by Gini Koch
This visit was gigantic news, of course, and we had a tonnage of media of all kinds here, including Oliver, who’d gated over once we were on site. The princesses were still at Guantanamo, though.
Hugged everyone, of course, while trying not to worry that when things went wrong—as they so often did—it would be blasted to the entire world live, but grabbed King Benny early on. “It’s good to see you. Why aren’t there more of you representing on this trip?”
“Ah, Shealla always asks the right questions. Rohini and the Matriarchs felt that bringing the katyhoppers or strautruch along would . . . frighten many of your people.”
“Possibly.” Probably. Big walking otters who looked like Benedict Cumberbatch and giant, colorful penguins were cuddly. Giant katydid-grasshopper and Real Life Big Bird animals were not, necessarily. Plus mind-reading and telekinesis tended to panic humans, too.
He nodded. “Fancy Corzine is unwilling to leave the planet without leadership protection, Zanell is not, ah, diplomatically minded, and we felt that bringing a representative from each of the Clans would be overwhelming. And Ronaldo said to tell you that he knows better than to come to Earth without your express invitation.”
“Good thinking on everyone’s parts.” Ronaldo 2.0’s in particular.
King Benny beamed. “I am honored to be the one who was allowed to visit the Home of the Gods.”
“Ah, yeah, I think we’d prefer that you not call it that while you’re here. People get a little, um, touchy about that.”
He bowed. “What Shealla requests, I will do.”
“And call me Kitty here, no Shealla unless we’re in private.”
“As you wish.”
Hugged him then went to Jareen. “Where’s Neeraj?”
“At home with Jeenar.” Jeenar was their son. “It’s time for Jeenar’s Young Rites and the father is more vital than the mother for that.”
“You’re going to run out of names if you have another child.”
She grinned the wide Reptilian grin that could look threatening unless you knew better, which I did. “We normally only have two offspring. So if we have another, their name will be Janeer.”
“Weird naming on your planet, but who am I to judge?”
“It works for us.” She studied me. “You’re worried. Is it because Jamie and Charlie aren’t here?”
“No. I’ll tell you why later.” Hoped that aliens were immune to our diseases, but then again, clearly A-Cs weren’t, since Manfred and Raj and the other A-Cs that had been in the War Room looked like they still weren’t feeling totally well.
After everyone had hugged everyone else—ensuring that if we were indeed dealing with a bioweapon we were all nicely contaminated—we settled down to find out whatever it was the Planetary Council wanted.
Armstrong, Jeff, Strauss, and the Planetary Council members were all on a small stage. Gower, as the Supreme Pontifex was on stage as well. Gideon Cleary was up there, too, looking rather thrilled. Apparently Armstrong wanted to show that there were no partisan issues for this event. The rest of us, me and Elaine included, were in the audience, though Elaine and I were in the front row along with close members of our staffs.
Was impressed with the setup—it was very reminiscent of what we did at the White House, down to microphones and sound system—considering NASA Base rarely hosted this kind of gathering, but there were A-Cs all around, meaning someone had shared what was needed and Centaurion had provided the speedy accomplishment and preparations.
Unsurprisingly to me, Rohini was the speaker. He always deferred to Alexander during his remarks, but it was clear that Rohini was still the Councilor Leonidas of the group. Fine with me—I liked Rohini quite a lot.
As did the press. Cameras were flashing, video was rolling, and reporters were trying to sit still in their seats, with limited success. This was basically Christmas in May for the press.
Rohini spent some time on preamble, but not as much as most Earth politicians would have. “So,” he concluded, “we all, from the Annocusal Royal Family to every citizen of every other planet in our system, are here to request that Earth take its place in the Planetary Council as a full member of our Galactic Community.”
CHAPTER 62
THERE WAS THE usual excited buzzing you get when gigantic announcements are made and there are a lot of people around to witness them.
I nudged White, who was sitting on my other side. “Who are the Annocusal?” I asked in a low voice.
“We are,” he replied in kind. “All of us from Alpha Four. It’s our species name, what we call ourselves, based on the gods the majority feel created our system, Anno and Cusal.”
“I learn something new every single day.”
“It’s good to be open to learning, Missus Martini.”
“So, that’s why you guys call yourselves the A-Cs, isn’t it? Not because you’re from the Alpha Centauri system, but because of Anno and Cusal.”
“Yes. We chose A-Cs once we came here since our religion does not, in actuality, agree with the Anno and Cusal creation stories.”
“And sometimes I learn new things every minute of the day.”
“I enjoy you taking your time to discover all the intricacies of the people you’ve married into. It keeps things fresh.”
Would have given him a witty comeback but Rohini was speaking again. “And so, we come to you now, to see what you will do.”
Armstrong looked pretty pleased, all things considered. Rohini turned to him. “Mister President, while we realize that the United States does not speak for all of Earth, Emperor Alexander would like to ask that we receive your thoughts first.”
Lots of press focus on Alexander and Jeff, who was sitting next to him. Not a surprise, really.
Armstrong stood and joined Rohini at the microphone. He smiled for the press. “The United States is pleased to welcome the Planetary Council of the Alpha Centauri System to our world. We’re more pleased to accept your offer. Earth is more than ready to join the greater galactic community. And we have our own Earth A-Cs who are welcomed all over the world to prove it.”
This was good. Sure, the A-Cs weren’t actually accepted all over the world, because Club 51 wasn’t the only anti-alien group out there. But this situation would impress many who were on the fence about aliens in general and the A-Cs in particular.
“We would like to meet with other Earth leaders,” Rohini said now, “in order to come to a consensus for how many agree with you and, if unanimous, who will be chosen as Earth’s representatives.”
“We’ll organize a meeting at the United Nations,” Armstrong said. It was clear he was going to say more, but a scream interrupted him.
One of the reporters was pointing behind Armstrong and Rohini. Looked where she was pointing to see Strauss face down on the floor of the stage.
People leaped into action, with Jeff, Gower, Cleary, and Armstrong all rushing to Strauss. I looked around for where a shooter could possibly be hiding. Other than in the crowd, there weren’t a lot of options.
Tito made his way to the stage, along with a couple of Dazzlers who I was pretty sure were medical personnel. Elaine, White, and I followed them. They did a quick examination and tried CPR. But finally they stopped and Tito shook his head. “She’s dead. I’m so sorry. There was nothing we could do.”
“Was she shot?” I asked quietly.
“No,” Tito replied. “She has no external wounds at all that I can see here. We need to get her to an examination room and see if we can determine cause of death.”
Ariel and Raj had politely moved Rohini away from the mic, and Ariel was relaying that the Secretary of State appeared to have passed away from causes unknown.
Chuckie was with us now. “Doctor Hernandez, we need to do a full autopsy as quickly as possible.”
“She has family,” Armstrong said.
Made eye contact with him. “It might be a coincidence.”
“Let’s hope,” he said grimly. “Let’s truly hope.”
CHAPTER 63
STRAUSS’S BODY was taken away on a gurney to the NASA Base medical center. Tito and Chuckie went with it. The conference went on, though there was a lot less jubilance from the participants and the audience.
“We are very sorry that this tragedy has marred our invitation,” Alexander said. “It is our hope to bring helpful things to Earth, and to learn from Earth as well. It pains us that you have lost someone important to you within a day of our arrival.”
Armstrong nodded. “Thank you. It’s a . . . hard loss. Monica was a wonderful person and an excellent Secretary of State. She’ll be missed and hard to replace.” He cleared his throat. “However, death comes to us all, and it’s rarely at the time we’d like. So, please, let’s continue to write this great chapter in our history. It’s what Monica would have wanted.”
They continued the discussions, all general We’re Cool and So Are You stuff. My phone, which I’d had the foresight to put on mute, buzzed. I heard it because it was rattling against the goggles. Dug it out quickly.
I had a text from Chuckie. Strauss was a diabetic.
Is that why she died?
We don’t know yet, but it means that her body and immune system are weaker than, say, Tito’s.
Lots of people have various diseases. I know what you’re worried about.
I’m hoping I’m wrong.
Me too, but I think we need to put everything into finding out if Lizzie’s father’s formula is out there and, if it is, finding the antidote. Even if this has nothing to do with the killer virus.
There may not be an antidote.
The Mastermind isn’t going to release a bioweapon that could kill him. Trust me, if there’s a killer virus, there’s also an antidote.
Let’s hope.
Kept my phone in my hand but went back to paying attention to what was going on onstage. Things were still rah-rah, with Armstrong indeed doing the nonpartisan thing which Cleary was supporting, but Armstrong didn’t look too good all of a sudden.
Elaine grabbed my free hand. “Kitty, Vince has mild heart . . . issues,” she whispered. “Can we get Doctor Hernandez back? Just in case? I’m worried that losing Monica in this way may be causing him problems.”
Sent a fast text to Chuckie asking him to get Tito back here ASAP.
“And now, I’d like to have the man I’m proud to call both my Vice President and my friend say a few words,” Armstrong said. “He’s the shining example of what our A-C population is and brings into the great mix that is the United States. Please help me welcome Jeff Martini!”
Jeff came forward and flashed his Politician’s Smile. It wasn’t quite the same as his killer grin, but it worked like magic on every straight woman or gay man he flashed it at. It did pretty well with the lesbian gals and straight men, too.
“Thanks, Vince. It’s been my privilege to learn from you how to be the kind of politician who puts the people first. And I’m deeply moved that our nearest galactic neighbors want to welcome us fully into the neighborhood.”
The crowd was chuckling at this when Armstrong went pale. Elaine still had hold of my hand, and she gripped it tighter. Jeff was turned toward Rohini and Alexander, so wasn’t looking at Armstrong, but even with blocks up, had a feeling he felt panic from both me and Elaine, because he turned back to Armstrong.
Just in time to catch the President’s falling body.
CHAPTER 64
ELAINE AND I ran for the stage. I used hyperspeed, but she didn’t throw up, presumably because it had been a quick burst and she was far too upset to vomit. We beat the Secret Service there by several seconds.
Jeff was laying Armstrong on the ground as Chuckie and Tito ran up and shoved through the Secret Service agents. Tito didn’t hesitate and started CPR immediately.
Meanwhile the rest of Secret Service were putting the room into lockdown, relaying other information, and generally doing their best to keep everyone else from panicking. With limited success.
Tito looked up at Elaine. “I’m so sorry.”
She fell to her knees, cradled Armstrong’s head in her arms, and sobbed.
Had absolutely no idea what to do. Fortunately, Lucinda was here, and she shoved up onto the stage, put her arms around Elaine, and held the First Lady while she cried.
“Slick is down,” one of the Secret Service agents quietly said into his watch. “Repeat, Slick is down. Need full details for Sophistication, Cosmos, and Cyclone.”
“We’re out of the realm of coincidence,” Chuckie said tensely, as a dozen Secret Service agents arrived. They all looked stricken. Couldn’t blame them.
“Elaine just told me he had a mild heart condition.” Probably sounded more hopeful than I should have. Heard others start crying now, too, many of them on the stage.
“We need to assume the worst,” Chuckie said. He looked at Jeff. “I’m sorry, but your first act as President Pro Tem is going to be to institute a quarantine.”
Jeff blinked. “What?”
“Quarantine—” Chuckie repeated, but Jeff shook his head.
“Not that. The other thing. What?”
“President Pro Tem. That’s what you are now, Jeff. And, you’ll be sworn in as fast as we can get a judge here.” He turned to Cleary. “Gideon, can you handle that, please? Someone who isn’t going to create controversy would be appreciated.” Cleary nodded, looking dazed, but he pulled out his phone and stepped away.
Jeff looked far more dazed than Cleary. “But . . . I can’t be President. Not now. I haven’t . . . I haven’t even been a politician for four years. Vince . . . Vince hasn’t finished training me . . .” Jeff looked ready to lose it.
This time, though, I knew what to do.
“Jeff.” Waited until he looked at me, then made and held eye contact with him. “Jeff, you’ve been a leader since you were twenty. You led your people for over ten years, and now you just have to man up and lead all your people again. You have more people to lead now, and they aren’t all cooperative and they won’t like what you do or say and will tell you about it. But that we have been dealing with for four years. And you know how to deal with the haters, which is just like you deal with the supporters—fairly and with compassion.”
“I’m not ready,” he said quietly. “Not for this.”
“Good. That proves you’re both sane and not power-mad. However, you are ready. And, baby, ready or not, you have no choice. If you abdicate, this country will be thrown into chaos and Earth’s chances of really joining the greater galactic community will be harmed if not ruined completely. Now isn’t the time to give in to the fear. Now is the time to feel the fear and do it anyway.”
Kept eye contact with him and tried to show him emotionally that I had complete faith in him. Finally, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he squared his shoulders.
“You’re right, Kitty,” he said. “Vince wouldn’t want me to falter. So . . . I won’t.” He smiled. “As long as you believe I can do it.”
“You know I do, and everyone else here does, too.”
Cleary rejoined us. “We’re racing a judge over. State Supreme Court Justice Quinn is on her way.”
The men started discussing what to tell the crowd as another gurney was brought and Armstrong’s body was put on it. Lucinda was still holding Elaine. “I’ll go with her,” she said to me. “You need to stay with Jeffrey.” She reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “You handled that well, Kitty, thank you.”
Had no idea what to say so I just nodded. Lucinda, Elaine, Tito, and those handling the gurney headed off. So did a couple of the
President’s Secret Service agents and all those assigned to the First Lady. Former First Lady really, now.
And then, of course, it hit me. If Jeff was the President, or would be officially in just a little while, then that would make me the First Lady. And therefore it was my turn to feel totally incapable.
White came over to me and put his arm around my shoulders. “I see the full realization of events has hit you.”
“Richard, what am I going to do?”
He hugged me. “What you’ve always done since the first day I met you—handle it.”
“I’m not really First Lady material.”
“Nor were you diplomatic material, nor Head Ambassador material, nor wife of a Representative material, nor wife of the Vice President material. And yet, here we stand, with you once again set to do what you feel you can’t. I, however, have seen your track record and feel that it’s quite good. You’ll handle this, adapt, and also force the job to adapt to you as well. Because, as we’ve seen, they can try to take the woman out of the fight, but they’ve never taken the fight out of the woman.”
Leaned my head on his shoulder. Not quite as nice as Jeff’s or Reader’s, but not a bad shoulder to lean on. “It doesn’t seem real yet. None of it. Monica is dead, Vince is dead, Jeff’s about to be sworn in as President, and I keep on waiting to wake up.”
“I know. But, sadly, this is not a dream or a nightmare. We’re all quite awake.”
Mom joined us, looking worried. “Kitten, how are you holding up?”
Left White and hugged my mother. She hugged me back, her breath-stopping bear hug. And for whatever reason, all the emotions hit and I started to cry.
Mom held me and rocked me. I knew the media would be eating this up, but I frankly didn’t give a damn. Someone who’d started out as our enemy and over time had become our ally and then our friend was dead. And if what Chuckie and I suspected was the reality, then every person in this room, including me, my husband, my in-laws, and my mother, was at risk of death.