“I thought he was going to let me know the result of his meeting with the President.”
“No results yet. The President said he wants to consult with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence.”
“He’s wasting time,” Sara squeaked. “This is an environmental matter. He should take your boss’ word for it.”
“Apparently, he also sees it as a national security matter,” Zack said. “And I think he’s right. If indeed something is happening in the South Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, it will need a military solution.”
“So when will the President get back to your boss?”
“My boss will let you know when he gets the President’s response.”
“I hope the President will give the matter the urgency it deserves. Thanks, Zack.”
She put one hand on George’s chest and slipped the other hand into his trousers. Making love was the only thing that could temporarily take her mind away from El Monstruo. He didn’t wait for another invitation. He swooped her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.
* * *
Jennifer woke up early on her first morning as the First Lady of E Utopia. Yes, the events of the previous night were not part of a dream. The President himself was lying next to her. What will Teresa think when she finds out that I’m now the President’s woman? Jennifer’s joy dissipated. Her best friend, Teresa, was in the barracks, waiting for her to come back. How would she feel when she learnt that Jennifer wasn’t going to come back to the barracks?
She got out of bed and went to the bathroom. She was always careful of her appearance but now she had to be extra careful because she was now the First Lady of an entire planet. She took a long shower and spent close to twenty minutes doing her hair before she hurried to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
She opened the fridge and raided a chunk of meat from yesterday’s leftovers. She closed her eyes, enjoying the antelope steak. It was more than a year since she last ate such a big chunk of real meat. Yesterday she was just an ensign and was scared to feast on the President’s food. Now she was the First Lady. Planet House’s kitchen belonged to her. A feeling of guilt surged inside her when she imagined Teresa eating rice and tofu in the barracks.
“Is breakfast ready?”
She looked at Cruz unsure whether to salute him or not. She was still an ensign and he was still her commander-in-chief but it felt ludicrous to salute one’s lover. “Mr. President,” she saluted. “Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes.”
“Jennifer.”
“Sir!” she said, standing at attention.
He walked to her with a twinkle of laughter in his eyes and kissed her. She stood at attention for a moment before she yielded and kissed him back.
“That’s more like it, darling.” He kissed her again. “Call me when breakfast is ready.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” she said, resisting the impulse to salute.
“You can call me, Sam.”
“Yes, Sam.”
Smiling, she wiped his saliva off her lips and continued cooking. She was more relaxed when they had breakfast. She even had the audacity to say, “Sam, when will our families be evacuated from Earth?”
“The evacuation will start when I return to Earth,” Cruz replied through a mouthful of food.
“When will you return?”
“I’m returning tomorrow. We’re starting with the chosen ones of the senior officers but I can squeeze in ten of your folks to come with the first evacuees.”
“I miss my family. I don’t know how to thank you, Mr. President!”
“It’s Sam,” he said, noting how her smile accentuated her beauty.
“Thank you, Sam,” she said with ecstasy. She could bring her parents, her three sisters, her two uncles, one aunt and two cousins. The smile vanished from her face when she thought about her best friend. Oh no! Teresa won’t forgive me if I don’t include her parents. I’ll have to drop Uncle Harry and Aunt Diana.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“You were smiling and all of a sudden the smile gave way to a worried look.”
“I suddenly remembered that I’d forgotten to put two people on the list of ten people I want to come first. So I’m trying to figure out who to drop.”
“You can give me a list of fifteen people.”
“Thank you, Sam.”
“I’m putting my reputation on the line here, Jennifer. We agreed to bring the chosen ones of high-ranking government officials and senior space force officers first. Many people will be pissed when they find out that a new recruit jumped the queue. So I expect you to be discreet. Don’t go around telling your friends that I helped you jump the queue.”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“Good.”
When they finished having breakfast, he phoned Hitchcook. “I’m ready, come and pick me up.”
“Yes, Mr. President. We’ll be at Planet House in twenty minutes.”
“Remove that space force uniform and put on something else. I can’t go out with you wearing that.”
“I think I should stay here, Sam. As you said, we must be discreet. It’s too early for me to be seen with you.”
“You’re right. I’ll go out with you another time.” He caressed her cheeks. “You’re prudent. I like that in a woman.”
True to his word, Hitchcook arrived with Cruz’s motorcade in less than twenty E Utopian minutes. Fleet Admiral Eawo and Admiral Geza got out of one of the cars and saluted the President.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Cruz said.
“Good Morning, Mr. President,” the two admirals replied, chests out.
“Good morning, Mr. President,” Hitchcook echoed. “Did Ensign Ladley prepare you breakfast, sir?”
“Yes,” Cruz said, trying his best not to sound hostile. Now that Jennifer Ladley was his wife, he no longer wanted Hitchcook to casually talk about her.
One of the security men opened the door for Cruz and he stepped into his limousine together with Hitchcook and two bodyguards.
“Where do you want to go first, Mr. President?”
“I want to inspect the prison first.”
“We’re going to the prison first,” Hitchcook told the driver of the limousine.
The limousine driver radioed the drivers of the other cars in the motorcade and the cars made a bee line for the gate.
“So how are Gibbs, Ford, Nutwell and Fenton?” Hitchcook asked to curtail the silence.
“They’re fine.”
“When will they pay us a visit?”
“Soon,” Cruz said. “They were busy overseeing recruitment. Recruitment is over and they’ll be busy helping me manage the evacuation of the chosen ones.”
“How many people do you hope to evacuate per day, sir?”
“At least one thousand.”
“And you’ll launch most of them into space from our Congolese and Bolivian spaceports, no doubt.”
“The FAA won’t allow us to make the number of missions needed to launch that number of people from Columbus Space Station daily. Plus, most of the chosen ones will come from Third World countries. It’ll be difficult for them to acquire US visas.”
“It was very wise of you to build spaceports in the Third World, sir.”
Cruz looked out of the window at the distant mountains. “Imagine how beautiful this planet will be when it’s covered with vegetation and populated with animals.”
“It will be a paradise, sir. We just have to protect it from human greed. We, humans, are selfish by nature and most of us won’t think twice about destroying the environment for personal gain.”
“We’ll protect the E Utopian environment, Hitchcook,” Cruz vowed. “We won’t let what happened to Earth happen to E Utopia. We didn’t go through all this trouble to create a world that would be destroyed by polluters.”
“Humans have no natural predators to control their population. Sir, I think we must have a two-child policy
. No woman should be allowed to have more than two children.”
“You’re right, Hitchcook. At some point we’ll have to control the population but for now, we’ll let E Utopians reproduce freely. Our planet can come under attack in the future and we’ll need a sizable army to defend it.”
“I don’t think we’ll come under attack any time soon, Mr. President. As long as the people on Earth don’t get hands on the jump drive, they won’t be able to get here.”
“I’m not worried about the people on Earth. We’ll soon delete them from the Earth and make Earth part of the E Utopian Empire. I’m worried about possible attacks by beings from other planets. Humans might not be the only advanced sentient beings in the Universe.”
“You’re right, Mr. President, it’ll be a good idea to let our citizens breed freely for at least one generation.”
The motorcade turned and drove through the gate in front of the prison complex. Security men opened the doors of the limousine and Cruz and Hitchcook stepped out. Lieutenant Commander Mario Arantes, the prison warden, saluted Cruz, Eawo and Geza. The prison’s eight guards stood at attention in a file and saluted when Cruz and his entourage passed by. The prison guards were all space force ensigns who were awaiting assignment to spaceships. Only the prison warden was permanently assigned to the prison. The prison guards went at ease and followed the President’s entourage into the prison.
With a holding capacity of one thousand two hundred and fifty inmates, the prison complex was too large for such a small population. It was inevitable that some of E Utopia’s citizens would break the planet’s environmental law, so Cruz and his lieutenants had made sure there was enough prison space to accommodate litterbugs, tree choppers, poachers, illegal miners, and all those who committed crimes against the environment, not to mention those who committed crimes against fellow man.
Currently, the prison only held thirty-eight prisoners. Arantes led the President and his entourage to the section which held the prisoners. They first came to a cell where two teenage boys sat glumly. The younger of the boys cowed when he saw Cruz and his men but the older boy stared at Cruz with eyes that glowed with hatred. The younger boy’s name was Wayne Cole and the older boy’s name was Gary Cole. Both of them were the sons of the Head of NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive.
“Hello boys,” Cruz said. “You look well. I can see that my men are feeding you well.”
“You didn’t bring us here for our nutritional well-being, Mr. Cruz,” Gary Cole snapped.
“You’re right, Gary,” Cruz said. “I didn’t bring you here to feed you. I brought you here for the greater good of Mother Earth. I’ve brought you some questions from your mom and dad.”
“I won’t make that damn video for you,” Gary shouted.
“You will because your mom and dad will be pleased to know you’re alive.”
“I won’t answer the damn questions,” Gary spat defiantly. “If my dad thinks I’m dead, he won’t cooperate with you.”
“We’ll play it the easy way or the hard way,” Cruz said, holding the prison bars. “In the easy way you’ll be a good boy and you’ll make a nice little video for mom and dad, telling them that you’re being well-looked-after and will continue to be well-looked-after if they continue to cooperate.” He paused, holding the boy’s glare. “In the hard way, we’ll hurt your little brother till you cooperate. Either way, you’ll cooperate, Gary.”
Wayne Cole sobbed.
“Leave my brother alone!” Gary hollered.
“You know what to do if you want us to leave him alone.”
“Gary, please don’t let them hurt me,” Wayne begged.
“What’s wrong with you, men?” Gary shouted.
“It’s nothing personal, Gary.”
“The police will find you, son of a bitch!” Gary screamed, tears starting to come out of his eyes. “The law will catch up with you.”
“Unfortunately, I am the law around here, Gary.”
The boy aimed a jet of spittle on Cruz and missed him by a whisker.
Cruz walked to the next cell which was home to a young woman and a teenage girl. They resembled each other so much that the prison guards thought they were sisters. The young woman was Angela Roland, young sister of Patricia Stevens, the Head of National Space Science Data Center. And the teenage girl was Samantha Stevens, Patricia Stevens’ only child.
Of the thirty-eight prisoners in the prison, sixteen were relatives of people who worked in different positions along the NASA hierarchy, eight were related to people who worked in ESA management, and twelve of the prisoners were related to directors of privately owned satellite imagery companies.
“Good morning, ladies,” Cruz said.
None of the two women said a word.
“I bring regards from Earth. I brought some questions from Patricia Stevens and you’ll answer them in front of a camera to show her that you’re okay.”
“When will you release us?” Samantha asked.
“We haven’t decided yet,” Cruz said. “It’ll depend on your cooperation.”
“I want to go to my mom,” the girl whined. “Please let us go. My parents have lots of money.” She sobbed. “She’ll pay for our release.”
Cruz hooted. “You think this is about money? You think we’re poor to the extent of kidnapping people for money? We own this planet, young lady. With your mom’s help, we shall own the Earth.”
“Please,” the girl begged. “I miss my parents. Please let us go.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that. Are my men treating you well?”
“What do you think?” Samantha’s aunt finally broke her silence. “They’re treating us as well as can be expected in a prison.”
“Good. We don’t want to make your stay here unnecessarily unpleasant.”
Cruz walked to the next cell. Each prisoner shared a cell with a relative. The International Green Movement had kidnapped the prisoners in pairs of relatives to make it easy to control them and their families back home. When a prisoner refused to cooperate or tried to go on a hunger strike, they submitted the prisoner by torturing his or her relative. If the chiefs of the space agencies and satellite imagery companies refused to cooperate, Cruz was prepared to kill one of their abducted relatives as punishment.
Cruz gave the prison warden the flash drive that contained the questions from the prisoners’ kin. The questions were in a form of an interview in which the relatives of the prisoners asked the prisoners how they were being treated.
“Record the videos today,” Cruz told the prison warden. “I’m leaving tomorrow and I want the videos delivered to the families of the prisoners as soon as I arrive on Earth. Make sure they say nothing that might reveal our identity or the location of the prison.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hitchcook, check the videos when they’re done.”
“I will check them out and suggest reshoots where necessary, Mr. President.”
Cruz looked at his watch. “It’ll take me time to get used to these E Utopian hours. I’ve seen enough of the prison. Take me to Shipgen.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
Cruz and his entourage returned to the motorcade, which took eighteen E Utopian minutes to transport them to the assembly plant they called Shipgen. As its name suggested, Shipgen made the space force’s ships.
Vice Admiral Kazuhiko Okamura, the twenty-seven-year-old Japanese who headed Shipgen, took Cruz on a tour of the assembly plant and showed him the latest prototypes of fighter ships. Cruz ordered Okamura to show him the five Transgalactics that were under construction and the Japanese complied.
Cruz left Shipgen for Ammogen, the assembly plant that manufactured the space force’s ordnance. Again, the President found no reason to complain. From there he went to the nearest mine, the silver mine. The iron, the nickel and the aluminum mines were hundreds of kilometers away. He would inspect them another day. The E Utopian pioneers had not yet discovered copper deposits on the planet but there wer
e lots of silver deposits and some gold deposits. They used a silver-aluminum alloy for most of their electrical wiring.
When Cruz finished inspecting the silver mine, the E Utopian sun was close to setting. “I think I’ve done enough inspections for today,” he said, remembering that a beautiful woman awaited him at Planet House.
“Okay, Mr. President,” Hitchcook said before he conveyed Cruz’s message to the other members of the entourage.
“You and the two admirals are doing a great job,” Cruz told Hitchcook as they sat in the limousine. “Tomorrow I’ll return to Earth with peace of mind, knowing that I left E Utopia in good hands.”
It was dark when they arrived at Planet House.
“Secretary Hitchcook, Fleet Admiral Eawo and Admiral Geza, can you please come inside,” Cruz said. “I want to have a quick word with the three of you.”
Cruz led the three men into Planet House’s situation room. Every important facility on E Utopia could be observed on the big displays that covered the walls of the situation room. Jennifer ran to the bedroom when Cruz and his entourage arrived. She didn’t want to see the two admirals because it would be awkward to salute them and equally awkward not to salute them.
“Please seat down, gentlemen.”
Cruz sat at the head of the table. The two admirals sat on Cruz’s left in order of seniority. Hitchcook sat on the President’s right.
“Admirals, I’ve just been telling Hitchcook that I’m pleased with the work you’re doing here. As you know, I’m leaving tomorrow. I wanted to see our missile system in action, but I’ve to rush to Earth and expedite the evacuation of the chosen ones. Admiral Geza, yesterday you told me that you’re satisfied with our missile system.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” the admiral replied. “I’m fully satisfied. We carried out many war games in the Long Sea.”
“And you believe the missiles will work well on Earth?”
“Yes, sir,” Geza replied. “I believe they will work well on Earth. On Earth, the missiles will encounter a slightly lighter gravitational pull than they do here, and they will also encounter different air resistance than they encounter here. But since they are guided missiles, I don’t think that the changes in gravity and air resistance will significantly affect accuracy. It might affect range however.”
The E Utopia Project Page 24
