by Paul Phipps
He shook his head and hit the answer icon to stop the cell phone’s ringtone.
“Hernwell.”
“Good Morning Colonel Hernwell. I am Lt. Commander Thomas of the Terran Space Navy. I’ve been trying to contact General Duval. His office said he was with you and gave me this number to try.” Evana told him.
“Yes he is here. Please wait a moment.” The Colonel was talking as he strode across the stage to the General. “Excuse me sir, it’s Lt. Commander Thomas of the Terran Space Navy. She’s been trying to track you down.” And then he extended the cell phone to the General.
“General Duval” The general spoke into the phone.
“Good morning General!” Evana said cheerfully. “The Louis Pasteur and I are asking your permission to come into the Fort Detrick Airspace.”
“Permission granted Lt. Commander. How long before you will be here?”
“We will be there in twenty minutes; it takes a little time for the Louis Pasteur to enter the Atmosphere from Orbit. We will be unable to land because of our size, so we will be using a gravity elevator for embarking your people. Do you have a preference where we place it?”
“Can you place it at the parade ground?” The General asked.
“Certainly, that’s easily done.”
“Anything else Lt. Commander?” The General asked her.
“Yes, there is. I am extending an invitation to anyone who desires to visit and tour the Louis Pasteur while we are briefing you and your team.” Evana told him.
“Anyone?” The General asked in astonishment.
“Certainly, we will be here for several hours before we need to go. This will be a good time for the families of your team to see where their loved ones will be working. Also the rest of your personnel and civilians who might be curious are also welcome to see what it is like on one of our ships.”
“I’ll have an announcement be made immediately. Thank you for this opportunity.”
“Oh yes, one last thing. I have a shipment of Fifty Scanner-Arches for you. Please bring along some of your medical Doctors who will be staying there along with you. I’ll brief you on their usage. They may be needed by you soon.” She finished ominously.
“Thank you Lt. Commander Thomas. We will be waiting for you.” The General finished as he disconnected the phone. He looked at it and tossed it in his hand a couple of time and then handed it back to Colonel Hernwell.
“Contact Air traffic Control, inform them that the TSN Louis Pasteur has my permission to be in the Fort Detrick Air Space. Then tell Base Operations to announce their arrival and that an Open house will be made on board and that all personnel and dependents are welcome. Then tell Public Affairs to get over to the Parade Ground to supervise the people who will be showing up.
I also need Colonel James and tell her to bring all available Doctors and Nurses to the Parade Ground.”
The General then turned to look out at his men and women and said.
“We’re going to the Parade Ground right now. The Terran Space Navy Vessel Louis Pasteur will be arriving shortly. We will finish this briefing on board her.
Sergeant Major!”
“Sir!”
“Dismiss and reform up at the Parade Ground!”
“Sir, Yes Sir”
* * *
The Parade Ground was only a five minute march and the Medical Response Team was in formation. They were chatting quietly amongst themselves when a young corpsman pointed at a small dot that steadily got larger and larger.
The Louis Pasteur was similar in shape to his Mother Ship the Susannah, a hemisphere Three miles in diameter at the base and a mile and a half in height. He was a bright white with six Large Red Crosses each three quarters of a mile in size.
The name Louis Pasteur was emblazoned twice along the Rim of the ship.
Slowly he came to a stop and hovered two hundred and fifty feet above the ground.
General Duval finally had to bring his head back level with the ground to stop the pain in his neck. He turned to Colonel Hernwell and said. “Big isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah…”
A yellow-gold beam of light appeared about ten feet in front of the General and they could see a person falling slowly to the ground. Lt. Commander Thomas stepped out of the beam and walked up to the General and saluted him.
* * *
White House, 1000 EST Monday November 16, 2026
Fleet Admiral Webster was being admitted to the Oval Office by President Richardson’s Chief of staff and the head of the Presidential Protection Detail. President Richardson is standing next to his desk and then walks forward with his hand outstretched to greet TSN Fleet Admiral Webster.
“Good to see you again Admiral.” President Richardson said with a smile.
“Thank you Mr. President for giving me a few minutes of your valuable time.”
“Which brings us rapidly to the question. Why do you need to talk to me? And in person at that.”
“Before I go into that, I have a request for you. Could you please have your Secret Service detail come in with us? It’s very important that they be here for what I must tell you.” Admiral Webster said with total seriousness.
Both President Richardson and the Head of the Detail were surprised at the request. The President looked thoughtful and then nodded at the Head to do so. While they were waiting, close to twenty men and women filed into the office, in the meantime Admiral Webster had opened up his briefcase and taken out a TSN truth verifier and a Holo-Projector and had set them up on the Coffee table that was in the room.
Once everyone was present and standing along the walls of the room, Admiral Webster began to speak.
“This is a Truth Verifier,” he said as he held up the small crystalline pyramid that was glowing a cheery blue color at his words. “It will glow blue as long as the person speaking believes that they are telling the truth. It will glow a reddish color when a lie is detected.
This device is a TSN Holo-projector. I am going to show you some recordings of events that happened over this last weekend.”
The Holo-projector displayed the attempted kidnapping of Commander Webster as well as the attempted murder attempt by U.S. Homeland Security forces. They were interrupted once when Admiral Webster’s appointed time was over and the President told his secretary to clear his appointment calendar for the rest of the day.
Finally an hour or so later Admiral Webster spoke again.
“We have conducted a deep-interrogation of Edith Gore-Simmons the Homeland Secretary of this administration. We can now confirm that the top echelons of Homeland Security are completely compromised with Act-Now members and are only waiting for the time they are activated to do whatever jobs are requested of them.
We can also confirm that the former ‘President-for-Life’ is indeed alive and plotting to return to power as President-for-Life of the United States.”
President Richardson had started out in close to a state of shock when he had first witnessed the attack on Commander Webster of the TSN. But now he was angry.
“Admiral Webster, I’m not sure where to go from here. You are completely sure of your facts? There’s no possibility of a mistake here?”
“Yes Mr. President, I am one hundred percent positive of the facts presented here.”
The Head of the Secret Service Detail asked, “Is the president in immediate danger?”
“I’m not sure about that. The reason I asked for all of your people to be here is to confirm that, right here and now. I recommend that you use the Truth verifier to ask each one of your agents about their loyalties and determination to protect President Richardson. And I suggest you do it here where you all can see the results and be reassured and trust each other as you need to.”
One of the women along the wall raised her hand to be recognized.
“Agent Harrison?” The head of the Detail asked.
“Yes sir, I volunteer to go first.” She said with determination.
“Go ahead then, s
how us how it’s done Janet.” President Richardson said with a smile.
She walked forward and started to talk. She identified herself first. She recited the oath that she had taken when becoming a member of the detail. And she asked if there were any questions for her.
“I have one, Agent Harrison.” Admiral Webster told her.
“Yes sir, what is it?”
“If it comes to a choice of loyalty whose orders will you follow, President Richardson’s or the orders of the President-for-life?”
“I will follow President Richardson’s sir.” She said with confidence. And the TSN truth Verifier showed that she spoke the truth.
“That’s very good to hear, Agent Harrison.” The head of the detail said.
One by one each person including President Richardson himself re-pledged him or herself to the constitution and to protecting it from all enemies foreign and domestic. There were no potential traitors in this group of people. Now there were plans to be made and the need to clean house once again of those who would plunge the United States back into Civil War.
Before Admiral Webster left the Oval Office, President Richardson had one last question.
Admiral, do you know where the former President-for-Life is right now?”
“No, not yet, we are looking for him because we believe that he is the source of ‘Shaitan’s Breath’. We also believe that he is trapped behind our Blockade of the Iranian Unified Republic. And if that is true then you have the time to get your administration cleaned out of his followers and sycophants. Because we will not let him leave if we can possibly prevent that.”
“Admiral Webster…. Thank you for the warning and the aid you and the Terran Space Navy have given us. I shudder to think of the blindsiding we would have had otherwise.”
“You’re welcome Mr. President. You and the people of this great nation deserve the chance to make the United States greater than it ever was before.” Admiral Webster said with feeling then he paused. “If you like, we will give you as many of the truth verifiers as you request. I believe that they would be of use to you in this effort.”
Fort Detrick, Maryland, 1030 EST, Monday November 16, 2026
Evana has brought aboard the Medical response team from USAMRIID and is now in the process of giving them a fast tour of the facilities they will be working at. She has also been answering questions non-stop from Colonel Hernwell and General Duval.
Louis Pasteur/ Comm Mode: “Evana we now have a large crowd of people waiting to come aboard for the Open House. The bins of headsets are available in the Central Commons as you directed. May I start ferrying them up?”
Evana/ Comm Mode: “Wait until I get there, please”
Louis Pasteur/ Comm Mode: “Certainly, I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Excuse me General Duval,” Evana said, “I need to ask a favor of you.”
“Certainly, how may I help you? The General responded in surprise.
“May I borrow some of your people to act as impromptu tour guides or chaperones? Since I am the only Human TSN member on board I simply can’t be everywhere at one time. And now there is a large group waiting to come aboard for the open house, it means I need some help.”
Yes, we can supply the people you need. But they will be just as much in the dark as far as knowing what to say to answer questions.” He answered her with a smile.
“We can handle all of the questions, there are several large bins of Headsets in the Commons area. Each visitor will be required to wear one and the AI’s will hear and answer all of the visitors’ questions.” Evana said with a twinkle to her eye.
“That sounds reasonable, let’s go greet your guests.” The General said with a smile.
A quick trip through the Trans-portal and they were at the gravity elevator. Evana walked with confidence into it and once again fell softly to the ground. Once there she and the two Army officers who followed her walked forward to where a Military Police Captain was waiting at a barricade that had been put up quickly. The crowd of people behind the barricade quieted down so that they could hear what was to be said.
“Good Morning Captain,” Evana said with a smile, “Thank you for keeping everything in order.”
“Thank you Ma’am.” The Captain said in return. “Everyone is eager to go see what it’s like on board, I swear that anyone who could get here, is here.”
“Very good then, Have them come through in groups of twenty or less, once that number is in the beam they will be lifted up by the Gravity Elevator. At the vestibule there is a Green and Gold Patterned wall. Just tell then to touch it and they will be transported to the area where we have set up the initial reception.”
“Do you have a limit on the total number allowed on board?” The Colonel Hernwell asked.
“No, I don’t think you will strain us too badly, we can bring up around nine thousand comfortably.” Evana stated with a smile.
“Are Cameras and other recording devices permitted on board?” The MP Captain asked.
“Yes, they are permitted. Cell Phones won’t operate though. The interference of the engines prohibits that.” Evana told him.
General Duval was looking over the heads of the crowd and spotted Colonel James and her Doctors and Nurses as they stood in formation. He then spoke to the MP Captain.
“Captain, I want Colonel James and her people escorted over here, they will be the first to go up. After they are onboard please send up the rest in the gravity elevator.”
“Yes Sir!” The Captain said then gave a salute and turned to his first Sergeant. “Sergeant please have Colonel James and her people brought here.”
The sergeant acknowledged the order and in a few minutes the Colonel and her people were marching down a corridor through the crowd toward Evana and the General. Once she was there she saluted General Duval. Who returned it and then introduced her to Evana.
“Colonel James this is Lt. Commander Thomas of the Terran Space Navy. She is the Liaison for Colonel Hernwell’s group once they depart for the IUR.”
“I’m pleased to meet you Commander Thomas, are you a Physician also?” Colonel James inquired.
“No, I’m not Colonel. I am a generalist with specialties in Operations and Surface Combat.” Evana told her.
“Thank you, Why is your ship so large?”
“The Louis Pasteur is actually an Auxiliary vessel and is usually carried aboard the Susannah. We were detached for this mission. Once it is done we will either rejoin her or go to a different vessel.” Evana told her.
“Amazing….” Colonel James said as she looked at the Louis Pasteur as it hovered above them.
“Please bring your people and come aboard. I need to introduce you to a device we are asking you to use and distribute as necessary. It’s called a Scanner-Arch.” Evana told her and then turned to lead the way back to the Gravity Elevator.
Once again onboard the Louis Pasteur, Evana was standing in front of a Scanner Arch with a large grouping of Doctors and Nurses watching her. After giving the same speech once again identifying what the Scanner-Arch did she proceeded to demonstrate it.
After just walking through it, she was at the display screen and was showing Colonel James and Colonel Hernwell the readout of her scan.
“As you can see here, the clothing scan came up negative for infectious organisms, the internal scan shows that once again I am low in Iron and Calcium in my Blood Workup. No other abnormalities were identified.” She then turned to the group behind her who were watching intently.
“Ok, now to demonstrate the mass scanning potential. Please line up in two columns and just walk through the Scanner-Arch. If you are asked to identify yourself then do so and walk over to that spot and wait for me.” She indicated a spot around thirty feet away from the exit of the Scanner-Arch
With that all of the men and women lined up and marched through the Scanner Arch. Five of them were asked to identify themselves and were waiting for Evana to join them. One of them happened to be Colonel James
herself.
“Colonel James, Major Evans, Lieutenant Johnson, Sergeant Grant and Private Ahn, the Scanner-Arch found something unusual in each of your scans. I am asking you to let me do a deep scan on you as necessary. You don’t have to, but I highly recommend it.” Evana said and then waited for a reply from each of them.
Colonel James stepped forward and said, “What did you find on my Scan?”
Evana looked at her and then said, “Let’s do a deep scan to confirm the quick one, it will only take five minutes and there might be the need of a blood sample. Then if the results are the same I’ll give you all of the details. Is that ok with you?”