By The Steel Angel
Chapter Three
Politics... Oy
The morphing went as smooth
as it could, considering the fact that I was changing from a five and three
quarter foot human girl into a foot tall seagull. Still, I was relieved
to be out of the body, even for the twenty minute flight to Casey's barn.
It looked no different than usual, as I folded my wings and shot into the
barn. I flared my wings expertly at the last moment, and perched
on the railing to one of the horse stables. I demorphed quickly.
"Hubba Hubba. I never
knew my cousin was such a babe." Ruocco said. I rolled my eyes, only
then realizing that I was still only wearing a bikini. Marcy tossed
me a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Good, at least I still kept a
change of clothes here in the barn. I put them on.
"Now, what's up?" I asked.
Marcy handed me a newspaper. The newly elected president Bush was
on the front page. I read the first sentence slowly. "President
Bush to present award and grant to 'The Sharing' for excellent community
service and outreach to youth." I read.
"Yeerks?" Casey asked.
I'm not so sure.
This might be genuine, seeing as The Sharing projects the facade of being
a saintly youth group. > Tanya said from up in the rafters.
I beg to differ, >
Ash said, stepping out from behind one of the stables. She stood
on four slender legs, and was covered by a coat of shiny purple fur.
She looked sleeker, faster, more agile than a male Andalite.
Her tail though, was much more narrow and smaller, than the great blade
that Ax had. I have followed this latest excercise of democratic
selection very closely. I do believe, that it was theoretically impossible
for this George W. Bush to obtain the electoral votes, which of course,
is essentially flawed, from the state of Florida. > She said. Marcy
nodded.
"Impossible in an honeast
election anyway." She said, then looked at me. "Tell me, Jade.
Who governs the state of Florida?" Marcy asked. me. I didn't know.
Ruocco provided the answer for me.
"Jeb Bush." He said.
The wheels started to turn in my head. "Isn't it strange, that the
election was decided by the one state in which the presidential canidate's
brother happens to govern? Not to mention the fact that Florida has
a very sizable jewish community who would have block voted for Gore and
Liberman." He said.
"You're saying that Bush
rigged the election?" Casey asked.
"Bingo." Marcy said.
"So he rigs the election,
becomes president, and gives a grant to the Sharing. Coincidence?"
Casey asked.
"There's no such thing as
a coincidence." I said softly.
"But how do we know for
sure that he's a controller?" Casey asked.
"Because Bush is a staunch
Republican, just like my dad." Marcy said. "He's always on
the right side of things. Death penalty, drug use, abortion, gun
control, all republican views. Since when does a republican like
that give such a large grant to a social group like The Sharing?" She asked.
"This is bad," I said after
a few minutes of silence.
"No kidding. This
is beyond bad. The leader of the free world is a controller.
Nothing major." Ruocco said.
"The question is, what do
we do about it?" Casey asked.
There's only one thing
we can do. Starve that Yeerk out of the President's head. >
Tanya said.
"Easier said than done,"
I said dryly.
"The President is flying
out here to present the grant personally, the day after tomorrow.
We'll nab him then." Ruocco said.
"Do you know where the meeting
is going to be?" Casey asked.
"San Diego." I said
suddenly. It finally clicked in my head. "It's going to be
in San Diego." I said. Ruocco looked skeptical.
"How do you know?" He asked
me. I turned to face him.
"My bro- Sister, has been
talking about some big, national step that The Sharing will be taking soon.
This has gotta be it." I said. And it was true, Tom HAD been
talking about a "national step" for weeks.
"Simple enough. Two
days from now... Wednesday. We'll get the Chee to cover for us at
school and at home. Then we'll hitch a ride with your sister to San
Diego. When we get there, we'll nab G-Dub, force the Yeerk out of
his head, and go public. Nothing to it." Marcy said.
"Well, when you put it like
that..." Casey said sarcastically.
"Let's do it." Ruocco said.
I smiled. Some things are unchangible.
"Well then. Everyone
go home, and get some rest. We'll try to make tomorrow as normal
as possible." I said as I looked down at my watch. The date
caught my eye. I wouldn't give it any thought until later.
Today was September tenth, 2001.
***
The next day, everything
went crazy. My family, friends, and I, stuck on the West Coast, watched
the news helplessly as the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon
in Washington DC, were gutted by passenger airliners. No way was
this coincidental, I thought. This was a deliberate attack on American
soil. Of course, this put me and the others in an even more depressed
mood. Not only were we fighting off an alien invasion, we had to
worry about other countries as well?
I snapped out of my delirium
when my cell phone rang. I picked it up. "Hello?"
"Bad news." It was Ruocco.
"What now?" I asked.
I was so NOT in the mood for more bad news.
"Mr. P. cancelled the banquet
tomorrow, for obvious reasons." He said. I groaned.
"Did he reschedule?" I asked.
"Not as of now. Marcy
said that the Yeerks were behind the World Trade Center attacks, just to
give the President an excuse to not come to Southern California." He said.
I sighed.
"Well, either we hop a plane
to DC and take care of the president there, which is physically impossible,
since there are no planes in the sky right now, and the fact that the president
is under even tighter security than normal. Or we can postpone the
mission until we get something to work with." I said.
"I'll call the others."
Ruocco said, and hung up the phone. One bad thing leads to others,
I suppose. On top of trying to figure out how to save the President
of the United States from alien control... I WAS STILL A GIRL!!!
To Be Continued...