Chapter 12
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In less than three months the president had to deal with a spiritual rapture. and now first contact with aliens. He had read comic books his whole life, before he could even read his great-grandfather, a civil war veteran, read him Superman like a bedtime story. His favorite line from Shakespeare was "There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Odonnell was never arrogant enough to assume that any one religion or philosophy had a monopoly on the truth, but he had never expected to be the president who dealt with first contact. Still, he had a job to do. They still didn't know if these particular aliens were responsible for the dissapearences, but they had to be prepared. His best generals and military advisors gave him a briefing on their military strengths, but they had no idea what weapons the aliens possessed. If they killed 1% of the population and impaired the human female's ability to get pregnant, it might be their way of making their way of making room for themselves. But comparitively few soldiers were taken, and this incident actually made more people join their respective country's military. It semed like it would have been more logical to target soldiers and others who could have put up a fight. President Odonnell agreed to use this chanel to comunicate with the aliens before the deadline. If nothing else, he wanted some indication what they were up to, specifically their plans for Earth. The president would relay what he wanted the NASA technician to type, and they would get the answer typed back into their computer. The computer's voice relayed the alien's words. A number of others were in the room, silent but anxiously waiting to see what would come of this.
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Odonnell: This is president Odonnell. Who are you?
Computer: I am the ambassador, I speak for my people.
Odonnell: Very well ambassador. You are aware of the dissapearences that affected my world?
Ambassador: I am. This affected my people as well.
Odonnell: Do you know what caused it?
Ambassador: An evil that threatens both of us. We fled them, now we seek sanctuary in your world.
Odonnell: How many of you are there?
Ambassador: Approximately 12 million, more are already fleing this evil.
Odonnell: Our planet has limited resources.
Ambassador: It also has unused land, oceans with untapped potential. We can share our technology, help you to end famine.
Odonnell: How do I know that your people didn't cause the disapearences?
Ambassador: You don't, but my people are refugees. Our enemy will come for your people eventually, our survival is your survival. I would like to meet with you personally on a diplomatic mission. Let us give your people a sample of our technology and show that we can work together.
Odonnell: Very well. But we must do this covertly, I'm not sure my people are ready to know that aliens exist. My people can give you a blind spot to land safely, only military personel that I trust will know of our meeting.
Ambassador: That is acceptable. We will enter by the route you give us.
Odonnell: Please know that I will use the 25th amendment to temporarily make Josiah Bartlett president during this meeting. Just in case my health should give out, for any reason.
Ambassador: Understood.