July 4, 1997
President Thomas J. Whitmore observed the people that had come to the inauguration of the newest and probably most important Monument in the reconstructed city of Washington DC, the monument to the victims of the Two Worlds War. It was amazing to think that it had been just two years since the alien attack on Earth and since the city he was in had been almost completely destroyed and its population annihilated. That in just two years not only his country but other countries around the World had been completely rebuilt with the unpayable help of the BETSI alien races and an unprecedented level of collaboration between every country government. But it was true.
He then observed as VP and best friend Andrew Baumgartner delivered a speech, before his turn was up. Without and without his help, Tom knew that he wouldn't have survived these two years. Whether it was keeping him from getting completely wasted since he found him when he was at his most pathetic state the in the Winter of '96 at Camp David or being his hardest working subordinate as he lead the country and the world during the hardest times in history that man was as responsible if not more for every little and big thing Tom had managed to accomplish since the end of the war.
Seeing the public laughing at something, most likely a joke that his best friend was telling so he laughed along even though he wasn't exactly listening, he then looked at his little girl, "Or not so little girl as she likes to claim now" he thought to himself with a chuckle. Patricia had gone through one of the hardest things one could imagine, losing a parent at a young age, something which sadly wasn't that uncommon in the times they were living in.
"What's wrong daddy?" Patricia asked as she noticed Tom looking at her.
"Nothing. I was just looking at how pretty you are today." Tom looking at her with a fond smile and eyes full of paternal love.
"Thank you" The girl said as she giggled. "Aunt Constance helped me pick it up."
"She did?" Tom looked at the seats of the guest of honor where Constance, his former Communications Director who was now starting her own political career by running for the senate, and her husband David Levinson sat along with the Hillers. They, the two families, had been pillars of support for himself and his daughter something the President was extremely grateful for. He couldn't help but chuckle when he noticed David was less interested in Andy's speech and more about what the BETSI guests of honor, with whom David preferred now to spend the time learning everything they were willing to teach him about their technology and alien technology in general, were doing.
"And now" Andy began the end of his speech bringing Tom's attention towards him. "I leave you with an admittedly less funny man who is also one of the best persons I know and a great leader for his country. President Thomas J. Whitmore!" He finished and waited for Tom to make his way towards the podium and hugged him when he did before taking his seat.
Once alone on the podium Tom took out the speech he had prepared during the past week.
"My fellow Americans, citizens of the world, friends from other Galaxies." He begun. "We've come here, on this day July the Fourth 1997 in remembrance of those who were cruelly taken from us barely 2 years ago. People who we loved and respected, people who we would have liked to spend more time with and whose lives ended shortly after learning the answer to one of the questions we humans had been making ourselves for a long time about us being alone in the universe. The reply was not, we weren't alone, the Universe had other living beings, some terrible and some, as we would later learn, good.
They died in what was supposed to be the end times. Humanity was facing the threat of extinction." He made a pause and took a bit water. "But we resisted. Humanity counterattacked and won against the monsters that were threatening our lives and began rebuilding and changing since we came into contact with other worldly beings, some of which also sacrificed themselves to help us win the battle. Life will never be the same for any of us, but we'll continue living like the people who left us would have wanted. We'll continue to live for their sake as well!" There was a thunderous applause from the public and Tom waited for them to finish so that he could continue,
Of course, for that to happen some changes have to be made and cooperation between the countries has to remain as strong as it has been during the past 2 years. Something the world leaders I've spoken to and myself assure you all will continue to happen" He motioned to the heads of state of many countries which were present at the ceremony. Some of them smiled when he mentioned them while others just nodded. Their actions represented the feelings they had about the things Tom was about to announce. "For that matter in this very important day I'd like to announce some very important things to the people of Earth."
The first announcement concerns the defense of our beautiful planet, something crucial to our survival as a species and the survival of our planet as well. Is the establishment of the Earth Defense Force Agency, an agency under the jurisdiction of the United Nations which we'll keep watch on the stars as well as ensure that such a terrible war as the Two Worlds War will never happen again." There was an applause after his first announcement, it was clear that the Earth armies on their own wouldn't stand a better chance against an alien threat than all their forces combined so the creation of such an agency not only made sense but was very good news
The second announcement I must make concerns the hundreds of thousands of orphaned children that were left after this war. It's been brought to my attention that after these 2 years and despite of the efforts of government organizations and NGOs many of these children are not able to live as they should. Many are homeless, unable to go to school and in many cases not able to eat properly. As such to guarantee the rights of these orphans to a decent life, with a roof over their heads, food on the tables and provide them with an education we, the world leaders, have decided to create another UN agency, the Orphan Protection services to make sure not a single orphan on this planet is left unattended." He announced next prompting another round of applause. Tom smiled, the easy part was out of the way. Defending Earth and helping orphans was something every world leader and reasonable humans agreed on and pretty much thought necessary. "Now onto the hard parts" Tom thought to himself before continuing with his speech
"My third announcement concerns relationships with friendly alien species. As you know the species known as BETSIs have been a huge help to our planet in our greatest hour of need. Not only did their rebellion against our enemies help our victory but it has helped us contact other worlds and civilizations, that's why we've decided to establish diplomatic missions on their planets and having their diplomatic missions here in New York. A third UN agency, the International Agency for Intergalactic Relations will be created to cultivate and improve our relations with our alien friends." The applause now was much less enthusiastic. While no one could argue that BETSIs were enemies to human kind their presence made a lot of humans still uncomfortable. Many humans still hoped to return to the days were aliens were things you saw when you watched tv or went to the movies. Many hoped that after getting paid for their services to humanity the alien races they now knew existed would leave their little blue planet alone.
"And finally the fourth announcement is that the International Community has decided to create a fourth UN agency, the Earth Immigration Agency which would monitor the aliens coming in and out of earth as well as those aliens who decide to become inhabitants of our beautiful planet and we'll allow the surviving alien races whose planets have been destroyed to remain here as refugees if they so wish to do so." This time the last part of his speech was met by a deafening silence. However, for the moment he didn't feel the disapproval he had expected to feel from some sectors of the public, from the few faces he could see in the public he could tell they were too stunned to react just now. The President knew then that there was too much work to be done not only with the planet but with the people as well for the stronger, safer world with a much-varied population to come to pass but he had the feeling it'd eventually come
