"And here's another one," Larry said, setting down another huge stack of papers on the desk.

"You mean there's more?"

"And that's not all. There are about 250 or more damage reports. And that's only federal and residential infrastructure. This doesn't include damage to collateral, lands, power plants, algae oil fields, factories, the environment, agriculture, water supply, border damage, and medical and archeological damages."

The air hissed out of my lungs. Even two and a half weeks since the Amarkian rebels had framed me and Lilia and nearly a month since the UN invasion, we weren't even beginning to reconstruct. We had discussed with several experts that complete repairs might take two or three years.

I was reading one of those damage reports. ….at this time. Damage to the algae oil refineries, the fuel cell generators and turbines on the wind mills is expected to be extraordinary; in excess of $3.7 million. Reparations of these areas may take in the space of 6 to 13 months.

"So…how'd it go last night?" Larry asked suggestively.

I ignored him and continued reading the report. I was reading something about the buildings where we maintain our force field machines when Larry elbowed me. So hard that he knocked the papers and the computer mouse off the table.

"Larry, please! I'm trying to run a country out of the giant black hole that greedy humans plunged us in."

"Come on, you can tell me."

I sighed. "Larry, I told you last night when I got back from her house. I told you this morning all the way through breakfast, through the drive up here up until now. It's almost lunchtime. So would please satisfy yourself with this simple answer: Nothing happened between Lilia and I. It was just a regular, sweet, intimate, romantic, innocent dinner date between two 8th graders. The only significant event was when Jabberjay walked in and ruined it. Now can we please leave last night in the past and focus on healing the gashes and broken bones that the UN and company inflicted?!"

He remained expressionless. Then he walked over to his desk and sat down. Nothing was heard in that room except for the sound of typing keys and the computer mouse clicking and occasionally piece of paper being turned.

"But you were both alone in your swimsuits," he said, shattering the peaceful silence.

I groaned and dropped my pencil against the desk. "Larry, please don't!"

"Come on, now! Don't tell me you felt…you know…something…"

"Larry…"

"Just the two of you alone."

"Larry…"

"In nothing but your swimsuits."

"Larry…"

"And in the water, kissing and skin-to-skin together."

"LARRY…"

"You were practically one step away from skinny dipping together, you know."

"WILL YOU SHUT UP, LAWRENCE!"

He stared at me with empty plates. "Now, for the umpteenth time, nothing happened. We just had some decent fun in the pool then got dressed up and had a nice romantic dinner. Or we would have until Chatterbox arrived."

He didn't say anything for a while. "Okay, I'll accept that."

"You will?"

"Sure? I accepted it since the first time you said it last night."

I felt my fists clench and my pulse accelerate. "Then why did you go on and on and make me repeat myself?!"

"Temper, temper…" he muttered.

"Oh, temper yourself!" I jumped out of my seat. As I was heading for the door, he said, "Where are you going?"

"To wherever you aren't present. I have a cabinet meeting to attend then I'm going to get some fresh air to avoid exploding into a thousand pieces!" I slammed the door behind me and walked down the dark, windowless corridor.

I looked behind me just to make sure that he wasn't following me. Convinced that I was truly alone, I walked down the hallway and went up two stories. (Remember, my office is five floors beneath the ground.)

When I arrived, all the heads of the various departments were there. Some of them were standing up and they were all lost in conversation. When they saw me, they all went silent and returned to their seats.

"Very well. Let's forget the formalities and get down to business. What's first?" I said.

The man sitting next to me, who was Head of the Department of Agriculture, said, "We have several heavy reports, Your Majesty. But it seems more concentrated in the Desert and Northern Plains region. About 45% of our corn, oats, and soybean fields were destroyed and 9% of the land is no longer arable."

He handed me the papers which officially stated the problem, but it was pretty much summed up in his words: the UN had really ruined our crop fields and put us close to being in danger of not being able to supply food for our citizens.

I skimmed through it. "What actions do you suggest?" I asked.

"We have considered cutting down on our productions of corn-based products and the similar while we undergo extensive reparation work. As mentioned in the report, that would involve in the re-creation of humus levels in the topsoil as they were before the invasion. This would involve in properly scattering biodegradable waste products, dead plant matter, and soil rotation to allow the nutrients to return to the soils."

I finished skimming over the reports and nodded in agreement. "We'll proceed with that. What's the next department?"

The woman at the end of the table, who was Head of the Department of Economics and Resources, mentioned, "Yes, we have many instances of severely depleted levels in our minerals and precious gems, especially in the Epitretari Mountains in the Sky Valley Caves, in particular.

"Levels of gold, silver, copper, zinc, iron, iron ore, natural metals, diamonds, and other materials before the invasion were on average over 6,520 lbs. per square yard. However, after the attacks, we are now down to 480 lbs. per square yard. We are still recovering swaths of material and we estimate that about 15% of the missing material is now stolen, in hands of the United Nations or the United States Government."

Well, the latter wasn't surprising.

"What could we do in this area?"

"Well, we can't really do anything to recover the stolen items. Now that it's in the possession of the US and the UN, they can use it in any way to please, like financing the wars in the Middle East or deny healthcare to their citizens.

"As for the rest, we're going to have to consider making cuts in our budget, more so in our scientific funding, and industrial relations to make sure we have enough in our defense, food supply, medical department, and other essentials."

Cuts in several areas of our budget…soil reparation that will probably take months or years…a considerable amount of our precious resources stolen…yeah, it just doesn't get better than this.