by Gini Koch
Managed to refrain from saying that this was hilarious, since he’d tried to kill them. Only managed it because said children were right here. Go me, Mom of the Year.
“That’s going to fly in political circles, let alone with the regular people?” Jeff sounded as skeptical as I felt. “And it’s somehow also not going to finally make the Middle East cohesive by making them all declare war on the United States?”
“Yes,” Chuckie said. “Because the truth—that Israel was being led by an android and Iraq by a literal monster who tried to blow up your child—is worse for both countries than this story. I still have the candy bomb, and they know about it. In this spin, their leaders are tragic heroes. They’ll stick with it. And their people will, too.”
Heard a throat clear behind us and turned to see Alexander there. “Sorry to intrude,” he said, “but I feel that you’re all missing a very key opportunity.”
“Excuse me?” Jeff asked.
Alexander smiled and looked at me. “A common enemy is so very helpful when your families are fighting, don’t you find?”
The light dawned. “You want us to blame this on the Z’porrah.”
“Yes.”
“But they didn’t do it,” Jeff said.
“If they could have, they would have,” Drax said, as he arrived. Figured Hughes had taken over his part of the flying. “The Z’porrah are all of our enemies. You’ve had their spies here. Those spies affected your people. Who’s to say that this is not due to the Z’porrah?”
“He has a point, Jeff. I can easily make the case for LaRue being a focal point for all of this, including Stephanie and Trevor the Tinkerer.”
Alexander came over and put his hand onto Jeff’s shoulder. “Instead of looking at this as a disaster, cousin, why not look at it as the opportunity it is?”
“Opportunity for what?”
Alexander smiled. “World peace.”
Opened my mouth, but Chuckie put up his hand and I shut up. “He’s right, Jeff,” Chuckie said. “The world has been different since the first Z’porrah attack, but because we didn’t choose to capitalize on it, we’re still mostly where we were prior to that attack—carefully at each other’s throats. This kind of event can tear the world apart. But, if it’s handled properly, it can be the event that brings the world together.”
“The cohesion may not last,” White said, as Gower came in and nodded to him. “But Paul has been speaking with several key religious leaders around the world, and the consensus seems to be that if we’re being dragged into the galactic community, then we’ll go as Earthlings, not as disparate races and nationalities, and that includes we A-Cs. I assume that the political world will follow, in part because we are in this lovely ship that, according to our Navy pilots and Air Force Captain, could take over the world all by itself.”
“That was fast.”
Gower nodded. “The talks have been going on since the Planetary Council came, Kitty. They were just at a need-to-know level. And none of you needed to know.”
“I feel the love,” Jeff said. “But how do you convince the common man that this is a good idea? How do I tell the people of this world that they’re safe and we’re on their side?”
“We’ll figure it out, Jeff,” Gower said. “We always do.”
As he said this, Oliver and Jenkins came in, trailed by Vance and Abner. “I’d love to take pictures,” Oliver said. “Only my cameras are all destroyed. As are the poor people on my team.”
“You told them to run,” Jenkins said with a sigh. “I wish mine had listened, too.”
“We listened,” Vance said loyally. “Mister Joel Oliver’s never wrong.”
“Does the hero worship make him sick, or just everyone else?” Abner asked.
“Oh, I like it,” Oliver said. “Believe me.”
Jenkins managed a laugh. “I’ll take it, too, should you want to spread it around. Mister President, we’re clear on the spin, so you can count on us to ensure that we stick to the party line.”
“Alien attack will get bigger headlines than successful peace treaty,” Oliver said. “As my entire career can attest.”
Looked at Elaine. “So much for your idea to make the successful peace treaty a part of the inauguration party I’m even more sure we shouldn’t have.”
“We still need it, more so now.” She sighed. “I think the issue of how to thank the Club Fifty-One people is even more vital after this, though. We can’t forget them just because another attack happened.”
“And another homegrown terrorist attack, too. Though I realize we’re not going to mention Stephanie and her androids, nor the Fem-Bots. The Samarapusses and the Harpaz android, aka the ‘alien attack,’ are more than enough. We’re going to have to spend money to fix up Camp David, too, Shantanu and A-Cs or no Shantanu and A-Cs. I can just imagine the complaints if we pay to get people to Washington, and I can imagine the bigger complaints if they have to come on their own dimes.”
Keith popped his head in. “There you all are. All personnel are accounted for or listed as missing. We’re about to head for Andrews. Should be a short trip.”
Handed Charlie to Lizzie, who cuddled him as she leaned against Siler, and stepped over to Keith. “Where’s Malcolm?” I asked quietly. Realized I hadn’t seen Buchanan for ages. Couldn’t remember when I’d seen him last, or if I’d even seen him once we’d gotten to Camp David.
“Buchanan?”
I nodded.
“He wasn’t underground. I thought he was in the ship or with the teams on the ground.”
My throat felt tight. “No, he wasn’t. At least, I don’t think he was.”
“I’m sorry,” Keith said. “I know you care about your people.”
“Yeah. I do.” Turned back to my family, doing my best not to cry, when my phone rang. Checked the number. “Malcolm?”
“Missus Executive Chief, it’s good to hear your voice.”
“Where are you?”
“Watching over you, like always.”
Looked around. Someone shoved off the wall at the back of the room. “You freaking amaze me, Doctor Strange.”
He grinned. “Camilla grabbed me when the ship was landing to get the Vata. She felt that the two of us would do more good in the air and hypersped us onto the ship right after the Vata. But I appreciate that you were looking for me. Just didn’t want you upset. I’m fine.”
“Good. Me too.”
“Good.” We hung up and I went back to my family, feeling a lot better.
Jamie heaved a sigh. “I want to stay on the pretty ship. It’s so fun here.”
Drax smiled at her. “Thank you very much. I designed it to be as aesthetically lovely as it is efficient. It burns clean energy and is self-sufficient on fuel. The reactor creates the power and the power charges the reactor, with no emissions other than oxygen.”
We all stared at him. “Wow,” Joe said finally. “I got to get me one of these.”
“You technically already have it,” Drax said. “The five of you have flown it without issue. I’m sure with a little practice you’ll be as comfortable with it as if you were a natural Vata.”
Keith popped his head in again. “We’re here.”
“Seriously? It took longer to load people than it did to fly this to D.C.?”
“The ship goes faster than it feels like.”
“Does it?”
“I know that look,” Christopher said. “What crazy are you coming up with?”
“I think I’ve figured out how to get everyone to the inauguration while showing off the might of our new allies in a super nice way.”
Chuckie and Raj both looked at me, then at each other. “It could work,” Raj said. “But we’ll have to scan for weapons.”
“That’s already built in,” Drax said, sounding slightly offended.
�
��Iron Man, don’t worry, no one’s dissing your mad skills. We’re suddenly just all kinds of thrilled that you’re here.”
“What’s the plan everyone else but me seems to know?” Jeff asked.
While Chuckie explained that we were going to use the helicarrier to transport the Club 51 members who wanted to go to the inauguration, we followed Keith back to the command center and the rest of our friends and family. Did a fast head count of my own. Everyone I thought should be here was, including Uncle Mort.
I hit play on my music. “The End Has Only Begun” by Lifehouse came on.
Leaned against Jeff and relaxed. He wrapped his arm around me, and I turned so that Charlie and I were snuggled into Jeff’s chest and I could put my hand onto Jamie’s back. We stayed like that the whole way home.
CHAPTER 99
THE NEXT TWO and a half weeks were a whirlwind of activity. I didn’t even argue about the FLOTUS stuff I had to do, because I was too busy, and everyone else was too busy to hear me whine anyway.
Amazingly enough, the party line was holding. Mossad had come through, and Israel wasn’t mad at us or the Iraqis, but were instead mad at the aliens who’d sent the attack to try to destroy them and us.
The two Iraqis who’d survived the attack happened to be high-ranking in government, and they’d done the same thing—focused their people on the alien attack that was centered on the U.S. and clearly done to cause the Middle East to declare war on us. Meaning, therefore, that in order to show their strength, they would not declare war on either the U.S. or Israel.
Of course there was a lot of anti-alien hysteria going on. But it was shifting away from the A-Cs and even the Alpha Centauri residents toward the Big Bad that were the Z’porrah. No one had forgotten Operation Destruction, after all, and having more people than us saying that it was the Z’porrah’s fault, not ours, didn’t hurt. Knew this was going to come back and bite us hard in the butt later, but right now, it was the best option we had so we were taking it.
It also didn’t hurt that Raj was trotting out Alexander, Drax, Queen Renata, King Benny, and Rohini constantly. Alexander was an emperor of an entire solar system that liked Earth a lot and was also, like all the A-Cs, handsome. Drax was a royal prince and also good looking as things went. Renata was a queen, and she’d shifted just a bit to ensure that she looked exotic but not alien. And King Benny and Rohini were flat-out adorable.
These five were our Interstellar Ambassadors, and it was working. Alexander shared that Alpha Four was prepared to give Earth what it needed to join the galactic community. Drax discussed how even at the Galactic Core the Z’porrah were a threat and that they’d heard of Earth’s bravery. Renata shared that her planet considered Earth their allies because of our might and our A-Cs. King Benny shared that we’d saved his planet and the entire Alpha Centauri system from Z’porrah spies and a Z’porrah invasion. And Rohini shared that his people were this part of the galaxy’s version of the Red Cross and would be helping fix things at Camp David, making it as good as old.
Club 51 was in chaos, because this created a schism. Many of those who’d helped during Operation Epidemic wanted to fly on the helicarrier and go to the inauguration party. Those who didn’t were, of course, led by Harvey Gutermuth and adamantly didn’t want the others to go at all. The Church of Hate and Intolerance led by Farley Pecker naturally sided with the haters, but reports shared that there were less of them.
Hacker International set up a registration system for those who wanted to attend via helicarrier. As soon as someone registered, the hackers tracked it back and determined who the person was. Felt like we were doing the NSA’s dirty work, but it was helpful in determining if we were getting grunts, high-ups, or people who weren’t even involved in Club 51 signing up. Had a good percentage of all of them, and a small but significant percentage from the Church of Hate, too. Casey Jones, however, was not among them.
Mom still had the NSA under investigation, but that was going to be a long, drawn-out process. Sadly, the main incriminating evidence for the black site and the Fem-Bots was Monica Strauss. Other information had been redacted and Mom and her team were having to do a deep dive, assisted by some FBI and CIA personnel handpicked by Chuckie and Tom Curran.
Congress did as expected and approved all of Jeff’s nominations. Photo ops with King Benny and Rohini helped a lot. It was amazing how many congresspeople had kids who wanted to meet King Benny.
My team, working with Elaine and Raj, had the party setup and prep. We were able to get the National Mall. Because Elaine was right—once the idea was tentatively put forward by Colette, as her first official act as my Press Secretary, the media whipped it up into a frenzy of patriotic puffery and suddenly everyone wanted a party to cheer on our first President with two hearts.
By the time the inauguration was looming and the registration for it was closed, we were expecting a huge number of people. We had five stages because we had so many people coming. And I was in charge of the bands.
Of course, we had things like budgets and schedules to accommodate. Meaning we weren’t able to get every band I’d have liked. Of course, I’d have liked to have about a hundred bands, versus the five we could have. And we were down to the wire with a couple of them.
Mrs. Maurer came into my office. “Dear, I’ve heard from the band for the third stage.”
“Are they in or out?”
“In. Very happily in, dear.”
“Awesome. So we have Metallica on stage two, Smash Mouth on stage three, Panic! At the Disco on stage four, and Flo Rida on stage five.”
“Yes. We’re still waiting on stage one. They’re on tour, so it’s quite complicated.”
“Do you think I should have R&B represented? Or classic New Wave, meaning Tears for Fears? We could always add a sixth stage.”
“Not really, dear. I think you need to come up with another band in case this one can’t make it.”
“Fine. Don’t want to, but fine. Amadhia and Aaron are going to do the national anthem and the opening song for Jeff’s speech, right? And any other songs that we need during the other speeches?”
“Yes, I have that handled, they’re clear on what they’re singing and when. They’ve arrived, as well, and Antoinette has them settled into the Lincoln Bedroom. Lovely couple. They seem devoted to each other.”
“Yeah, they’re cool.” And Jeff had insisted on having them. Couldn’t argue, Amadhia did have a beautiful voice.
Vance trotted in. “This just came in, and I know you’ll want it.” He handed a printed email to Mrs. Maurer.
She read it and smiled. “You’ll be happy, dear. They were able to do it.”
Jumped up and high-fived both of them. “You know what? Sometimes it’s actually good to be the FLOTUS.”
CHAPTER 100
“THIS IS THE GREATEST PARTY EVER!”
“I can barely hear you,” Jeff said. “Thank God I had the kids wear earplugs.”
“Whatever! Duuuuude looks like a laaaady!” Yes, of course I was singing along. Not that anyone could hear me over the band and the screams from the crowd. It was nice to hear screams of excitement and happiness.
Jamie was on Siler’s shoulders and Charlie was on Lizzie’s. Everyone seemed to be having a fine time, earplugs notwithstanding. We were on the side of the stage, so in one of the coolest places in the world to be. Being married to the President had its advantages after all.
“I thought there was more to an inauguration than rock bands.”
“Did you? Choose another First Lady then.”
“No, I’ve got the one I want.”
“Good to know. I’m pretty happy with my Commander in Chief.”
“Thankfully. You know the speeches were supposed to matter.”
“You were awesome as always, Jeff. Very moving, totally Presidential. The crowd loved you.”
“I don’t actua
lly care about the crowd.”
Stopped singing along and looked up at him. “Well, I love you. Is that good enough?”
Jeff smiled, his sexy jungle cat about to eat me smile. “It is for me, baby.” Then he bent down and kissed me all through the rest of the song.
I didn’t mind at all.
Available December 2016,
the fourteenth novel in the Alien series
from Gini Koch:
ALIEN NATION
Read on for a sneak preview
“WILL OTHER ALIEN FLAGS soon be flying all over our country?” the Serious Newscaster asked. “And are these aliens the reason the Z’porrah attacked our world again? Stay tuned for the first of our twelve-part investigative report: Aliens Among Us.”
Charles Reynolds cleared his throat as the show mercifully cut to a commercial. Chuckie was my best guy friend since 9th grade, always the smartest guy in any room, and also now the Director of the CIA. “It’s not an issue for us to share that the photos were shown out of context,” he said, sounding calmer than anyone else had so far. “And I’m sure we can get someone at the UN to share that the flag was their idea. However, this is highlighting one positive thing—the press and therefore the public at large have bought that the attacks at Camp David were caused by the Z’porrah.”
The Z’porrah were an ancient race of nasty dino-birds who had the longest running feud ever going with the Ancients, who were an ancient race of shapeshifters. The Ancients were on the side of Earth and the Alpha Centauri solar systems—and by “on the side of” I mean “had meddled with everyone’s evolution but because they cared” versus what the Z’porrah were doing out this way, which was still mourning the death of our dinosaurs and wishing the rest of us were long gone.
So, during our last frolicsome fun of less than a month ago, we’d taken the advice of the Planetary Council and had blamed the created in-control superbeing and android attacks at Camp David on the Z’porrah. That our spin for the events of Operation Madhouse had started biting us in our butts far sooner than expected was just par for our particular course. We were, as always, stuck in the sand trap with only a miraculous hole-in-one likely to save us.