"Posterity — you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." —John Quincy Adams
Max and the others had discussed the situation and had come to the conclusion that it might be necessary for one or more of them to make a personal appearance on Earth in order to help smooth things over. Liz was of the opinion, and was supported by Tess, Isabel and Maria, that she ought to be the one. Max was not happy but Michael pointed out to him that Liz had a way with people and that was just the way it was. Alex had the thought that Courtney could go with her and give first hand proof of alien powers if necessary. Also since Courtney had once been an enemy that that would look good as well.
The President had informed the British Prime Minister, President of Russia, and the Premier of China first about what was going on. Needless to say their comments were rather pithy. The Russian president made it clear that Siberia was out as a place for the alien Refugees. He then notified the Australian and Canadian Prime Ministers since they were the most likely countries to end up as hosts. He felt that things had gone about as well as he could have expected, if not as well as he had hoped. Just after that had happened he was notified that Antar wanted to send a message. He had ordered that the transmitter have a 24 hr guard just for this reason. Even though it was almost 11 at night he went in with his National Security Advisor and got down to business.
Liz appeared in the room. "Good Evening Mr President- sorry to bother you this late at night."
"That is ok your majesty, I was up anyway. Just finished talking to the Australian and Canadian Prime ministers. They are somewhat skeptical to say the least as regards giving permission. The Russian President flatly has rejected Siberia. No real surprise there. There really is no one to talk to as regards the part of Africa you are interested in. If things keep going this way that might be the only place you can go."
"This does not exactly come as a surprise Mr President. However we have been talking at this end and feel a personal visit by one of the Royal Family could very well help to grease the skids somewhat."
"That is a very good idea. Who do you have in mind?"
"I will be coming along with Courtney. She will serve to show that aliens are real since I am human."
"I frankly was going to suggest it be you, Your Majesty, since you have the touch of connecting with people."
"Thank you, Mr President. When do you think this visit should happen?"
"As soon as possible – its just a matter of time before this leaks out to the public and we need to get the governments in favor before that happens. I would suggest the Canadian Prime Minister first and then the Australian. I will make the arrangements and get back to you. The 5PM daily system seems to be a good idea as regards keeping contact."
"Sounds good to me. We will check in at 5PM each day. Good Night, Mr President."
"Good Night, your Majesty."
Work on Antar, Granular and on the asteroids had been stepped up to a feverish pace. The Granolith had delivered the promised designs and construction acceleration suggestions and most of them had been put in place. After some initial panic and hysteria, people on both worlds had managed to settle down and get to work. The knowledge that they had 3 full years helped most accept it. Everything outside of basic daily needs such as food and energy were suspended in order for the workers and resources to be used in building the ships and the pods. The scout ships were still looking but so far nothing promising had been found. This part of the galaxy was rather short of M class planets. Even for those fast ships, getting to the farther systems took time.
Liz had decided to practice her KATA while she waited to see if the message came the next day as regards visiting Earth. It relaxed her and she needed it. Max was under enormous pressure already and it would only increase. She realized that relaxing him and getting him to unwind would be one of the most important things she could do in the next few years as the deadline approached. She quickly realized that the lack of practice showed and did it three times before she felt she had done it correctly. She was breathing heavily and wiping her face with a towel when the Granolith announced that the connection was made and the President was waiting. She tossed the towel aside and told the Granolith to proceed- forgetting she was still holding the sword in her hand.
The President saw Queen Elizabeth appear- and she was holding a sword in her hand.
Liz looked down and groaned. "Sorry Mr President. I was practicing and forgot I was holding my sword. "
The president smiled. "That's quite all right, your Majesty. I was interested in what kind you had ever since I heard the tale of the battle with Kivar."
"Its basically a cut down Katana, made by an old sword master in Japan. He sent a note with it saying he felt it was his best work of his life. He has since passed away- this was one of the last ones he made."
"It's a beautiful sword. Yet clearly its also made to work as well as look good."
"It has served me well, Mr President. I take it that you have been able to make arrangements?"
"We have. Is tomorrow too soon?"
"Tomorrow is fine. The Canadian Prime minister first I recall?"
"Yes. The Sheriff of Roswell has donated his transmitter and its on its way to Toronto now. The time set is for noon ET."
"Sounds good Mr President. Courtney and I will be there."
"Good Night, your Majesty."
"Good Night mr President."
The next morning was a busy one as Courtney and Liz got ready. Richie was not really happy about Courtney doing this but she squashed his objections right away. Max was also not really happy about it but was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.
The Canadian Prime minister was still trying to come to terms with what had happened. This visit would go a long way in deciding how it would turn out.
Liz and Courtney appeared in the room off of the office of the Prime Minister. The journey was as usual a little disorienting but both of them shook it off and looked around.
The Prime Minister admitted to himself that he had not really truly believed until the two young women just appeared out of thin air right in the building and right in front of him.
"Good Morning Mr Prime Minister. I am Queen Elizabeth of Antar, and this is my lady in waiting Courtney Williams. We bring you greetings and good wishes from the people of the Pegasus System and personal greetings from King Maxwell."
The Prime minister noted that the Queen was wearing a sword while her lady in waiting appeared to be unarmed. He had been briefed on the fact that the Queen was apparently a noted swordswoman. She was brunette and petite, while her lady in waiting was also petite though not as small and blond.
"Honored we are to meet you, Your Majesty. Greetings and good wishes from the people of Canada. Even if they do not yet know it. Rumors are starting to circulate but most ignore or disbelieve them. But it is only a matter of time before the news does get out."
"That is why we believed that this meeting was important, Mr Prime Minister. To put a personal face on the aliens that are coming."
"I understand you are human and that your lady in waiting was at one time your enemy and a different race but is now the same as other Antarians?"
Courtney answered. "Yes that is true Mr Prime Minister. Allow me to demonstrate. "
Courtney turned to a chair and put out her hand. The chair turned into a Wooden Indian -Cigar Store Model.
There were gasps in the room and some babble behind the Prime Minister who was a little shook but had been prepared by the American President telling him the story of the Cactus Plant.
"Well that certainly does take care of anyone questioning that fact. Please leave it as it is. It will make a fine conversation piece."
Liz then stepped forward. "We are prepared to answer any questions you might have Mr Prime Minister."
"Well we certainly have a few. Let us sit down and discuss things."
Two hours later Liz and Courtney left feeling that real progress had been made.
After they left the Prime Minister turned to his cabinet and asked for input.
The general consensus was in favor of the situation- especially since the technology transfers would have such a huge economic impact. The real problem might be selling the people on it- but it was felt that more appearances by Queen Elizabeth would be most helpful.
The next day they visited the Australian Prime minister and felt that they had made similar progress.
Meanwhile as the Canadian Prime Minister had said, rumors were getting out and more and more of them. It was reaching a point where the story would have to be told. President Bush had decided to make the speech the next Monday, which would be 2 days off.
The Networks and other media had been told there would be a special presidential address Monday night. There would be no advanced text available. That naturally got them speculating. The increasing rumors about Aliens was interesting, but was still doubted by most. Most thought that something about the wars was the most likely subject- and many began to speculate that Osama Ben Laden had either been caught or more likely killed. That particular idea began to dominate and some speculation about increased military presence in Iraq also won converts.
At 9 ET the President came on. The BBC had been tipped off by the government to tune in and broadcast it live. That word leaked and more and more networks around the world tuned in as It became clear that this was something big. By the time of the address it was estimated that the world wide audience was over 1 billion, perhaps as many as 2 billion.
"People of the world, not just my fellow Americans, a question that has been asked for many years has been answered. We are NOT alone in this galaxy. Actually a small segment of the US Government has known this for over 50 years. The famous Roswell, New Mexico Incident was true. A ship from another part of the galaxy crashed there. This was mostly covered up under National Security Laws in effect at the time. While parts of the ship were found and two alien bodies also were located, it turned out that one survived and escaped. That alien managed to move 4 life support pods carrying infants to a cave nearby that the military despite extensive searches never found. Those pods contained infants of the Royal Family of Antar, a planet out in the Orion Belt almost 15000 light years away. There were sent here to hopefully grow up safely and one day lead their people in a revolution to overthrow a dictator named Kivar who had murdered the Royal Family to prevent them bringing in democratic reform. However the crash and as it turned out sabotage by another alien who was supposed to help protect and teach them caused the pods to malfunction- they were supposed to bring the children out at the age of 6 ten years after the crash. Instead the pods remained dormant for almost 40 years. In 1990 they finally hatched 3 of the Royal Family. The Fourth came out some months later. 2 of them were adopted by a couple in Roswell. One fell into the child welfare system and was unfortunately placed in a bad home. However that young one still managed to grow up to be a caring person. The fourth was taken by the traitor. The children all grew up and in 2001 they began to meet those who would become their partners in life. There will be more details released soon. Alongside the chamber where the pods were left later on was located a very powerful machine that was a combination power source, computer, library and transportation device called the Granolith. The Royal Four, as they are known on Antar, had all reunited in 2001 because of one human, and her name is Elizabeth Parker. Or I should say was her name. Now she is Queen Elizabeth of Antar. She arranged for the traitor to be found out, the fourth Royal to rejoin the other three, and they together found the Granolith. It transported them back to Antar where they quickly defeated Kivar and freed their planet. Queen Elizabeth personally defeated and captured Kivar, who ended up with her sword at his throat. King Maxwell of Antar carried out the promise of his predecessor and turned Antar into a constitutional Monarchy as was promised more then 50 years earlier. And all this done by teenagers not even old enough to vote. Who says youth is wasted on the Young? In the next few days the King and Queen of Antar will visit earth to be presented to the world. There is much more to come but I think that is enough for now. Good night and god bless you all."
Well to say this stirred things up is to say the Pacific Ocean is wide and Deep. The media went nuts; protests (most of them not knowing what they protested) sprang up world wide. People were telling each other that they knew all along that we were not alone. All roads leading to Roswell became jammed with rubberneckers- who were turned away by MP's on all roads at least 20 miles away from Roswell. In Roswell the crashdown was immediately mobbed by locals but Jeff and Nancy had been warned at what was coming and had already closed it. They and the Evans and the Whitmans as well as Amy had all gone to the House- it was the one place no one would think to look for them. The Military had offered to get them out of town but they decided to stay. However Col Tolner had a unit parked nearby just in case.
World wide the impact was enormous. People congregated in parks and malls and street corners and city streets. They talked and rejoiced, screamed and shouted. Work stopped virtually everywhere. What became literally a world wide holiday spread everywhere. Government leaders were bombarded by questions. When had they known? How much had they known? The British Prime Minister made a short announcement that he had only been informed a few days ago. The Canadian Prime minister created another sensation by announcing that Queen Elizabeth had made the rounds of some leaders and he had been one of them. But he would not say who else had been visited. The Australian Prime Minister admitted that they had been visited as well. Immediate speculation began to center on why them and not others. The US Government simply said no more would be announced until the next day. Then details of the Royal Four and their human mates would be fully revealed. Though of course with the revelation about Elizabeth Parker the Roswell TV stations were able to identify Maxwell Evans as her husband/mate. Pictures of the Wedding were broadcast world wide. And the maids and matrons of honor as well as the male attendants were quickly identified. So Isabel Evans, Alex Whitman, Maria De Lucca, Tess Harding, Kyle Valenti, and Michael Guerin were immediately added to the vernacular of the world. Diane and Phillip Evans, the Whitmans, Amy De Lucca, and Jim Valenti were penciled in as well. The Sheriff was holed up in his office. With lots of the local media camped outside. The other names of those in the wedding party were scrutinized but not immediately found out.
In Seacouver they had all watched the presidents address. Methos wondered how long it would take before they were found out. Duncan had to agree and suggested that they probably ought to head back to the ski lodge for a while. They left late that evening. Courtney had just gotten back with Richie and Angie and of course went along as well. Just as they left the wedding picture was broadcast and Amanda said they had better get a move on since Duncan would be recognized pretty quickly by someone in Seacouver. She was right. Only an hour after they left the first of the media arrived at the Dojo. Soon to be joined by literally hundreds of others.
Max and the rest of them were able to some extent monitor what was going on. The Granolith tapped into the satellite feeds and was actually very interested in the world wide reactions. Liz was a little worried about their families in all that frenzy but after contacting the house they were glad to know that their families were not where the media was. Liz was also a little embarrassed by how much attention the president had given her, and too much credit as far as she was concerned. Interestingly it was Michael who told her that without her none of this would have happened so the President got it exactly right.
Nothing lasts forever, not even the revelation about aliens and the sensation that followed. The White House the next day released the names of all involved which had already been found out by the media so people were disappointed there was not more. The TV people were still hunting the families in Roswell but had been unable to find them and were thinking that they had already left town. They had not – were still at the House- but they started looking elsewhere. The MPs had been told to ease off on the roadblocks and Roswell was packed but the initial frenzy had diminished. People just are not able to keep at such a high point of tension, anxiety, anticipation, whatever; sooner or later they just have to take a rest. While it was still a sensation, by the third day it was starting to subside and people were starting to ask intelligent questions. One that seemed to be most compelling to many is why now. Why had it been let out now? What was the reason?
The relatively few people who KNEW why now were doing their very best to keep it quiet and so far had succeeded. The plan had been to get out the basic announcement and then let people get used to it; to wait as long as possible before the grand piano got tossed out of the top window. Because they all knew that the second announcement was going to be the really big one. It was one thing to show that aliens existed and they had visited earth; most educated people believed that aliens probably existed and believing that they had visited earth was not that much of a further leap. Finding out that 400 million were coming to camp out for a few years was a whole different thing.
On Antar it had been a short time since they had found out and everything was still in the planning faze. The designs for the ships were already in use and it was a matter of expanding the ship yards in orbit and building more shipyards. Factories were already being converted to building pods- the machinery needed for that had to be built and that would take a while. Designs were ready but nothing happens overnight. People were starting to get over the initial panic and shock and were getting down to the nuts and bolts of making the plans work.
Liz had made the point at the last meeting that maintaining some semblance of normalcy was very important. They had three years to get through and you could not keep everything going on as an emergency for that long. It was a marathon and to win one you need to figure out the best pace; it was not like a sprint. The initial idea had been to stop production of everything except for food and basic essentials and Liz argued that that was a bad idea; people had to live and at least get some enjoyment out of life or they burn out or quit. What was needed was a plan to figure out what was needed and how to make sure they had enough when they needed it plus a reserve. And then anything left over would be used to try and keep things going as normal as possible. Children still needed to attend school; other facets of a modern society had to keep going. Entertainment, sports, etc. Now not all could keep going; some would have to be curtailed or cut altogether; but the idea was to keep as much of it going as they could.
The White House was deep into talks with both the Australian and Canadian governments. President Bush made it clear that the US was also willing to take in a large number if necessary. The point was made that when they left whatever area they had occupied would now be developed and available for use, which was a lot more then could be said about those areas at the moment. They all knew that the public reaction could be very bad, and that all efforts must be made to handle it. The debate was about whether to have the Royals visit BEFORE the announcement of what was really coming, or after. The problem with before is that it would be clear quickly that everyone had known and that it was all a stage show to make people accept them before the big news. That could turn the public against it all. On the other hand a visit afterwards would have tremendous pressure and consequences since it would all come down to how well they were accepted. The general consensus was that it was better to have the announcement first; better to be up front and straight with the people as it would engender less distrust and suspicion. After several days of debate it was agreed that that was the best way to go. Now how to do it.
Max had gotten the message from Earth that they thought it would be better to let it all out before their visit rather then so obviously be seen trying to manipulate public opinion the other way. He and the others had come to that same conclusion. The big decision now was who was going to make the announcement. Should it come from Earth or Antar? Or should they try a joint announcement? Liz thought that spreading it around would be better. The world would see all the leaders together with the Royals so it would look much more cooperative. Liz also thought that they sould make the point that they had scout ships still looking for alternatives and that that was still possible. So that it could not be said that this is the way it is going to be no matter what. They would give details of the other planets and why they had to be rejected.
Lord Lanar had been hard at work ever since the first message from Max about the Rogue Dwarf Star. After a short while of just being stunned, he had shook it off and got down to the nitty gritty. Granular only had 1/3 the population of Antar, so relatively speaking it would take less for them to leave. And since Granular had only been on the fringes of the war without being heavily involved they had less trouble retooling and concentrating on what needed to be done. He was worried about the reaction that the people of earth would have, but so far it had gone OK. He felt that the Royals were almost perfectly suited to make this – what had Max called it- "sales pitch". Still it was a very tense time and some on Granular resented the fact that it was Antar taking the lead and apparently making all the decisions. Lord Lanar had stepped on that very quickly by pointing out that they had done exactly what needed to be done and what other choice was there? There were no other viable options.
The suggestion for the joint conference/meeting was received with interest back on Earth. The governments chewed it over and examined it and finally agreed that that was probably the best option. Bring all the major leaders together and have the Royals show up and then make the deals and announce it right afterwards. They all knew this had to happen soon before the reason for all this leaked out. President Bush was amazed that it had not so far; usually any government leaked like a sieve. After talking with the British Prime Minister, French President, German Prime Minister, Russian President, Chinese Premier and some others, they had all agreed to come to Sydney Australia for the world wide conference. Since from all appearances more aliens would be going to the Outback then anywhere else the Australian Prime Minister had agreed that Sydney would be the best place for the conference. It was to happen in 4 days.
Word of the conference was quickly let out and that ramped up the media and everything else again. Especially when it was also announced that the Royals would be attending. Speculation immediately began about what it was all about. The Stated purpose was generally getting to know them, the beginning of trade talks, and other major concerns. The major concerns part was not elaborated on. The media and blogs and the lot did plenty of speculating on everything anyway. Even though it had only been a week since the Aliens Coming Out Party had happened, a great many people had already started to just accept these new facts as part of their day to day lives. This beginnings of acceptance was noted with relief on the parts of many in the know.
At the big meeting on Antar that had Lord Lanar and his representatives present it was debated about how to go about the process for getting the People of Earth to accept 400 million aliens showing up. It was unanimously agreed that Max and Liz would be the only two to go- a suggestion that others come had been shot down by the realization that some of them needed to stay here and that really what could they add. Also the fewer of them there the less likely there would be of someone making a big mistake and saying something they should not. The rest of the group pointedly looked at Kyle and Maria at that. They immediately protested but were ignored.
Liz had been thinking virtually non stop about how this should be done for days now. Max had quietly told her that he trusted her to be the lead on this. And the fact that she was from Earth, a human, would make it better as well coming from her. Of course he would have to sign any treaties or agreements, and as King would be highly visible, but he was relying on Liz to really get it done. He had told her that he felt very guilty about all this- and she had cut him off telling him that it made sense and was the logical way to go. She then made the decision to bring the children as well. She had to make the people of earth see that there really was no fundamental difference between them. That would be the key to being accepted. Earth's first view of them would be of Max holding Phillip and Liz holding Claudia. First impressions were always critical.
Duncan and the rest of the Seacouver crowd had decided to remain out of town- while the investigators were gone there were still literally hundreds of media types swarming the Dojo and other places that they had frequented. Amanda was getting restless and that was never a good thing. So far their identities had held up and no awkward happenings from any of their pasts had come up. The media was speculating just how the seacouver crowd got to know the roswell aliens- the Watchers had been able to cover up the clinics connection (or more to the point lack of connection officially) to Duncan Mcleod. That had worried Joe but so far they had been able to bury it and as each day went by it seemed less and less likely that it would come out. Methos had suggested that maybe it would be a good idea for it to get out that Duncan had trained Liz on sword play and had been the one to get her her sword. And that was how the connection started. After kicking that around for a couple of days it was agreed on and Duncan had contacted Randi McFarland, who was still working on a TV station in Seacouver but was now an anchor. He had agreed to give her a short interview. She had of course jumped on it. She knew that Duncan had some very interesting connections so was not particularly surprised about him and Aliens. When they met she tweaked him about that. The interview went well and was an immediate sensation. Duncan had admitted that they had known that Max and the others were aliens but they seemed just like regular teenagers (who were known to be fairly strange just on general principles). This also helped in the general acceptance of aliens that was slowly becoming widespread. Liz contacted Duncan after the interview was broadcast and thanked him for helping out. He pointed out that it was a way for them to try and get back to some kind of normal life for themselves. One thing was certain- it was going to be hard for anyone to challenge them with all the media hanging around.
Duncan had contacted Connor with the word on what was going down. Connor was bemused about it all to say the least. Duncan had told him some time ago about the possibility of having children. Connor had told Duncan that it was about 400 years too late for him. Heather had been the only woman that Connor had ever truly loved. And the only one that he had ever wanted to have children with. What he was not to know was that was about to change.
Rachel McLeod had been watching the developments with great interest, especially when Duncan McLeod had been mentioned. She knew he was much more then he seemed; somehow he had been reincarnated or something- she knew that for a fact. She remembered when he had talked about his cousin Connor. She had been able to find out that he had been banished from his clan supposedly for witchcraft- coming back from the dead. While it was more rumor and legend then anything of substance, Rachel believed it. She had seen too much over the years to not. The fact that Connor was his cousin greatly interested her- and since she had decided to take a quick vacation to New York she decided to visit him and see what he was like.
Connor was checking the latest purchase in his Antique Shop; Racheal had already entered it into the shops computer. Connor still did not like dealing with computers- something that tickled Racheal endlessly and she never let him forget it. He wondered what he would do when she passed on. She had been a constant in his life for over 50 years; only Heather had been with him as long. Duncan's revelation about being able to have children had shaken him a lot more then he had let on. It was an ache in his soul that he had had for over 400 years. He knew he had a tendency to brood; but he felt he was entitled to it. He envied Duncan's easy way of making friends and the fact that even before the revelations he had managed to gather a group around him. Connor had always been a lone wolf- after Heather and Ramirez he had never really let anyone get too close to him. It hurt too much when they died or he had to leave. He looked up as the door bell jingled and someone came into the shop. He walked down the stairs to see who it was.
Rachel McLeod looked around the antique shop- it was certainly very high class. She could tell that much. She looked up as someone came down the stairs.
A young woman, dark haired, slender, with piercing blue eyes looked up at him. He immediately knew that she was from the Highlands. He was not sure how but he knew.
Talk about tall and well not dark but certainly handsome. And the way he moved- it was much the same way as Duncan did. Smoothly, like a big cat of prey. This had to be Connor McLeod.
"My name is Connor McLeod and I own this store. May I help you?"
My name is Rachel McLeod and I come from the Highlands. I know your cousin Duncan. I was curious to see if you are like him. And I think you are."
Like him? Did she know about Immortals? "And how am I like Duncan? We talked once about his trip back to the old country. He mentioned that you keep an Inn not far from where the clan began."
"Not sure what it is but there is something the same about both of you. Outside of being Scots and McLeods."
So she does NOT know about Immortals. Which is probably a good thing.
"How long are you in New York?"
Max and Liz prepared very carefully for the trip. Their initial appearance would be critical and how to dress was very important. Isabel had gone through their wardrobe and had made some choices as regards formal wear and public appearances. Liz had decided that they would also take jeans and T-Shirts and appear in them to show that they liked casual clothes as much as anyone else. Everything they did and said and dressed in would be looked over with a microscope by the world. So they had be make sure that nothing jarring or way out there would come out. Isabel pointed out that that was not likely since they were both rather boring people. She ignored the indignant glares from Liz and Max.
Finally it was time to go. As they stood next to the Granolith Liz just hoped that they could pull this off. So much depended on them. She felt she would rather take on a dozen headhunters. Well, one good thing about being Royal and having attendants and bodyguards and the like. It was going to be really hard for any Immortal to even get close enough to challenge her, let alone pull It off. It had been decided to take only 4 Antarian soldiers with them as bodyguards. And Liz had decided not to have any attendants with them. Courtney had tweaked her about not letting her "Lady in Waiting" go with her- and then Liz had asked if she really wanted to go. The look on Courtney's face answered THAT question.
It had been decided that a spectacular entrance would be a good move. So in front of the Sydney Opera House, on the square in front, is where they would appear. The worlds leaders would be gathered and they would appear right in front of them. The meeting would be in the Opera House.
Over 100 TV cameras and an untold number of other types were all focused on the square. The worlds leaders had gathered inside for a quick meet and greet. While originally there had only been a dozen, more had demanded to be there and the number had swollen to over 30. One-upmanship and regional rivalries had pushed that number even higher. By the day of the conference, there were 50 world leaders there. In a conversation with the US President, the Australian Prime Minister figured that in some respects that would be a good thing since first hand accounts by those leaders going back home should help increase the acceptance. President Bush had been a little more skeptical but was hopeful as well.
Then in a blink of an eye (that phrase got seriously worn out in accounts afterwards) Max, holding Phillip and Liz holding Claudia, and their 4 bodyguards, appeared out of nowhere. The image of what appeared to be a young couple holding their children flashed all over the world. And that image was critical- its hard to be suspicious of young families. Then two of the bodyguards stepped forward and Liz placed Claudia in a stroller, and Max placed Phillip in another. Then he reached for Liz's hand and they walked up towards the group of leaders. The Australian Prime minister moved up and greeted Max and Liz. "Greetings and Welcome to Australia, King Maxwell and Queen Elizabeth"
Max returned the greeting "Thank you for your hospitality, Mr Prime Minister."
"Allow me to introduce you"
Then Max and Liz went down the line greeting each leader. That took about 10 minutes. Then in an inspired decision Liz turned and went back and picked up Claudia and Max picked up Phillip and they followed the Prime Minister into the Opera House. Once inside they put the children back into the strollers.
Their clothes also engendered much attention. Max wore a blue flowing tunic and same color pants with black shiny shoes. It glinted and seemed to shimmer. Liz wore a classically cut semi tight dress with square neckline and hem to just below the knee, with a slight slit; and high heels. It was the same color and fabric as Max's, only on Liz it seemed to be more. Many commentators were taken with her beauty and youth, and when she carried Claudia, she looked perfectly natural doing it. It was commented again and again that the couple were only just past 20.
In the main hall of the Opera House a huge circular table had been assembled. It had been decided to make the seating alphabetical in order to assuage any hurt feelings or egos. Max and Liz sat next to the Australian Prime minister, and on the other side sat President Bush, for the US. The Prime Minister then stood up and made a prepared speech, greeting them all and welcoming them to Australia and the first conference made up of people from two different worlds. Max responded with a short speech in return. At that point Max then looked at Liz and sat down. She took a deep breath and stood up.
"As you all know I grew up in a small town in New Mexico. From the age of 12 I helped out in my parents café. Irony of ironies it was in Roswell, New Mexico. I am sure you have all seen, by now, pictures of me in the very tacky alien themed waitress uniform complete with antenna's. By the way I have since found out that as far as anyone knows at this point no race has been found to have antenna's. I met my future husband early in life but he was very shy (and for very good reasons as I have since discovered) and barely spoke to me until the end of my sophomore year in High School when we were assigned as lab partners in advanced Biology. Even then getting him to talk much beyond the work was not easy. Frankly it took me being shot to wake him up. A painful way to get it done but it was worth it. Max knew he was different but did not know why or how. And as we all know those that are different are all too often not treated well in this world. So it was understandable if he was quiet, shy and introverted. Not long after the shooting, we found out why he was different. I had always suspected that there was more to the Roswell Crash then the government admitted; having grown up there you would find a great many thought the same way. But that was all it was and it did not seem to matter except that it made a nice tourist business for the city and the merchants. Once we found out events just started to happen and we were scrambling to keep up. Suddenly I was being transported 15000 light years to another world. That was to Granular, neighbor to Antar. And in only a week we were incredibly lucky enough to end a civil war that had lasted more then 50 years. The three years that followed we spent rebuilding Antar and installing a constitutional monarchy. We had hoped to quietly let the Monarchy Part of it wither away and in a few years abandon it and thus we would be free. Unfortunately we kind of screwed that up and now the monarchy is more popular then ever. So Max is stuck being King and I am stuck being Queen for the foreseeable future. Especially now. For you see we have just in the last week or so found out that not all threats are personal or by governments or groups or even individuals. Sometimes nature decides to really stir things up." Here Liz paused to take a drink of water and then motioned for one of the Antarian bodyguards to bring forward what looked like a briefcase. She took it from him and placed it on the table in front of her. It was a holographic projection relay that the Granolith would use to project certain images. With the transport lock that Max had insisted stay on them at all times, the Granolith would be unable to just beam in an image. Liz opened it up and prepared it.
"What you are about to see is an image relayed from beyond the Pegasus System that Antar resides in. This is what was found by one of our scout ships."
In the middle of the large circular table appeared what looked like a sun with planets around it; it clearly was not earth. They then shrunk some; and a small sun was shown by itself not surrounded by planets.
"This is a rogue Dwarf Star. We believe it came from this system (a flash to a destroyed solar system) when the primary star went NOVA about 50 years ago. It was a binary system and somehow instead of destroying the other star it flung it free to send it careening through the galaxy. Here is its projected course." It was then shown flying through the Pegasus system to collide and destroy Antar and Granular. " IT is moving at an incredible speed for a natural body; almost 1/3 the speed of light. It will enter the Pegasus System in a little more then 3 years. Two of the four inhabited planets will be destroyed- Antar and Granular. If this was anything but a star we would be able to destroy it by breaking it up; but there is nothing we can do to a star." She paused as the stir ran through the leaders.
"Once we were informed of this by one of our scout ships we immediately started to look for other planets to move to. Here are the planets we have found:" She then showed each of the planets and why they were not useable. "Each of those planets for one reason or another is not a viable place to go. We have right now scout ships looking for other planets but so far they have found nothing. At this time there is only one stable, inhabitable planet with the right atmosphere for us to go to once our planets are destroyed. There are 100 million people on Granular; and 300 million people on Antar. We are at this time desperately building ships and getting things ready to leave. If nothing goes wrong we should be able to get everyone out before the planets are destroyed. The only place, the only planet, that we can go to right now is Earth." She stopped and then sat down, leaving the image of the Dwarf Star destroying Antar.
While some of the leaders there had already known, most had not. The hubbub was considerable.
At that moment the Australian Prime Minister stood up.
"The Government of Australia is amenable to allowing some of the inhabitants of Granular and Antar settling temporarily outback in Australia." He then sat down.
The Prime Minister of Canada stood up. "The Government of Canada is favorable toward allowing some of the refugees to temporarily settle in upper Canada, on the Canadian Shield."
President Bush stood up. "The Government of the United States will allow some of the inhabitants to settle temporarily in the United States."
The Russian President, realizing that he needed to appear strong and confident, stood up.
"The People of Russia will welcome some of the refugees to settle temporarily in Siberia."
Max and Liz looked at each other- that was certainly a change. They would have to figure out why.
There was silence for a few moments then Max stood up.
"On behalf of the people of Antar and Granular, I thank those nations for their help and room to stay for a while. I want to make it clear we are not staying. There are inhabitable planets out there that we can go to someday- it is just a matter of finding one. I believe that we will in the next few years. Once we have found one we will leave Earth. And in return we can help the people of earth. Our technology in energy production and other areas is very advanced; we will be able to help Earth generate clean and cheap energy, mostly from the sun. And we will come with enough food and supplies that we will be completely self sufficient for at least the first year and hopefully longer. Our ability to build interstellar ships can be used to help the people of earth mine the Asteroid belt; so that no more resources need to be taken from earth. We can greatly decrease the pollution that presently damages the ecology of earth; in this and many other areas we can help earth take a giant leap forward in progress."
At this point there was silence as everyone took this in. And then in a sign that Max swore showed that she would one day be a great politician, Claudia started to cry. Liz immediately went to her and picked her up and began to walk with her, looking just like any other young mother. The timing could not have been better.
The conference was being recorded and the Australian Prime minister gave the signal to the technicians to broadcast all of this to the world. It had been agreed upon if things went well that is the way the people of earth would find out that they were about to have guests. The last image the people saw was Queen Elizabeth holding her daughter.
The revelation that 400 million aliens were coming to visit exploded on the world and instantly drowned out everything else. Only a week after the secret about aliens came out, this tended to build on the hysteria of the first story. Needless to say the reaction was sharpest in the countries that had offered space for them. The fact that they would be going to the sparsest population areas of those countries was the only mitigating factor. The exception was the US where it had not been revealed where they would go. Though Alaska and parts of the southwest and parts of Montana and North Dakota were mentioned. Some commentators remarked on the irony of perhaps some of them ending up in Roswell.
Max and Liz spent the day talking to the leaders and then accepted the Australian Prime Ministers invitation to take a look at the Outback. First to Alice Springs then to Katherine then to Coober Pady. They flew fairly low over the area's so that they could get a good look at the land and terrain. Liz explained to the Australian Prime Minister that what they would do is bring ready to assemble housing units and support and utility containers- each city would be about 1 million and would need about 100 square miles. They believed that they could use the most arid and bare land areas; with the power units they could draw moisture out of the air and near the coasts they could set up desalination plants; and then they would be working to farm as much as they could. The whole idea was for each city to be self sufficient; to not need any assistance at all for the first year, and minimal aid after that. They had figured on having set up teams there the first year – and would have everything ready by the end of the second year in preparation for the refugees coming in the third year. The Prime Minister pointed out that the outback had some of the most infertile land anywhere short of a full desert. Max explained that agricultural technicians were already working on the problem and they thought that with a lot of work- labor intensive work- they could get decent crops. And that that would be another legacy they could leave after they were gone.
With the debate and all the sturm und drang going on it was felt that Max and Liz needed to do some interviews. So on the third day they did Australian TV, then Canadian and then the US Networks. They enquired about whether they needed to do Russian TV and were told that the Russian President did not think that necessary. He had been challenged by some of the opposition about his offer and that had naturally made him dig in his heels that much harder. He regarded it as a personal challenge and was busy beating on the opposition all around. Liz had figured that they needed to give more details on exactly how the settlements would be done and what effect they would have on the land and the regions. While at the same time emphasizing the technological improvements the countries would also be getting. And above all keep reminding everyone that this was only temporary.
On the fourth day they did more TV interviews then sat down with the print media. Max made it a point to say little since Liz was so much better at it. One of the print media then asked him about why he was so quiet. "I like to think I am smart enough to know when to keep my mouth shut. And this way I let my queen do the talking which she is so much better at." Another asked "Does the Royal Palace have a sofa for when the Queen gets mad at you. " "So far I have been very lucky and have not had to find out." "You mean you don't have fights?" "Of course we do. I just do my best to remember to say I am sorry regularly to help smooth things over. And then I find a problem that interests her and she forgets all about being mad at me." "Sounds like most marriages I have ever heard of" "We are just another young couple with children. Our particular problems are a little different then most peoples, but problems are problems."
Overall it was thought that things were going about as well as could be expected. There were still many months to go before the first advanced parties came. Max thought that given more time those making the most noise would settle down and those that did not would be a small minority.
After the fourth day, Max and Liz thought that they probably could leave and go back. The Canadian Prime minister though asked them to visit the areas of Canada that had be earmarked; he felt that it would go down better that way. So on the fifth day they boarded a Canadian Air Force Jet and flew to first Seacouver. There they were able to quietly see Duncan and the rest. Cassandra had come back and wanted to meet Liz. And see their children as well. That meeting was interesting to say the least. Duncan had told Liz that Cassandra had some psychic powers that he had never been able to figure out but that indeed were real. When Liz met her, she had this strange feeling that they had met before. Cassandra then told her of her dream. Liz realized that she had had the same dream. They compared notes. Cassandra believed there was a reason behind the dreams-that they shared some kind of connection. Liz agreed there was something but what could it be? Cassandra was over 2700 years old; and came from the oldest part of Europe. Liz was barely 20 and was from the New World. It would be hard to find two people more different. Cassandra mused that maybe that was the point. She held Claudia as she had held the other children of Immortals and wondered what it all meant. Liz suggested that just perhaps there was no profound reason – that maybe it was just examples of people living their lives as best they could.