The Invitation(43)
“Mr. President, we have a tent and several cots for you and Mrs. Myers.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you, Captain.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Eight soldiers quickly carry the items to where the President and Mrs. Myers are seated, and have the fully equipped tent assembled in minutes as the officer in charge remarks.
“Mr. President, if there’s anything you or Mrs. Myers might need, we’re happy to oblige.”
“Thank you, Captain, I was concerned about my wife being uncomfortable. That’s very kind.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Turning to his new acquaintance, the Secret Service agent still with him, the President asks, “Allen, would you like some coffee or something?”
“Uh, yes, Sir, that would be nice.”
“How about something to eat? Could we manage that, Captain?”
“Yes, Sir, absolutely, anything you want.”
“How about some coffee, and sandwiches?” the President asks.
“Absolutely, yes, Sir, we’ll get them immediately.”
“We appreciate that, Captain.”
“Yes, Sir.”
As they wait for their coffee, the President asks his Secret Service agent, “Allen will you help me get my wife settled?”
As they both carry the sleeping First Lady into the tent, the Secret Service agent notices that he felt no electric shock when he inadvertently touched the President, and moments later when both are sitting again sipping their coffee, he mentions it.
“Mr. President?”
“Yes, Allen?”
“When I touched you a minute ago, carrying Mrs. Myers, I wasn’t shocked.”
“That’s right, Allen. You weren’t.”
“How does a person do that, Mr. President?”
“To answer that fully would take a long time.”
“Well, we have all night, Sir.”
“Hmm. A million of your nights would not be enough to tell the story completely.”
“What’s going to happen here, Mr. President?”
“Things to be remembered, Allen, and learned from.”
As the sleepy late hours of morning advance, Allen looks at Ken Myers, and wonders along with the rest of the humanity about what tomorrow will bring.
Chapter Fourteen
As the sun rises and another day begins, its light shines on a world that is fundamentally and irrevocably changed. All conversation, all news coverage, is in reference to the same subject. If they did manage to sleep, millions of Americans are waking up to nonstop news reports about the events of last night. Images that were dramatically seen the night before are constantly being replayed. The face of a creature called a Linesian is seen on every TV. Within hours it becomes the most ubiquitous image in the world. Saturday morning talk shows scramble to find astronomers and cosmologists to interview as saturation coverage on all media outlets is continuous.
As incredible as alien contact with another planetary civilization is, something else is talked about even more. How is it that the President of the United States seemed to know this remarkable event was going to happen, and why is he still there beside the alien craft, as if waiting for something else to happen?
It’s the morning after extended global contact with an advanced extraterrestrial intelligence. How does one react to that? Daily personal activities, routinely casual only twenty-four hours ago, now seem perfunctory and meaningless. A widespread inchoate sense that the world has fundamentally changed somehow is pervasive. Government officials, as nonplussed for answers as the public, urge restraint, and calm. As human consciousness grapples with what is happening, a general perception emerges that people are beginning to digest the dramatic events they have seen. All know this drama is not over. The question of what comes next, unspoken and certainly as yet unanswered, is on the mind of everyone. Call-in programs and people randomly chosen express a varied range of opinions. Fully half of respondents are actually encouraged, and see a potentially good outcome in what has happened. Many take it as a signal that the barriers between people of race, social class, and economic status no longer have any validity, that all grievances and injustices would be resolved, and that somehow the world, solely because of this unusual event, is now transformed into something better than before. Others, much less sanguine, don’t see it as hopefully, even suggesting the possibility that it’s a hoax perpetrated by the government for unknown, nefarious reasons. Still others react fearfully, telling people to get ready for armed conflict.
What was seen and experienced last night by so many defies rational explanation. The fact that millions saw Congressman Steve Kearns, a triple amputee, regenerate healthy limbs in only minutes, is impossible to deny or explain. Some suggest that it was done to verify the authenticity of what was about to happen.