Defiant

by Laurence Dahners

  “Um, I’ll try to reach his assistant. Sorry, but he already has a pretty strong reputation for not liking to be bothered directly.” The earnest young man stepped back into his station and began speaking to the screen there. Twenty minutes passed. The guard had Ell park off to one side so other visitors could pass. Several times, when there were breaks in his duties, he stepped over and apologized for the delay.

  Eventually he responded to a chime at his screen and stepped back to his shack. Moments later he stepped back out, jaw working in anger. Nonetheless he spoke politely to Ell, “Um, Yes Ma’am, they say to send you on up.” He motioned her onward.

  When Ell walked up to the actual entrance, a dark haired woman in her late thirties stormed up, “I don’t know what’s wrong with those idiots at the gate. Come on. We’re gonna be late.” She turned and walked rapidly away without waiting for Ell’s acknowledgement.

  Ell sighed and followed. It soon became evident that they weren’t heading for the Oval Office where Ell had met with presidents in the past. Ell wondered where they might be going but simply followed. Eventually they arrived at an office labeled “Presidential Science Advisor.”

  As soon as the woman crossed the threshold Ell heard Costella’s voice bark at her, “Jesus, Nancy! Where the hell have you been?”

  “Those morons they have at the gate just can’t think for themselves. They want permission before they’ll let anyone in.”

  “Did you find Donsaii or not?”

  The woman turned exasperatedly to see Ell just to one side and out of view of the door. She reached out for Ell’s elbow, evidently intending to pull Ell into the doorway and make her visible. Ell subtly shifted her arm to dodge the woman’s hand.

  “Come here!” the woman hissed.

  Ell tilted her head skeptically, “Do you ever speak politely to anyone?”

  The woman rolled her eyes and turned back to Costella, “She’s right here.”

  “Christ! Well let’s go.” Costella stormed out of the office, glaring at Ell, “You’re late and Stockton’s gonna be pissed!” The little man stalked rapidly off down the hall.

  Ell didn’t move.

  Costella’s assistant hissed, “Go! You’re gonna make it worse!”

  Costella turned angrily and stormed back their way, “What’s your problem?”

  Ell smiled sweetly and said, “I was on time. Your office failed to notify the gate that I was coming.”

  “Those Nazis at the gate…” he began,

  He stopped when Ell tilted her head, “Are just doing the job assigned to them. To the letter… correctly. They’re supposed to keep you and the President safe.”

  Costella glared at her a moment, then turned and motioned down the hall, “Right this way Ms. Donsaii, preferably before the President has a stroke?”

  Ell was amused to see that they walked most of the way back through the White House to finish up fairly close to where she’d entered. When they arrived, Costella tersely announced himself. Despite being late, they were made to wait. As opposed to Ell’s previous visits, no one offered any refreshments. In fact, no one even offered her a chair. She’d expected the outcome of an encounter with this president to be unpleasant, but she hadn’t expected it to be so unpleasant before they even met.

  Ell assumed that the President’s previous appointment had run over but when the door to the Oval Office opened no one exited. Instead a young man appeared, anxiously and urgently waving them in.

  As they walked in Stockton didn’t rise. Instead she leaned back in her chair, drumming angrily on the Oval Office’s Resolute desk with her pen. “So, Ms. Donsaii. Too good to arrive on time for an appointment with your president?”

  “No Ma’am.” Ell said quietly, standing at attention even though in civilian clothing. As she’d been trained back in her Academy days, she fixed her eyes on a point above and behind the head of the woman she considered to be her Commander in Chief.

  “No?” Stockton asked dangerously.

  Without moving her eyes Ell said emotionlessly, “No Ma’am. I arrived thirty minutes early, but the guards at the gate didn’t have me on their list.”

  “And you’re claiming it took them thirty five minutes to figure that out?”

  “Twenty.”

  “Twenty what?”

  “It took twenty minutes for the guard to get permission to allow me to enter.”

  Somewhat triumphantly Stockton said, “Well, with ten minutes, you should still have been here in plenty of time.”

  Still without inflection Ell said, “Instead I was guided across the White House to the office of your Science Advisor, then walked back across the White House to your office in his company.”

  In her peripheral vision, Ell saw Stockton’s eyes flash angrily over to Costella, but they quickly tracked back to Ell. Stockton said, “All that aside, what’s this crap I hear about your refusal to turn over the equipment for the ET missions?”

  “You’ve heard correctly, Ma’am.”

  “So, you’re in flagrant disregard of the law?”

  “I would not characterize it in that manner.”

  Stockton snorted, “How would you characterize it? That you’re better than all of our other citizens who do have to obey our country’s laws?”

  “No Ma’am. I would characterize it as a moral refusal to obey an ill-considered law that I have concluded would place the people of our country and our world in an unreasonable amount of danger.”

  “I understand that you are still on reserve status and subject to being called up to active duty?”

  “That is correct Ma’am.”

  “Then I hereby call you back to duty.”

  “Yes Ma’am.”

  “Well, aren’t you supposed to salute or something? I am your Commander in Chief.”

  “No Ma’am, I am in civilian dress and inside a building. A salute is not normally rendered in this situation. I will, however, render one if you so desire.”

  Stockton snorted, “A barracks lawyer? Never mind, I don’t need a goddamn salute… I do need you to follow military orders and turn that stuff over to Ementhal’s committee.”

  “I’m sorry, Ma’am. I believe that to be an unlawful order.”

  “Unlawful!”

  “Yes Ma’am. It needlessly endangers the lives of civilians.”

  “Leaving you in control of our contacts with the little green men is what endangers our people! That’s why I’m ordering you to turn those contact gadgets over.”

  “I’m sorry, Ma’am, I respectfully disagree. Leaving aside the question of whether any committee could be trusted to keep a secret like this, there would remain the problem of the people who have been assigned to the Ementhal committee. Many of them are individuals who should not be trusted with such a sensitive task.”

  “And just what are you basing this bullshit on?!”

  “I have carefully reviewed the public records of the members of the committee. Many of them can be demonstrated to be dishonest people of little achievement.”

  “What?! Those individuals were appointed by the Congress of the United States!”

  “Yes Ma’am. That, however, does not alter the facts regarding the nature of those people.”

  “You little twit!” Stockton raised her voice as she heaved her rather large frame to its feet and turned to the Secret Service men in the room. “You,” she said, pointing at one of them.

  “Ma’am?” the more senior appearing of the young men said. Ell was not at all surprised that Stockton didn’t know the names of the people on her security detail, even after being under their protection for some time. After a moment’s consideration, she realized that they likely had been with her ever since she’d become a candidate for the office of President.

  “Arrest this woman.” Stockton said, pointing at Ell.

  Seeming taken aback, the man asked, “On what grounds?” Nonetheless he stepped toward Ell.

  “Breaking the law, for Christ sake! Haven’t you been l
istening? Call the Attorney General, he’ll think of something.”

  Ell said, “Madame President, I urge you to reconsider. Arresting me will not change my mind regarding the danger of this technology falling into the hands of others, but it could become a significant black mark on your record.”

  The secret serviceman took Ell’s hand and pulled it behind her back where he clicked a handcuff on it. Stockton stepped around the desk and pulled off Ell’s headband. She made a show of removing the PGR chip while Ell’s other wrist was being cuffed. Then Stockton leaned in close to Ell’s face, curled her lip and hissed, “I’ll just bet you change your mind after some time in solitary…”

  The secret service agent took Ell out into the hall and turned her over to a member of the Uniformed Service Division. As he did so he whispered, “Sorry.”

  “That’s OK, you’re just doing your job. Keep it up.”

  As she was marched away, he watched after her, a frog in his throat. He noticed other people staring, appalled to see Ell Donsaii, the darling of their country, in cuffs. Even with her arms cuffed behind her back, the slender young woman in the black pantsuit with a crimson blouse had an astonishing presence, drawing their eyes. She even nodded pleasantly to them. With a sigh he stepped back into the office with the President, jaw working with frustration.

  The President, he could hear, was speaking to her Attorney General about what to do with Donsaii.

  ***

  Jennifer Oakey looked up as her boss Dan Short called her name.

  “Jen, you aren’t going to guess who we’re checking in.”

  “A congressman?”

  Dan barked a laugh, “Admittedly they’re all crooks, but no.”

  “A congresswoman?”

  “Ell Donsaii!”

  “No shit? What’d she do?”

  “Pissed off the President, from what I hear.”

  Jen snorted, “Well, that shows bad judgment. I certainly wouldn’t want to get crosswise of that woman!”

  “Which one?”

  “Stockton. She strikes me as the vengeful type. Donsaii might crush you but only if you deserved it.”

  Dan turned his head, “Here she is now. You’re going to in-process her.”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah Mel’s got the duty, but she’s too inexperienced. With a VIP like this I don’t want anything getting screwed up. Mel can back you up while you’re doing it.”

  Jen grinned at him and raised an eyebrow, “Why don’t you do it yourself?”

  Dan raised an eyebrow in return and said, “Don’t I just wish.”

  Twenty minutes later, with Mel standing well behind her, Jen watched Donsaii gracefully changing out of her black pantsuit and into the orange prison coverall, Jen thought to herself that Dan would indeed “have wished.” Jennifer had long admired Donsaii’s beautiful face with its smooth, elegant and symmetrical features. The brilliant green eyes didn’t hurt either. But she was almost agape watching her change clothes. Jen had never seen such a slender, graceful female body. Hetero though Jen might be, she had to admire the loveliness of the woman changing clothes in front of her. She almost snorted aloud when Donsaii put on the industrial strength underwear the facility supplied—the ugly bra and granny panties looked great on the woman. Same for the shapeless coverall.

  The woman would probably look stunning in a gunnysack, Jen thought.

  Throughout the procedure, Donsaii was pleasant and polite, thanking Jen for keeping her clothes folded, not appearing at all discomfited by her nudity. As opposed to most of the women Jennifer processed into the facility, women for whom Jen typically had no respect, Jen found herself admiring Donsaii. Initially for her beauty and flawless physique, but then more and more for the graceful and courteous manner in which Donsaii conducted herself. By the time Jen had finished boxing up Donsaii’s possessions and got her to sign for them Jen found herself saying, “I’m terribly sorry about this Ms. Donsaii. I hope they work out whatever happened pronto and get you back out of here.”

  Donsaii flashed a brilliant smile at her, “Well thank you, Ms. Oakey. I certainly hope so as well.”

  Finished with the in-processing, Jen and Mel walked Donsaii down to the isolation holding cell where to her surprise Donsaii thanked her for her courtesy. Jen had never put anyone in a cell that had spoken to her so politely. Especially when they were put in the solitary cell which had only a little grated window in its door. Six by ten feet and furnished only with a toilet bowl, a showerhead, a sink and a thinly padded narrow cot, it was pretty disheartening to look at, much less to live in.

  Jen shook her head bemusedly as she headed back out front. Before she returned to her desk, she stopped a moment and pondered. She turned to check the video surveillance of Donsaii’s cell, telling the guard watching the cameras that she wanted to make sure the young woman wasn’t doing anything wrong. Inside, she realized that she felt some kind of a bond with Donsaii and wanted to make sure the young woman was OK.

  With some dismay, Jen saw that Donsaii had gotten onto her cot and pulled the blankets up over her head. That wasn’t too unusual for inmates. Many did it when they’d become depressed over their apparently hopeless situation.

  But, it usually took a long time for them to get miserable enough to hide under the covers, so it didn’t often occur at the temporary holding facility where Jen worked.

  ***

  Shan had just arrived back at their house when his AI said, “You have a call from Raquel.”

  “I’ll take it… Hey Raquel, how’d the meeting with Stockton go?”

  “Pretty grim.” Ell said, just above a whisper, “I’ve been arrested.”

  “Arrested!”

  “Yeah, right now I’m in a holding cell but I’m pretty sure they’ll be taking me somewhere else.”

  “My God! I’m on my way up to DC!”

  “Don’t! You couldn’t do anything to help up here. As soon as we hang up I’ll be contacting the legal team I’ve put on retainer to deal with these Blaustein bill issues. They’re the people who might be able to do something. If you came up here it would only serve to immediately blow my Raquel identity, though my other identities won’t last very long if they start going through my life with a fine toothed comb.”

  Shan closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, “Come on. There must be something I can do!”

  “Yeah, take care of yourself. Tell everyone Raquel’s gone on a business trip. Start figuring out what you’re going to do if and when they figure out you’re married to a criminal. Especially, start asking yourself what you’re going to do if we can’t resolve this legal crisis and I decide I have to move to a different country.”

  “What! Surely you don’t think they’ll just let you go if they don’t get what they want?”

  “No, but I might just leave without their permission. Oops, gotta go.”

  With the connection abruptly cut, Shan sat back to wonder how she thought she’d be able to get out of whatever prison they were holding her in?

  ***

  There’d been a knock on the door of her cell that caused her to cut her connection with Shan. Ell pulled the blankets off her head and sat up. Looking in at her through the bars Officer Oakey said, “Ms. Donsaii, are you OK?”

  Surprised at the concern she heard in the officer’s voice Ell said, “Yes Ma’am.” She couldn’t very well tell them she had just been using her implants to contact her husband, so instead she said, “Just thinking about my situation. It’s easier for me to concentrate if I cover my head.” She shrugged, “Weird, I know.” Thinking that to deflect suspicion she should request to communicate in the normal fashion, she said, “Am I allowed a phone call?”

  Oakey looked truly remorseful, “The Attorney General’s office called and said to hold you incommunicado for now. It’s a common misconception that you have a legal right to a phone call. Some states do give you that right, but it isn’t a Federal right and we’re a Federal facility. Sorry. Keep your chin up, I’m sure that wha
tever put you in here is just some kind of misunderstanding.”

  “Thanks for your concern. I’ll do my best to keep my spirits up, but I would like to think for a while. I assume it’s OK if I turtle up under the blanket again?”

  “Sure.” The officer turned and left.

  Lying back down, Ell rolled on her side, pulled the blanket back up over her head and said, “Allan, send me a camera and projection port through my abdominal port, five centimeters out.” She tugged the coverall tight against her tummy and looked down. It took a minute for a waldo in one of her hidden storerooms to pick the AV port she’d requested and drop it through the one ended port hidden under the skin beneath her belly button. It popped out into the air under the blanket and fell to the sheets. It was actually a pair of ports, back to back. One side had the lens for a projector that could project a video image such as would normally be displayed on her HUD. The other side was a camera that Allan could use to see what was going on in her environment. Ell picked it up and said, “Project my AV recording from the time I arrived at the White House gate through the end of my meeting with the President.”

  Ell pointed the port at the sheets a little ways in front of her eyes and a moment later Allan began projecting the recording her HUD had made of her White House experience onto the sheet. She watched it through, then said, “Clip off the part before I arrive at the guard house.” Ell paused thinking, then said, “Leave in the audio part from when the President removed my headband and on up to right after the point where she said, ‘I’ll bet you change your mind after some time in solitary,’ then cut it off there. Now, insert a time clock in the lower left corner of the video image. Next, let me see the first and the last minutes of what you’ve got...” After that had been projected on the sheets for her she said, “OK, Allan, distribute that to the news outlets along with the material I prepared on the Ementhal committee.”

  Ell thought for a couple of minutes, then said, “Connect me to Art Jenkins.”