“Yes, sir,” said Farrell.
“So that’s it? A fudge?” said White.
“What do you suggest? There are no other options open to us. We tried and we failed. Goddammit, recognise their sovereignty if you have to, but we need that deuterium. What else are we going to do?”
“We could just talk to them,” said White, “like I suggested in the first place.”
Cortes looked at White with an unnatural stillness. “Like you suggested in the first place,” he said. “We just roll over and let them steal our planet. That’s how you’d have played it?”
“Of course not,” said White. “I’d have negotiated, talked with them, made various proposals, give-and-take, you know? And I’m damn sure we would have ended up in a better position than the one we find ourselves in now.”
Cortes frowned and nodded. “Then I guess we should have done what you suggested. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? With hindsight you’d have made a better decision than the president of the USAN. You know what? With hindsight the president of the USAN would have made a better decision than the one he did.”
“Yes, Mr President,” said White. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply -”
“Don’t grovel,” said Cortes. “It makes you look weak.”
“Mr President,” said Farrell, “you said that for the immediate future we would deal with the Martians. Obviously, I’ll get onto that right away. I’m sure we can come to an arrangement with them that will be beneficial to us all. I don’t see that being a problem. I just want to ask, do we have a policy for the long term?”
“Yes we do,” said Cortes. “Andrews, you said four years, is that right?”
Andrews was startled. “Yes, sir. The original Aloadae took five years each, drawing board to commissioning. My understanding from Helios is that with the infrastructure now in place, and based on the practical experiences they had of building the first two, they would be able to build one now in four years. And that would be to the new specification, including all of Lund’s modifications - the new engines and so forth.”
“Sounds great,” said Cortes. “Tell them we want six.”
“Peter! Peter!” White ran awkwardly down the corridor, his hand raised partly in salutation and partly like a schoolchild who eagerly knows the answer. Peter Brennan was walking away and did not notice.
“Peter,” said White, finally catching up.
Brennan did not stop walking. “Hello, Gerard.”
“What did you make of that?”
Brennan shrugged. “Sort of makes sense, I guess. I don’t know how we’re going to pay for it. But needs must, I suppose.”
“He’ll never get a budget for that past congress. We’re trillions of dollars in debt already, we just can’t afford it. But Farrell has the go-ahead to negotiate with the Martians. This thing will all be sorted out by Christmas. In a year’s time no one, not even him, will give a damn about all this.”
“You think so?” said Brennan, giving White a sideways look. “The president I know is nothing if not determined. He’ll get those carriers yet and we’ll clear up this mess.”
White continued walking beside Brennan as they left the building. “Even if that happens we have to deal with them for four years. We’ll get used to it, they’ll get used to it, he’ll get used to it. It’s good that we didn’t get involved in using force. I mean, putting aside the terrible cost in lives as well as treasure, I think the outcome is pretty good.”
“Good?”
“Yes. Assuming Farrell succeeds, which I’m sure he will. We have peace, that has to be a good thing, right?”
Brennan stopped. “I share the president’s view that ‘peace at any cost’ is a faulty position. There are some costs that are too high to bear. He’s right, you know, about what our enemies will make of this. It was the Aloadae that brought the Asian Bloc to the negotiating table. They’re gone, squandered on this internecine spat. That leaves us weak at home and abroad. Farrell might be able to patch up the deuterium supplies, so we’re out of the hole on that, but we’re now in far greater trouble than you seem to be able to see.”
“Peter, come on. That’s a lot of bull. We avoided getting dragged into another conflict. It’s good, you know it is.”
“You’re privy to the intelligence briefings. You know what they think in Beijing. If they don’t see us building new carriers right away they’ll know we are ripe for the taking. Hell, even if we start building tomorrow they might just speed up their plans to get in before the four years are up. We are in a very parlous state.”
“Well,” said White, “I just wanted to thank you for all your support. I disagree with you, but I look forward to working with you in getting all this back on track.”
“I don’t think we’ll be working together. You’re politically valuable to the president. You represent something he doesn’t, and the public like you. You appeal to the middle classes. But following this screw-up you’re going to be confined to PR stuff. You know, popping up on the bulletins saying the stuff the liberal intelligentsia likes to hear, opening schools and that sort of thing. Leave the difficult stuff to me.”
White looked at Brennan. “I’m the vice president. I know my influence is limited, but I am part of this administration. I intend to execute my role to its fullest extent.
Brennan took White’s hand and shook it. “I wish you the very best of luck with that.” He didn’t add ‘And you’ll need it,’ but his meaning was clear. He turned and carried on walking. White remained still.
The timing of a live stream from the New White House could be used to gauge its importance, or its perceived importance to the president and his advisers. Cortes had had this stream set up for eight o’clock in the evening such that it would be after most people were home from work but would not yet have gone to bed.
Live streams were not widely watched. People whose aggregators were set to pick up on politics, or current affairs, or maybe just ‘Cortes’ would find the stream at their leisure. The commentators might make a note of the timing, which was a traditional hangover from bygone eras, and relay that to their audiences. Really, it had just become part of the ritual. A serious announcement had to go out at ‘Prime Time’, an anachronistic concept that few even understood the meaning of.
So it was that President Cortes began his address to the nation, in a mainland USAN prime time that no one understood the meaning of, and to a country that spanned around the globe, so the time it went out may have been prime or not, depending on where the viewer was. At least the tradition was upheld, so there was that.
“My fellow Americans. I, like the rest of you, have been following the news streams from Mars. The crew of our great and stricken ship Ephialtes are, as I speak, in grave and mortal danger. It is our hope that the mission, announced by Martian representatives, to rescue the crew will be successful. We all hope and pray that they make it out of there, and that they are eventually returned to their loved ones here on Earth.
“Ephialtes and her crew were going to Mars to protect all of our futures. Martian secession, based on a spurious election, and with no mandate in law, was and remains a crime against our great nation. Had Ephialtes and her sister Otus not been so cruelly struck down we would have sought to redress that crime in the coming months. That, now, shall not pass.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank those on Mars who will be saving our sons and daughters, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers from the fate that would otherwise await them. But I would also like to remind you that it was the criminal Martian revolutionaries who did this to us and our kin. They have compounded their original great crime by attacking USAN ships and personnel, and no amount of magnanimity will atone for that.
“In light of this attack on the USAN I have decided that the current state of emergency will not be rescinded as we had all hoped it would be at the conclusion of the last great war. Our enemies have been able to use underhand tactics against us, and it seems likely
that our information systems are compromised. We believe that information useful to the enemy has been leaked or cracked from our systems. Until we route out these weaknesses, the state of emergency will have to remain, and I thank you for your understanding on that.
“We will continue to have diplomatic relations with the Martian state, while not recognising the legitimacy of that state. We will embrace the practical necessity of maintaining relations in the hope of building on those with a legitimate Martian government at such time as one may come to power, and we hope very much that that will be the case in the future.
“We owe the people of Mars, who we still consider to be citizens of the USAN, the protection that all Americans deserve and expect. To that end we will be commissioning the construction of six new carriers, built to the specification of the modified Aloadae. All such vessels will now be known as ‘Ares Class’. We will not abandon the true patriots of Mars.
“Finally, I would like to say to you all that myself and Mrs Cortes will be watching the streams of the rescue tomorrow, as I’m sure many of you will be, and we will be praying for a positive outcome to this terrible situation.
“Thank you, good night.”
Venkdt made a stream that night, too. He expressed regret at having to cripple Ephialtes, explaining that there was no other option open to him. The warmongers of Earth had sent a military instrument to deal with a diplomatic crisis, and Mars’ hand had been forced. He said that he too would be following the streams, and that he hoped for a successful resolution to the Ephialtes incident.
He made a succession of thanks. To the Martian people for believing in him, and for believing in themselves. To Maya Foveaux and her MSS, for organising the rescue attempt at short notice and with minimal resources. And to his supporters on Earth, from whom he claimed to have received many thousands of messages of support.
He spoke about the asteroid belt, so close to Mars and ripe for exploitation. There were practically limitless resources in the belt and the people of Mars were perfectly placed to seek them out and further add to Mars’ wealth. This truly was a great time to be a Martian. Many great things awaited them.
He finished up by saying that Mars was now free from the military intimidation of the USAN, and that the new Martian state could get on with going about its business, re-establishing trade and other links with the home planet. Venkdt looked forward to the massive growth he expected in the economy, and he hoped that Mars would soon be able to welcome even more newcomers who might come to the planet seeking to make their fortunes, and who would add to the growing prosperity of all Martians.
White was surprised to be called to a private meeting with the president at the New White House. He had taken the impression from Brennan that he was out of favour, and the way things had panned out he could understand why. He decided that he didn’t mind being frozen out. He always took the long view; what people think and say varies from moment to moment, and the fact that Cortes was seething at him now didn’t necessarily mean he would remain that way indefinitely. White expected the whole thing to come off the boil over the next few months, and he would be able to reassert his influence and go back to trying to rein in the president’s excesses.
The way White saw it, his play, even though it had gotten out of hand, seemed to have worked out. Conflict with Mars had been avoided, and they were now in a position where they had to rely on diplomacy. Of course, he never anticipated the destruction of the two carriers, and he would never have condoned or commissioned such things, but politics is a messy business and through some shrewd manoeuvring and a bit of luck things had ended up where he wanted them. Part of the price was that he would be out of favour for a while, but that was well worth paying.
On entering the Oval Office White was surprised to see Cortes in an apparently buoyant mood. “Come in, Gerard,” he said, waving White over. He gestured to the sofas. “Shall we sit here? I think it would be more comfortable.”
“Of course,” said White, following Cortes over and taking a seat.
“Gerard,” said Cortes, clapping his hands together, “I expect you’re wondering why I asked you here.”
“I assumed it was to do with the Mars thing?” said White.
“Well, sort of,” said Cortes, smiling.
“So what is it?” said White.
“Where to begin?” said Cortes.
“Brennan said you wanted me to lay low for a while. To stay out of your way.”
“Certainly that, yes, Gerard,” said Cortes, “but there’s so much more, too.”
White saw the excitement dancing in Cortes’ eyes. He had never seen the president like that before, except at the height of the war. When the president knew he had an overwhelming advantage over an enemy he got animated. The knot, which had been slowly forming in White’s stomach, tightened.
“Okay, let’s start here,” said Cortes. “Do you know someone by the name of Rodney Sherman? Well, don’t answer that, because I know you do. Some of my core Secret Service detail have been in conversation with Mr Sherman, and Mr Sherman has been persuaded to make a full and frank disclosure about his and your involvement in the Otus incident.”
“Now just wait a minute,” said White, “Rodney Sherman is a business associate of mine, and I know he’s mixed up in some pretty shady stuff but what’s he saying about Otus?”
Cortes looked at White and smiled. “Don’t even bother, Gerard. We know everything. You’ll just be embarrassing yourself, okay?”
White looked at him and knew that continuing with the denials was pointless.
“We never meant for it to happen like it did. The Otus thing was Sherman’s guy getting out of hand. You have to know I would never have been party to a terrorist act like that.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Gerard. It doesn’t seem like your style, so I’ll give you that one. But it did go down like that, and that makes you guilty of treason, doesn’t it? On top of mass murder, I mean.”
“No,” said White. “All we were trying to do was stop another war. Sherman’s guy got out of hand. He’s the traitor.”
“No, no,” said Cortes, “he was just following orders. Illegal orders, crimes nonetheless, but your orders. Traitorous orders against the government you swore to serve.”
White sat deflated. He was backed as tightly into a corner as he had ever been. There was no way out. “So what are you going to do? Take me in? How about a show trial? I bet you’d like that.”
Cortes waved a hand. “No, nothing like that. Just relax, we’re not going to do anything with you. You spoke to Peter, he told you what we want. Go to your speaking engagements, open a library here and there, be the voice of reason for the media when they’re on my back about whatever it might be. Good times.”
“So that’s it? You accuse me of high treason, of murdering tens of USAN military personnel, and tell me you’re going to let it slide?”
“Well, not let it slide exactly. We have it all on you, if we need it, which I hope we won’t. I’m sure you see the nature of our little compact.”
White stared at Cortes, unsure what to say. He thought he had never seen the president so happy.
“That’s it, you can go now,” said Cortes.
White stood. Usually under these circumstances he would automatically shake the president’s hand. On this occassion, he didn’t even say goodbye.
As he reached the door and put his hand out to open it White heard the president call after him. “Oh, Gerard, one more thing.”
White turned to face him.
“I was sorry to hear about Madeline. Please accept my sincere condolences.” He grinned so hard it looked like his face might split.
“Hi, Dad,” said Christina, kissing Venkdt on the cheek.
“Hey, kid,” said Venkdt in reply.
“I brought some food, is that okay?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“I picked up some of that salmon. Remember, the stuff you told me about?”
“Oh, yes
, I remember.”
“I’ll have the kitchen prepare it. How are you? I saw your stream.”
Venkdt sat back down in his armchair. “I’m great. Tired, but great. You?”
Christina took off her coat and threw it on the sofa. She sat next to it. “I’m great, work is good.”
Venkdt nodded. “You want me to take care of that fish?” he said, tapping his comdev.
“That would be great. I thought we could eat together.”
A drone came into the living room and Christina placed the wrapped salmon on it.
“Just like last time, please,” said Venkdt and the drone left.
“I really liked what you said. You hit just the right tone. Positive, but not gloating.”
“Oh,” said Venkdt, “I didn’t really think about it like that. I just said what I thought. I am worried about those people. I hope we get up there in time.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Dad. Kostovich has it all worked out. That’s what he does. It’s terrible, obviously, what happened, but I’m sure it’s going to be okay.”
Venkdt nodded.
“And now we’re home free.”
“Yes,” said Venkdt. “I wish it could have happened some other way, but you’re right. We’re beyond their reach again. All that stuff I said in the streams is true.”
Christina nodded sympathetically.
“You know,” said Venkdt, “A lot of times it’s easy to take things for granted. To just assume that something is just the way it is, and that it has always been and will always be that way. But it’s often not the case. The first people who came here were risking their lives on a long, dangerous and uncomfortable journey. Many hundreds of the people after them, too. You know, this planet is a hostile place. It’s not like Earth, where you can go outside and roam about. This planet is frigid. No flora or fauna, no atmosphere to speak of, breathable or otherwise, and desperately cold. But people came here and made it work. With ingenuity and graft they made a home here. They built something. Where there were problems, they found solutions.”
Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) Page 47