The President had returned from the underground facility in Virginia earlier that morning. He’d immediately called a meeting in the President’s Emergency Operations Centre or PEOC, deep underneath the East Wing of the White House.
Fourteen people sat around the large rectangular table in the centre of the room.
‘Are you sure all four of the alien battle cruisers have gone and they aren’t cloaked or something?’ he said.
‘We watched them all move out to a safe jump distance and disappear one at a time,’ said James Dewey.
‘Why did they change their minds? One minute they’re holding the planet to ransom to get their hands on Xavier Lake and the next they’re disappearing off to locations unknown without a word.’
‘We believe they got him,’ said Donna McGuire. ‘We received information from our colleagues in Florida that Lake had been hiding in a holiday lodge he owns near DeLand. Early this morning, he suddenly disappeared from the ranch and, about an hour later, a large hangar at DeLand airport, also owned by Lake, was vaporised. According to eyewitnesses, a bright beam came down from the sky and the hangar, and everything around it, including two police officers and their vehicle, just vanished, leaving a smoking round hole in the ground.’
‘Was Lake in the hangar?’ said the President.
‘According to the police report, the two officers had given chase after they witnessed a truck he had borrowed from the ranch running a red light and pursued them to the hangar,’ said Donna.
‘Them? He wasn’t alone?’
‘No, we believe he was with Floyd Herez, his security chief.’
‘Well, I hope they got both of the little shits,’ he said. ‘How are we doing public-wise?’
The Secretary of State, Peter Matelin, looked down at his notes before speaking.
‘The sunspot activity ruse seems to have avoided any panic and of course, now everything is back to normal, the population has gone back to their daily lives. There are a few amateur astronomers singing away about dark shapes moving around the sky and the Floridians have called the beam weapon attack a severe weather event. They do get a few of those down there so they might just get away with it. Other than that, we’re looking relatively unscathed.’
‘Good,’ said the President. ‘We need to spend some time planning how to announce this huge revelation to the populace without creating mass panic. We also need to talk about what Edward Virr told James, here,’ he said, nodding at Dewey. ‘Is joining the GDA good for this planet? And, if so, who would be a good recommendation for Ambassador? Let’s face it, every major nation on Earth will want it to be one of theirs.’
The door at the far end of the room opened suddenly and the President’s secretary rushed in. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, sorry for the intrusion but I thought you would need to see this immediately.’
He grabbed a controller and flicked on a large viewing screen at the far end of the room. An international news network came on with the headline, “Alien Starships Attack Earth” and a rather nervous news anchor was telling the viewers that, according to Chinese news services, four giant alien ships had surrounded the planet and had fired upon Florida.
‘Well, that’s just fucking dandy,’ said the President, his face like thunder. ‘Bloody idiots.’
Everyone in the room turned to stare at the President. They hadn’t heard him use that word before.
‘Organise me a televised address in two hours and get the fucking Chinese ambassador over here right now.’