering and horrific. Given enough time, the entire world could be monitored endlessly by computers. There would no longer be any privacy at all.
He looked up as Steve entered, the hatch hissing closed behind him.
“We need to talk,” Kevin said, before his older brother could say a word. “Sit.”
Steve sat, his face twisting. Kevin didn't give him any time to muster a response.
“Tell me,” he said. “Just what were you thinking when you humiliated them so badly?”
Steve’s eyes flashed. “I was thinking they deserved a little humiliation!”
“And you might be right,” Kevin conceded. “But you just committed something that is arguably an act of war. You can hardly declare the ranch to be the embassy of a foreign power and then expect them to recognise it when they have never even heard of us!”
He went on before Steve could say a word. “You have just terrified everyone in Washington,” he snapped. “Scared people do stupid things! We need them to stay out of the way, at the very least, not work to find ways to impede our plans for the defence of Earth! And what will happen to our small community if it does come down to a shooting war? Do you expect everyone to go along with it?
“Yes, you terrorised a bunch of DHS cowboys and rightly so, but what happens when they send Marines or Army Rangers or SEALS? How many of our friends will side against their country? Or would we have a mutiny on our hands at the worst possible moment?”
Steve glared at him. It was the look, Kevin remembered, that reminded him strongly of their father, before the old man had passed away. The look that said, quite clearly, that his children were crossing the line and heading towards disaster. But the old man had never had the sort of power that sat, now, at Steve’s fingertips.
“This isn't a game,” Kevin said, lowering his voice. “Military service didn't prepare you for being the leader of a new nation. Not everything is a nail that needs to be hit with a hammer.”
“It worked for George Washington,” Steve objected.
“Washington didn't build a new nation completely from scratch,” Kevin countered. He’d read history, all history. Steve had focused on its military aspects. “There was Congress and the State Governments and quite a bit of infrastructure – and he still fucked up the slavery issue. Here ... you have to build everything from scratch. You’re out of your depth.”
He took a breath. “I understand the urge to just hit back at the feds,” he added. There had been endless talk – so far, just talk – about greeting federal agents with loaded weapons, but Steve had made it real. No matter the justification for the raid, Steve’s actions were likely to have unpleasant repercussions. “But we handled the whole affair very badly. Right now, we have to look like Washington's worst nightmare. A group of irrational thugs with advanced technology and a bad attitude.”
Steve looked down at the deck, then back up at Kevin. “You would have preferred to abandon the ranch?”
The hell of it, Kevin knew, was that Steve had a point. They – and Mongo – had grown up on the ranch. They’d run through its fields, climbed the mountains nearby, swum in its lakes, courted their first girlfriends in the haystacks ... it was their home. And it was home to generations of Stuarts, ever since they’d first settled in Montana. The thought of federal agents swarming through the ranch, breaking furniture and searching their vast collection of books was appalling. If Kevin had been the one in charge, he didn't know if he could have coldly abandoned the ranch and set up another base elsewhere.
“I would have sent them away with their dignity intact,” Kevin said. “Look, Steve, what sort of nation do you want to build?”
“A decent one,” Steve growled.
“Then act decently towards other nations,” Kevin said. “Particularly the nation that raised and trained most of our manpower – and the one to which many of us swore an oath.”
“We swore one to protect the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Steve pointed out. “What about the domestic enemies in Washington?”
“We’re leaving them behind,” Kevin said. “Or would you rather wage war on the United States?”
He paused, then pushed on. “Let’s bomb Washington, right now,” he said. “Zap the White House from orbit. Smash the military bases! Blow up the Beltway! Burn Langley to the ground! Oh, and let’s make enemies of the entire American population while we’re at it.”
His voice softened. “I saw this before in Iraq,” he added. “And so did you. Destroying Saddam’s regime was easy; rebuilding a decent Iraq was hard. How many people resisted us because we destroyed their livelihoods, exposed them to their enemies and shattered their grip on power? How many others resisted us because they trusted Iran more than they trusted us? How many people fought because it was the only way we’d left them to make a living ...”
Steve slapped his hand on his knee, hard. “Point. Taken.”
“This isn't a fantasy any longer,” Kevin said. “This is as real as reality gets.”
He waved a hand at the console he’d set up, with the help of his interface. “This technology scares me,” he admitted. “We have spy probes in the White House itself! It wouldn't be hard to blanket Afghanistan with bugs and track down the terrorist networks, then start obliterating them one by one. Or we could disable Iran’s nuclear program, North Korea’s nuclear missiles ... hell, we could cripple China and Russia in an afternoon, without them ever realising what happened to their weapons. But all of those options are destructive.
“Steve, if we’re going to build a new nation, we need something constructive.”
Steve nodded, ruefully. “Very well,” he said. “What do you propose we offer?”
Kevin had to smile. Steve had been right about one thing. Sometimes, you just had to hit the bull between the horns to make it pay attention, even if there was a risk of being gored by an angry bull.
“Most of what Keith suggested,” Kevin said. “We have a handful of small portable fusion reactors, enough to supp
ly the entire country’s requirements. We have superconductors that would allow them to make steps forward in producing laser and other directed energy weapons. We have medical kits and cures for diseases, including some that have proven incurable by current human technology. Hell, we have quite a few other pieces of technology we could offer them.”
“And we could offer assistance in going after the Taliban,” Steve commented. “Do you think they’d like it?”
Kevin shrugged. Afghanistan was a major headache for the government. They couldn't commit the troop levels necessary to keep the country stabilised, which ensured that any gains made by American and local troops were often reversed when the foreign troops moved onwards to the next region. And yet the government didn't dare try to pull out completely, having built up Afghanistan as the Good War. Kevin had a private suspicion that Afghanistan would end up just as badly as Somalia, with the added complication of American SF roaming the countryside, wiping out small pools of Taliban wherever they found them.
And besides, the debt for 9/11 might have been paid, but that didn't justify simply abandoning the country.
“They probably would,” Kevin said. He smiled, then met his brother’s eyes. “We have a week before the scheduled meeting, unless they want to meet earlier. God alone knows what might happen in the meantime. So far, there hasn't been a leak, but that will change. And maybe we should ask to meet earlier, if we can. The sooner we start mending fences, the better.”
Steve nodded. It was one of their father’s sayings.
“Once they call, set the meeting up as soon as possible,” he ordered. “I’ll speak to Keith and a couple of others, then ... then try to make nice with the government.”
He paused. “But we won’t be surrendering our independence,” he added, firmly. He tapped his knee to make the point clear. “That is not on the table.”
“Nor should it be,” Kevin agreed.
Even with the best will in the world – and he had never believed that all government was evil – it was unlikely that the US Government could put together a plan to defend the Earth in time to save it. The Horde would notice they’d lost a starship, sooner or later, and send another one to investigate. By then, they had to be ready to take the starship out – ideally, they had to be able to capture it. A second starship would be very useful. If nothing else, it would allow them to send trade missions to the nearest inhabited star system and pick up alien tech and, more usefully, alien user manuals.
“But we do have to mend fences,” he repeated. “We cannot afford having the US government trying to either impede us or even just refusing to cooperate. The consequences could be disastrous.”
Chapter Twelve
Joint Base Andrews, USA
Steve disliked having to admit that he’d been wrong, but his father had taught him – more than once – that it was worse to cling to something he knew damn well wasn't true. He didn't trust the government – he would never trust the government – yet Kevin had been right. He’d allowed his hatred to drive his actions, rather than sober cold rationality. Perhaps it was time to mend fences.
Mariko had agreed, when he’d gone to her and confessed everything Kevin had told him. She’d listened, then pointed out that men had their pride – and the more powerless a man felt, the more he would cling to his pride. Steve had humiliated the government and the government would want to push back, if only to maintain its position. But perhaps, if they talked openly, there was a chance to come to an agreement.
He smiled as he drove the van towards the gatehouse. Joint Base Andrews, the home of Air Force One, was one of the most secure locations in Washington, designated as a Presidential bolthole if the shit hit the fan. The armed Marines stepped out of the gatehouse, weapons raised, as he pulled the van to a halt. Steve couldn't help feeling a hint of nostalgia as he saw them, followed by a flicker of approval. These men were genuine combat troops, alright. They knew better than to let an uninspected van anywhere near them, not when a bomb packed in the vehicle could do real damage. Steve waited until one of them came up to the window, then removed his sunglasses.
“My name is Steve Stuart,” he said. “I’m here to meet with the President.”
They’d argued endlessly over how Steve should approach the base. Mongo had proposed teleporting into the base itself, but with the Secret Service on the lookout – and probably already paranoid after events in Montana – it had struck Steve as a very bad idea. Besides, as Kevin had pointed out, the idea was to try to mend fences, not rub the government’s face in its technological inferiority. Eventually, one of the vans had been transported to a point near Washington by a shuttle and Steve had driven the rest of the way.
It was nearly twenty minutes before he was cleared through security and allowed to drive up to a nondescript building. There was nothing, apart from a handful of snipers on the rooftop, to suggest that anyone important was inside, something that Steve thoroughly approved of. The simplest way to avoid being targeted was to act as though there was nothing worth targeting in the area. He parked the van, then opened the door and climbed out. It felt oddly good to be standing in a military base once again.
“Steve,” a droll voice said. “What have you been doing?”
Steve smiled when he saw Craig Henderson. They were old friends; he would have recruited Henderson, if he hadn't remained on active duty. As it was, it would be nice to have someone on his side in the meeting – or at least willing to help build links between the two parties, when the talks got heated.
“Something extraordinary,” Steve said. He smiled, then jerked a thumb towards the van. “I brought a gift. You’ll need to assign a team of loaders to unload it, then transport it to somewhere secure.”
Henderson paused. “And what is this gift?”
“All will be explained,” Steve said. He inclined a hand towards the door. “Shall we go inside?”
The building was surprisingly luxurious inside. Henderson kept up a running commentary about how the building was often used for secret low-key meetings between the President and foreign representatives. It was, apparently, as secure as possible, although none of the precautions seemed to block Steve’s link with the starship. However, if they started to broadcast more static into the air, it might well prevent a safe teleport. He kept his expression blank as Henderson led him into a small, but comfortable room. The President was sitting on the sofa, waiting for him. He rose as Steve entered the room.
“Mr. Stuart,” the President said. He held out a hand, which Steve awkwardly took and shook, firmly. “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”
Steve nodded, feeling himself lost for words. This was the President, the duly elected Head of State and Government, the most powerful man in the world. He’d been brought up to respect the office, even if he had been taught that the men who sat in it were human and therefore fallible. His father hadn’t spoken favourably of any President since Reagan, condemning Clinton in one breath and George W. Bush in the next. And he’d died midway through Bush’s second term.
“All exaggerated, I suspect,” Steve said, as the President released his hand. “Particularly the story about the Swedish woman’s swim team.”
The President smiled. It was a genuinely friendly smile. Up close, Steve had to admit the man had charisma. It shouldn’t have been important in a Presidential election, but it was. And the man had balls. Faced with what had to look like a villain straight out of James Bond, the man had picked a meeting place and come to the meeting, without giving into the temptation to cower under his desk.
He sat down on the sofa facing the President and waited until the Navy Stewards had poured them coffee, then withdrew. Henderson stood behind the President’s sofa, clearly ill at ease. Steve didn't blame him. Craig Henderson had always been ambitious, but he’d never wanted to become involved in political battles. Few military officers cared for bureaucratic engagements.
“Well,” the President said. “Shall we get right to the point?”
&nb
sp; Steve nodded and started to speak, outlining everything that had happened from the abduction attempt to the capture of the alien starship and the start of a new nation. The President listened, his face curiously expressionless; behind him, Henderson didn't even try to hide his astonishment. Steve wondered, as he came to the end of his story, just how much of it the President had guessed beforehand. After all, significant advances in technology didn't come out of nowhere.
“I see,” the President said, when he had finished. “And that is all true?”
“Yes, Mr. President,” Steve said.
“And you intend to found a new nation, while defending the planet,” the President mused. “An interesting endeavour – and quite a worthwhile one. Might I ask how you intend to proceed?”
Steve had expected a demand that the ship and technology be instantly turned over to the government. Kevin, however, had doubted it. The government would hardly risk exposing its own weakness by making a demand it knew would probably be rejected outright. Instead, Kevin had predicted, the government would try to come to terms with the new nation.
A Learning Experience Page 12