neutron bomb.”
“What’s a neutron bomb?”
“A bomb that kills all living things but leaves the structures and equip-
ment completely intact. It’s radiation on steroids.”
“So, you want a one-time-use weapon.” Zeek shrugged. “I don’t know,
I thought Princess Li Win looked interesting.”
“You can’t be serious?”
Zeek raised his eyebrows a few times with a smile. “All kidding aside,
the A.I. could be a huge asset.”
“An unstable A.I. could have the opposite effect.” Alex glanced over his
shoulder to Wang, then focused back on the polished granite floor.
“What would Kalibri think if you left his kindred to sit in some
warehouse?”
“I didn’t think of that…You know what, I think we can get access to the
A.I. later. For now, let’s choose some thing else. You know, no matter how much money we get, we will never be able to acquire a nuclear weapon. We
might need something like that with the Zorn.”
“You think the Chinese government is simply going to hand over a
nuclear weapon? There are a plethora of international laws to prevent that
from occurring. We don’t have the means to handle such a thing safely
and imagine if they decide to remote detonate it once it’s sitting in our
bunker somewhere! Plus, we are supposed to believe they want to give us
a nuclear weapon just so we can continue to dispose of their radioactive
waste? Something doesn’t add up here, doesn’t make sense.”
“Well, rumor lingers that the border between China and North Korea
is littered with radioactive waste and it’s killing the land. The US may
assume it’s poor handling by North Korea, but what if China is just using
it as a dumping ground? The problem might be pretty dire for them. I
think we take the bomb, put it in a box and leave it on the moon for now.
24
It would be safe there, and we would have access to it in case we ever need it. I’m sure this is their first step to get construction rights to build ships.
What they really want is our technology, just like everyone else. It probably
has nothing to do with the waste.”
Alex’s phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out, looking at the caller
ID: it was his father. He tapped the button to ignore and made a mental
note to call him back later.
Zeek looked at Alex and shrugged. They turned around and walked the
few steps back to Wang. Alex inclined his head to Wang. “We will accept
the hydrogen bomb. Please put it in a space-worthy container and give us
the ability to remote detonate it.”
Wang’s face was passive, and his body folded over at his waist again.
When he made eye contact with Alex again, he said, “I assume the deliver-
ies will resume as scheduled?”
“Yes, the containers will be picked up again. Please have the weapon
ready for the next pick up. Call us when it’s ready.”
“My leaders will be most pleased!”
Ambassador Wang Lon backed away from Alex and Zeek, then left
the building.
Alex looked at his phone. Nine text messages waited for his attention.
“Damn, I’m late.” Alex took off at a jog without a backward glance, leaving
Zeek in the lobby area.
“I guess I’ll see you later?” Zeek raised his voice but Alex didn’t
acknowledge him.
Minutes later, Alex reached his office. A few people were waiting in
chairs outside, and a guard stood over them. He recognized the guard.
“Ah, Curtis! Good to see you.” Alex clapped Curtis on the shoulder as they
viewed the people sitting in the chairs before them. “My apologies for being
late,” Alex said to them. “Which one of you arrived first?”
A young man raised his hand. “I did, sir!” His blue eyes were wide and
bright, and he was holding back a smile.
“Well, you first, then.” Alex walked past the people and opened
his office.
The walls and doors of the office were glass, allowing Alex an unob-
structed view of the world around him. When Alex entered the room, the
25
lights illuminated, and half of every wall became opaque from the waist down. The office had three main areas, and the layout was shaped like a Y.
Where all three sections met, there was a large desk that looked like it was
carved from a fallen tree. It was very large and had a slight curve to it. Several chairs sat on one side, while a single chair sat on the other.
“Pick any chair you’d like.”
The young man selected the closest chair and sat in it. Alex watched the
young man peer into the other rooms. He wasn’t sure if the curiosity should
be a mark of a good candidate, or if the lack of attention to Alex, who was
waiting for eye contact, should be held in higher regard.
Alex produced a fake cough. The young man snapped his attention
to Alex.
Just as Alex was about to speak, his data pad lit up like a christmas tree.
The moment Alex touched the pad, it resumed normal brightness. On the
screen was a short line of text.
Captain, every moment this
fabricator sits over here unused is
another drop of statistical averages
that you don’t survive the next Zorn
attack. Also, I have portable weapon
designs you can fabricate that will
conform to your technology - Kalibri
Alex roughly dragged his hand over his face and leaned back in his
chair. Glancing at the amount of tasks he was alerted to address, he shud-
dered at the significant figure, then tossed the data pad back onto the desk.
The young man eyed him and the data pad a few times. Not a word nor
syllable escaped his lips. His hands were so tightly squeezed together that
they appeared locked in a mortal struggle for survival.
Alex chuckled under his breath as he observed the young man in front
of him. “What’s your name?” Alex picked up his data pad, which had all
the application information waiting for him to review, despite he having
studied it a few times by now.
“Peter, sir!”
“Look, Peter, if you’re going to be my guy, the guy I trust to do whatever
26
I ask, whenever I ask it, you’re going to have to drop the sirs. That’s not debatable, I am looking for someone who can pick up some of the slack I
have been neglecting. I’ve got a lot of work piling up and I’m looking for
some more hands.”
“Uhh…Yes, okay!” Peter pressed his lips together, and his eyebrows met.
Over the next three hours, Alex interviewed the three applicants. One
of them stuck out as a favorite to him, although he was hesitant about
selecting that applicant. He would need to talk to someone about his selec-
tion first.
He headed to the science division inside the Complex, where he knew
he would find Amanda toiling away at a terminal or microscope.
She was peering into an electron microscope when he arrived, her eyes
focused on the screen in front of her, while her hands controlled various
small knobs that adjusted the scaling and focus of the screen.
“Hey, do you have a moment?” Alex whispered from behind her left ear.
She moved her head closer to
his until her ear touched his lips, then she
turned to face him with a smile. “Of course!”
Alex looked around the room, making sure no one else would overhear
his conversation. “I’m hiring an executive assistant, like most of us have
been doing lately. Except…”
Amanda looked her uncomfortable boyfriend over. He hardly ever
stuttered, and he knew this would give away the problem. “It’s not a guy is
it?” Her face froze as she uttered the last syllable.
“I wouldn’t choose her If I didn’t have your support,” Alex blurted
out, as though the whole sentence were one long word. He felt as though
he couldn’t get that bit of information out fast enough to avoid uncon-
scious conclusions.
Amanda turned away from him. “Is she pretty?” Amanda’s voice
sounded strained as she turned her attention back to the microscope.
“I…I…guess so.” Alex looked on towards Amanda, wondering what
she felt. The back of her head gave him no clues. Amanda slowly put her
hand to her mouth, making Alex’s stomach drop to his feet. She took a
deep breath. “Don’t lie. She must be very pretty for you to be this con-
cerned about it.”
Guilt chewed at Alex as he struggled to think of a way to both reassure
27
Amanda and escape the conversation. If he thought running would help, he might have taken off at a sprint. “You know what, I think this conversation isn’t necessary. I’ll choose one of the others.”
He turned to leave the room and Amanda let out a burst of noise that
Alex worried was laced with anger. He turned to look at her, fear making
him cower a little as he started to scurry out of the room.
He was confused to find Amanda doubled up in hysterical laughter.
She even made a sound Alex hadn’t heard before, an unmistakable snort.
Amanda quickly covered her mouth and laughed even harder, tears streak-
ing down her face, as Alex turned to look at her, perplexed.
“I take it you…don’t have a problem with this, then?” Alex made an
odd face, relaxing a little in the wash of Amanda’ s amusement.
“Oh, my love.” Amanda stood up and looked Alex in the eye. “You
choose the best person for the job. But, know that if you ever cheat on
me…I get to do the same.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder as she
turned away from him and swayed her hips in an alluring way.
“Wait, what?”
“You heard me…You ever hear of a prenuptial agreement?” She looked
back into the microscope.
“Yeah.”
“Well, consider this such an agreement.”
“What if I don’t agree to that?”
She returned her attention to Alex standing in the doorway. “Then you
have two choices, you can either never cheat on me, making this whole
conversation pointless, or you can leave me. If you can hold to this agree-
ment, everything will work out fine.” She approached Alex slowly as she
spoke and kissed him on the cheek and nudged him out of her office, leav-
ing him alone in the hallway.
Alex almost walked back inside. Common sense prevailed, how-
ever; she was right. As long as he never cheated, the whole conversation
was pointless.
He walked back towards his office, lost in thought. Still, it was a bit
of an odd agreement, yet many things about Amanda was a bit weird. He
liked that about her.
28
* * *
“Status of the Destiny?” Alex sat back in his cozy office chair. It would be the first time they used Alex’s conference room in any official capacity, and
he found it decidedly exciting to have them all working there.
“Most of the damaged sections of the hull and decking have been cut
away. Technical repairs have already been completed, crews will be work-
ing twenty-four-seven to repair the ship. It should be ready in about two
weeks.” Timmy didn’t take his eyes off his data pad as he continued answer-
ing questions from the repair teams via text message.
Alex looked at Timmy and smiled, then glanced over to Renee and
Jackie. “How did our segment do last night?” He noticed another person
he had not yet met holding a camera, but turned his attention back to the
job at hand.
“As you suspected, the public was quick to defend you. The senators
that opposed you are facing a lot of heat from their constituents. I suspect
they will have short careers in political office. There is a small group form-
ing with the idea that if it weren’t for you, the aliens would never have
come. No one is giving them much attention. North Korea is not doing
too good right now, either. It seems most of the leadership and political
families were killed in the attack. There’s a mass exodus from the country
into South Korea.” Renee took a deep breath and crossed her legs under
the table. “Over the last couple months, I’ve had an independent company
conduct polling on you and the UEF. I had no intention of telling you
about it, except now I think the polling results were leaked and you should
know about them.”
“Why would you—”
Renee cut him off. “The simple reason is that it allows me to do my job
better, and I can get a feel for what kind of message would or would not be
accepted at any given moment.”
Alex looked around the room, slightly disturbed but mostly embar-
rassed. The only person who was smiling in the room at that moment
was Gloria.
“What?” Alex asked her. He scratched his nose and fidgeted with his
right ear.
29
“Oh, nothing. I am curious as to where this is going, is all.” Gloria, like everyone at the table, was wearing the UEF uniform now. Everyone, that is,
except for Timmy and Jorge, who were in jeans and t-shirts.
Alex looked up and took in a deep breath, let it out slowly and looked
over at Renee to continue. “Alright, lay it on me. What do the polls say?”
“Well…Like I said, I started a couple months ago, before the attack,
with a handful of yes or no questions asked. Is Alex a good leader? Sixty-
eight percent responded ‘yes’. Do you support the UEF? Seventy-six per-
cent said ‘yes’. The latest poll closed a few hours ago. It has Alex is a good leader at eighty-four percent and support for the UEF at ninety percent.”
Renee drooped her head slightly and focused on the table in front of
her. “Alex, numbers like these are epic, mythical, and unprecedented…
I bet—”
“That’s enough. Thank you for your attention to detail. Mason, have
you kept in touch with Jerry? How are things going at the training facilities?”
“Spoke to him moments ago, everything is going well there. He’s not
expecting any problems.”
“Alex?”
Everyone turned to look at Jack.
“I have worked in my field for quite some time, and I have to tell you,
I am very concerned right now about another type of attack,” he said, look-
ing Alex in the eye.
The mood suddenly shifted. Jack had everyone’s attention, and he
wilted a little under it but kept going.
“Let’s pretend that you’re part of a government or organization that
enemy that needs to be dealt with. You failed in your first attempt, and
it was an epic public failure. Now an alien race has come an attacked the
Earth. Your political enemy has unprecedented public support. What
things might you be concerned about?”
Alex displayed no reaction as he considered Jack’s words.
“If there were another attack coming, it would be subtle.” Laura said
slowly, in her ‘thinking while I’m talking’ voice.
The room’s attention shifted to Laura. She ignored them, watching
Jack, waiting for an answer to her question. He stared at her for a few
30
seconds, then his eyes flicked over her, taking in her long blonde hair and athletic figure. His cheeks pinked a little and he looked away from her.
Alex was sure he heard Jorge mutter, “Dibs!” as Timmy adjusted
his posture.
“Uh. Yes, its old-school but I think that would do it. Or they might use
a gimp.” Jack sat like a stone.
“A what, a gimp?” Alex leaned forward.
“Yeah, someone so dedicated to the task that they might sacrifice them-
selves to see it done.”
“Like a bomber?”
“Yeah, like a bomber, but not a bomber, that would be too public.
More intimate, like a one-on-one encounter. Poison, knife or push off a
ledge, that sort of thing. Something that might draw attention but can be
easily covered up.”
Laura eyed Alex, who returned her gaze levelly. “Here I was thinking
you were being egotistical.”
Cindy eyed Laura with a critical eye. “About what?”
“He told me that being his assistant would put me in harm’s way and
that it came with the job.”
“Why would you take a job position like that?” Cindy crossed her arms
and leaned back in her chair. “No offense, but it seems like a singularly
stupid thing to do.”
“Well, my whole life I’ve had to fight. From the moment I was born,
possibly even before that, my father hated me. He only took it out on my
mother, see…It was her fault I wasn’t a boy. As I got older, it became older
guys who wanted more than a dinner and a movie. Then it was peers at
work because I was too pretty to be taken seriously. I’ve had porn directors,
movie producers, talent agencies all try to offer me something.
“The only thing I wanted to do was make a difference. So, I got involved
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