by Geoff Wolak
‘Please do not panic, go about your lives, and be strong – as I have seen you be strong with other problems we have faced. I have a plan, and I shall discuss the fine detail of that plan with the various leaders soon. Please … have faith in that plan, and have faith in me. I cannot discuss that plan with you yet, since we don’t know who may be listening.
‘May I take this opportunity … to ask that all nations, on all of the linked worlds, now move to a state of war, and make ready all emergency procedures and staff. Cancel all leave for your security services, and make ready civil defence programmes. Thank you, and I will try and talk with you again soon.’
Many of the various leaders had been cooperating in the weeks leading up to the speech, and a few had knowledge of President Clayton – and of Jimmy’s plan. Not all agreed with it. A combined-worlds’ emergency security meeting was called, to be held in New Kinshasa on 1938-world, the coffee warmed up ready for some long sessions, and some raised voices.
Jimmy arrived at the mansion to find Helen and Selemba in the pool. He found swimming trunks, stripped off and joined them. ‘We can’t be bugged too well in here,’ he told Helen, Selemba climbing up onto Uncle Jimmy.
‘Bugged?’ Helen repeated.
‘I have a request of you, and not an easy one.’ He held his stare on her. ‘I’d like you to take the chubby lump off-world, somewhere unknown and safe, and … raise her till she’s eighteen.’
‘Raise her … where?’ Helen puzzled.
‘Away from here.’
‘You think she’s a target?’ Helen queried, now concerned.
‘It’s possible, but my main reason is to accelerate the Seethans, and … I need Selemba for that, since it was probably her that accelerated them the last time. Unfortunately, that means you living in isolation for many years, and … it means that Paul will hit me when he finds out; he’ll not get to see her grow up.’
‘My god. You … think that it’s necessary, absolutely necessary?’
‘I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think this particular paradox needs to be in place before we attack the Zim, so that paradox needs to be completed in the next few weeks or so.’
‘Should I talk to Paul?’
‘Sure, he’s coming here for the meeting, but he won’t be pleased.’
‘Where would I go?’ Helen asked as she bobbed up and down in the water.
‘A world we’ve found, post-apocalyptic, and you’d go to New Zealand with an escort, a large escort; teachers, doctors, scientists.’
‘But be away from here for … fifteen years.’
Jimmy nodded. ‘It’s a lot to ask, I know, but … I think it happened before.’
‘If she’s in danger, then I’d like to do something about it, of course. But … fifteen years.’
‘Give it some thought, because I have an idea, and Selemba here is a key piece in the war about to happen. I can’t explain it, and I may be wrong, but I think she has a key role, maybe even the most important role in the whole thing.’
‘Is the team for that world even ready?’ Helen queried.
‘Yes, all stood by waiting a go signal from you.’
‘Oh.’ Helen lifted Selemba onto a shoulder, my daughter now as large as a five year old human child.
‘Is there anyone you’d like to take with you?’ Jimmy asked. ‘Should … you decide to go. I could ask Shelly, and some of the household staff here.’
‘Shelly?’
‘She expressed an interest in tackling a new project, and that world would give her one.’
‘Well, I could tackle that world as well, at least New Zealand and Australia. Are The Brotherhood active over there?’
‘Not on that world, no; Middle East was where the war was fought, now a nuclear waste ground. On that world, Britain and France held onto Syria and Palestine as colonies, right up to 1987 and the war. Both Britain and France retained their empires after the Second World War, often brutally putting down independence movements.’
When I arrived, Helen sat me down and gave me the story. I was horrified, angered, but seeing Selemba sat sleeping in a chair put things into focus. If she was key to the war, then others might know that fact, and those others might come across time and space looking for her. I would have done anything to protect her.
Missing her growing up would be a great loss, and seeing her again at eighteen might be a heartache - for a while at least. And then … then when she did finally return to me she’d be sent to Seether to mate.
I went for a long walk, down to to the park, and considered the paradox, and Selemba’s particular role. There was the necklace, her DNA being re-written, and the future Seethan world. Sandra and Jesus, they were “of Selemba, of Queen Selemba”, and so the paradox would need fulfilling. But was that now, this week, or was that fifteen years down the line, fifteen years that I could spend teaching her to ride a bike, help her with homework, to play computer games?
I had Klok and Chime, and my large extended family, but Selemba was still mine, and still a small vulnerable girl that I cared for greatly. Trying to picture her as some future Seethan Queen was hard to do, and as much as I liked the Seether I had horrid images of her being treated like a baby-machine by that idiot of a Seethan president.
Jimmy arrived later, but we spoke of the war, not of Selemba, and the next day we met two hundred delegates, another three thousand delegates waiting in annexes of the conference centre.
The key worlds, and their various key countries – the largest and strongest, met first. Jimmy listed what we knew, what we suspected, and what the dangers were. Everyone knew that we did not have anywhere near enough orbital craft to tackle a potential armada of over two thousand of the smaller Zim craft – or the mother ships themselves, but we also believed that Dark Star could probably sneak up on the mother ships and damage them – or even destroy them. That was a hope more than a reality, and a long shot.
Jimmy’s idea was simple, and he already had the pieces in place. We would watch as the Zim landed, hopefully not watching as the Zim levelled that world from orbit, and we would engage them in a ground war, capturing their people. Those people would then be bargaining chips in a negotiated settlement as we wore down the Zim craft with missiles and ground defences – and we had millions of missiles that we knew for sure would destroy a Zim craft. They must have also known that fact, or at least suspected it.
At the right time, our ground forces would move across to that world and attack any ground concentrations of Zim. If the Zim were spread out and killing people, our soldiers would fight them – not capture them. We had laser weapons that would disable a Zim citizen without killing them, and the wounded Zim could be medically treated later, in captivity, their recuperative powers known to be far better than ours.
If that process went OK, we would make probing tactical strikes against the mother ships to see how tough they were, and use the baby Dark Star craft to get in close – assuming that they could; a sudden mass attack might succeed. There were variables, and Jimmy was holding back a few ideas, which caused some consternation amongst the delegates.
To the inner group, he admitted that he thought the Zim would negotiate with Clayton – firmly or otherwise – for passage through to the world where their brethren had first landed. From there they would use portal technology to spread to other worlds, something we could not allow.
What Jimmy also believed, was that Zim would land on Clayton’s world and slowly infiltrate, if they were not doing so already. The Zim possessed great patience, that we knew, and they could take twenty years or more to move into power. The downside was us - in that they must have figured we’d be involved, and a threat. So, the question was – how would the Zim deal with us, and the threat we posed? The answer was simple, in that a paradox on our worlds might destroy us, but would not affect the worlds the Zim wished to colonise - too much.
Jimmy concluded by saying that the Zim would probably use portal technology to attack us in the future, by steal
th – which was their way, after they get their hands on portal technology. In the Zim plans, there must have been an idea about grabbing a portal from the Americans on Clayton’s world, and that grab could be a hostile move – unless the Zim already had the plans for building portals. If they did posses the plans, then building a portal on the first world would take time – due to a lack of suitable factories and facilities.
Problem was, the Zim had that portal on the asteroid, and only they could reach it.
At the end of the meeting, Jimmy assembled the serving American President’s from eight worlds, including Samuels from Texas. Each man was asked to dismiss his aides. We sat in a small room, a little cramped, the dozens of Secret Service agents outside no doubt discussing the merits of their various leaders. Each president was dressed similarly; dark blue suits, flag on lapel.
‘Gentlemen,’ Jimmy began, no ladies yet elected to the White House on our linked worlds. ‘We’re having this meeting, just us, because this concerns America, President Clayton’s America. There’s the question of how it may be rebuilt, by whom, and how it is … managed in the future.’ He faced Gilchrist, our least favourite president. Even Samuels from Texas was easier to deal with. ‘President Gilchrist, you have a year left in office, and I’d like you to give up that year.’
‘Excuse me?’ Gilchrist asked with an incredulous stare.
‘I have a job for you, off world.’
‘You … have a job for me?’
‘Yes, and it’s a bit of a poison pill, because if you’re dumb enough to take it you’ll either be assassinated over there, or tarnished back here for doing such a poor job.’
‘Don’t gloss it up,’ I quipped. ‘Tell him straight.’
Gilchrist shot me a look.
Jimmy added, ‘I want you to take over running America from President Clayton, and by force.’
‘By force,’ Gilchrist repeated.
‘There’ll be no other way,’ Jimmy stated. ‘You’ll need to be firm, to restore order, and then restore faith in the political system in general - and the position of the President in particular. That, will be a very tough job for anyone, but would be even harder for an unsociable malcontent like you.’
The other Presidents blinked, a few checking their nails as I smiled broadly at Gilchrist.
Samuels of Texas put in, ‘Would need a strong man to hold that nation together. I have a deputy that could do it. Not sure Mister Gilchrist here has the qualifications.’
Gilchrist stared back at Samuels, cocking an eyebrow. ‘Strength … comes from persuasion, tactics, statesmanship, and political manoeuvring.’
Samuels replied, ‘Know anyone … with those skills?’
Gilchrist stared unhappily back at Samuels, then slowly turned to face Jimmy. ‘Why you offering me this job?’
‘You have a year to run,’ Jimmy said, easing back and picking dust of his trousers. ‘The rest of this lot have at least three years or another term. So, will you write your name into the history of mankind, and turn that country around – as well as lead that world to peace, or … will you walk away and build a library like some old has-been of a President? Will you sit and write your memoirs -’
I chocked out a laugh.
‘- or will you stay in office for another eight years, only on that world, and do a real job with real problems; Cold War politics, world economic crisis, mistrust of governments, civil unrest. That world would even stretch me.’
‘So why aren’t you going over there to fix it?’ Gilchrist testily asked.
‘I’ll be there from time to time, but Americans are way too arrogant and racist to have a non-American telling them what to do. Americans lead, they don’t follow.’
Gilchrist exchanged looks with a few of his fellow presidents. The president of Baldy’s world said, ‘Are you up to the challenge, or have you had enough of the White House?’
Gilchrist coolly regarded the man before facing Jimmy. He took a moment. ‘You don’t expect me to screw up; you’d not want that world to fail.’
‘I may not always see eye to eye with you, and you’ve been a pain in the arse on many occasions -’
‘Many,’ I added.
‘- but you always try and fight for America, more than most. That’s not a good thing on peaceful worlds, where cooperation is needed, but on Clayton’s world it’s just about the right attitude; we can’t apply 2048 politics to that world, it’s too different.’
‘So we need a dinosaur,’ I added, getting a look from Jimmy. A few of the presidents hid smiles.
‘Not a bad analogy, although I would not have worded it quite that way,’ Jimmy said. ‘You are … the best man for the job.’
‘And my team?’ Gilchrist asked.
‘You could take whoever you like, and as many as you like. I would suggest a volunteer group of … half a million.’
‘Half a million?’ Gilchrist repeated.
‘And that doesn’t include soldiers,’ Jimmy added. ‘Remember, it will be chaos, looting on the streets, economy reduced to zero. And … you’ll have to deal with the Zim left there and the security threat. But, it would be fair to say that if you turned that country around, dealt with the petrol-dollar and the economy, and helped to broker peace on that world, you’d have more than just a library to build. Your library would be in the shadow of the very tall statues they raise to you.’
‘Well?’ Samuels of Texas nudged. ‘Got the balls and the brains, mister?’
‘I’d have complete control?’ Gilchrist asked, ignoring Samuels.
‘You’d have a military dictatorship for as long as you required,’ Jimmy replied. ‘But, I would suggest you announce elections early on – but that you shadow whatever lame-arse they elect.’
‘Once … the Zim have been dealt with,’ Gilchrist pointed out. ‘And that’s not a certainty by any means.’
‘Leave the Zim to me, and consider that job. You have a few days before I ask someone else.’
‘I have a suitable man,’ Samuels repeated.
‘Thank you,’ Jimmy offered him as he stood. The others eased up, and Gilchrist squared up to Jimmy.
‘Statues, eh,’ Gilchrist commented, nodding. He took in the faces of his peers and equals. ‘I’d have to step down.’
‘You’d be missed,’ I told him, less than sincerely.
‘I’ll give you my answer in a day or so,’ Gilchrist offered as he headed for the door. The other presidents exchanged looks, and followed Gilchrist out.
Home turf
Hal and Hacker had driven to a private airfield and met with their people in secret, a luxury jet boarded. The flight plan had been altered, false names given, and in all of the confusion it was not even known if the flight was even legal right now under FEMA rules. They took off without permission from the tower, and headed towards Arizona. Once in Tuscon, Hal met with local party workers, soon at the local radio station - one that was defying the ban, headsets placed on, microphone adjusted.
‘People of Arizona, this is Senator Hal Becker. For the past few days I’ve been running and hiding, hiding from Clayton’s men, and from the aliens already here who may be looking for me and my associates. At my residence in Washington we were attacked by armed men in ski masks, my brave guards killed trying to help me escape.
‘I’m here in Arizona to try and rally support from anyone who will stand shoulder to shoulder with me to oppose an alien landing. President Clayton has sold us out, if indeed that is the President, and we need to act for ourselves. I’ll be opposing the alien landings, and I’ll die on this soil fighting for the freedom of America. If you’re with me, arm yourselves and get ready.
‘When we know where the aliens will land we’ll go there and fight, and that landing will probably be in Nevada, where our military have many top secret installations - and existing hostels for the aliens already on this world. It’s also where the time portals are, connecting to the other world overrun by aliens.
‘If you have red blood in your veins, an
d care about our way of life, then join me in my struggle. I’m also appealing to all members of the police and National Guard, as one of your state representatives: don’t listen to President Clayton and the federal government, think for yourselves. You know that this alien landing is wrong, and that we’ve been sold out. Stand up and be counted. May God help us all.’
In the morning, Hal and Hacker were still holed-up in a hotel, but now surrounded by a rag-bag militia, a mix of party workers, single mums and gun nuts. Several National Guard units then turned up, asking to speak with Hal. Hal let the Guard Major in, the man offering his services. Well, he did work for one of Hal’s companies during the week. A cordon of National Guard men surrounded the hotel, and the word spread. Police officers joined in, food and supplies brought to the hotel, a chain of command created.
Phones were still working, and the party faithful were calling nearby towns and states, encouraging people to oppose the alien landings. And in that Hal was being clever, because he was not so much asking anyone to oppose Clayton or the federal government directly - he was asking them to oppose the aliens, something that few had an issue with.
Across America, the FBI, ATF, FEMA and other agencies had tried to establish some semblance of order. One of the first tasks of the FBI had been to try and enforce the media ban, the second to round up potential gun nuts and militias. Over a two day period the FBI lost three hundred agents across the country, and withdrew from active operations to consider its options, certain that nothing short of large-scale armed assaults would work against the militias. Soldiers would be needed to back-up the FBI staff.
The next day a local army unit arrived in central Tuscon, orders to arrest Hal and Hacker for sedition. The militia stood firm, the National Guard held the line, and the army did not fire on its own citizens. They withdrew. That led to the officers in that unit being suspended by phone pending a full court-martial. So those particular officers, now out of a job and pissed off, simply drove back to Hal’s hotel and joined up, many enlisted men tagging along.
