Monday, July 16th
White House, Washington D.C.
President Bennett entered the Oval Office followed by her national security advisor, General Losmeyer. He closed the door while President Bennett studied a painting on the wall in an effort to clear her mind.
“So, what’s your decision, Madame President?” asked the general watching her. “What do you want to do?”
“General, I need a few minutes to think,” replied the president. “Come back in half an hour and I’ll give you my decision.”
“But…”
She turned towards the general. “Your team has done an excellent job of outlining my options,” she assured him. “Come back in half an hour and I’ll give you my decision then.”
“Yes, ma’am,” responded the general, “half an hour.”
President Bennett turned towards the painting again. She heard the door close as the General left.
“Now,” she asked herself, “what to do about those pesky Russians?”
>Blue Light<
“It’s never easy being in charge? Is it?” said a voice behind her.
President Bennett started to turn around…
“General, I thought I said…”
…she stopped suddenly when she realized that a tall blonde man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a less-tall Japanese-American lady with colorful hair stood by the door.
Quickly reaching for the panic button on the back of her desk, President Bennett pushed and pushed as the pair watched her.
“Madame President,” said Wyatt trying to calm her, “no one’s coming. The security alarms have been disabled, and all the visual surveillance of this room shows is that you’re by yourself. The door also has an energy lock on it so that we can be alone.”
Wyatt smiled. “So please, Madame President, relax. We just want to talk with you for a few minutes, and afterwards, I promise you, we’ll leave.”
President Bennett pushed the button several more times while Wyatt and Keiko patiently waited until, finally realizing no one was coming, she gave up and faced Wyatt and Keiko across the room.
“Ok. Who are you?” relented President Bennett. “What do you want?”
“I am Ambassador Ian Morgen, and this is my assistant, Keiko Elizabeth Yomura. We represent potential friends,” said Wyatt as he walked to President Bennett’s desk carrying a book.
Wyatt laid his book, Gopher Point, in front of her.
“I’m here to invite you to dinner at our place in order to introduce you to my family before we begin negotiations on protocols for formal introductions.”
“Who do you represent?” asked President Bennett.
“If you read the book, it will become obvious who I represent,” said Wyatt. “There’s a phone number on the inside cover. If you check with the phone company, they will say it doesn’t exist.”
Wyatt motioned towards Keiko. “But when you, and only you, personally use it, it will connect you with Keiko.”
Keiko, still standing across the room, waved.
President Bennett peered at Keiko waving at her and debated in her mind whether to wave back. She compromised and hesitantly smiled.
“And if you accept our invitation.” said Wyatt, “I will personally sign the book for you when you arrive at our home.”
President Bennett eyed Wyatt suspiciously. “Who can I bring, and how will we get there?”
“How you will get there will be apparent when Keiko and I leave,” Wyatt said as he smiled. “You can bring whoever you want, but we would prefer a small party for our first meeting. Perhaps initially just you and your daughter. You can bring your husband eventually, but the first time we would prefer you didn’t. He’s not popular with the females in the family.”
President Bennett smiled at the last remark. “Can I bring security?”
“Yes, you may,” said Wyatt. “But either you disarm them beforehand or we do it in the transfer. There will be children, pregnant woman, and other situations that at first glance might initially startle you. We respect your need to bring a security detail but we don’t want them accidently shooting someone or something friendly in our home.”
Wyatt walked back to Keiko and stood beside her. “I will personally guarantee the safety of you and your family,” assured Wyatt. “We just want to have dinner with you and establish some trust before diplomatic formalities begin. I think that after you meet us, you will appreciate our family, and hopefully we can build a relationship between us.”
“Anything else?” asked President Bennett, carefully scrutinizing Wyatt and Keiko.
“Yes, there is,” said Wyatt. “Go with option three. We have inside information that if you do, the two Russian brigades have orders to stand down and rotate 100K away from the border. They are testing you. Test them back. You’ll win and look strong to everyone in the process.”
Keiko raised two thumbs and grinned. “We’re all big fans, Madame President!”
>Blue Light<
“Do you think she’ll call?” asked Keiko as she looked around the living room at La Belle Aurore.
“She’ll call,” assured Wyatt. “We humans are a curious lot. So, stand by your phone and be ready to tell Dieter how many to expect for dinner.”
“What are you going to do for the rest of the day?” asked Keiko.
“I’m going surfing,” replied Wyatt, “but before I do, I’m heading to the nursery to play with my kids and change a few diapers.”
“When you go surfing, can Juliet and I go to the beach with you too?” asked Romeo, smiling upward.
Wyatt scratched the two on top of their appreciative heads. “Can’t go without my security detail buddies. I just wouldn’t feel safe.”
President Mallory Bennett leafed through the book in front of her. She read the inner flap and scrutinized Ian’s picture on the back cover. Five minutes later, she pressed the inter-office intercom to her secretary.
“Amy,” she said, “please tell my National Security Advisor that I’m ready to see him now. Then clear off my schedule for the afternoon and call my daughter Leslie and tell her to drop whatever she’s doing and get herself over here now.”
She paused before adding, “And oh, send someone out immediately to Barnes and Noble to discretely buy twenty copies of Gopher Point by Ian Morgen. Leslie and my National Security Council are going to do a little reading together.”
Otter Rock, Oregon in the Early Afternoon
The two reporters strolled along the bluff overlooking Otter Rock Beach while they watched Wyatt surfing on the incoming waves. Romeo and Juliet sat on the shoreline, observing in all directions.
“Does he do this often?” asked Terry.
“Every chance he can,” replied Eddie. “He says it relaxes him, clears his mind.”
Down below, two sets of ears alerted and Romeo and Juliet looked up at the reporters on the bluff. Picking up a stinky crab husk with his teeth Romeo threw it high into the air. Immediately, Juliet went on the alert and followed the object as it flew. A green beam streaked from Juliet’s collar and the carcass exploded in midair. Eddie watched in amusement, while Terry dived for the bushes and Romeo and Juliet resumed guard duty.
“Did you see that?” shouted a horrified Terry. “Get down here before they do something to you.”
“That was meant as a warning to you, not me,” said Eddie as he waved. Juliet nodded back at him.
Terry peaked his head hesitantly above the ridgeline. “Those two dogs look like they’re laughing,” said a humiliated Terry.
“They probably are,” commented Eddie. “They’re quite a pair.”
Terry pulled his camera from his pocket and lifted it above the bush. “I’ve got to get some pictures.”
“You can try,” said Eddie. He took a deep breath of ocean air as he gazed at the deep blue Pacific. “But there’s some sort geo-magnetic anomaly here that affects digital cameras. It might even harm your camera, so unless you want to junk it, if I were you, I wouldn’t do it.”
“How come you can take pictures of them in this area?” asked Terry curiously.
“Professional secret.” Eddie grinned. “Believe me, I’ve paid the price of admission.”
Terry frowned and took a few pictures, anyway.
Later that Afternoon
His cell phone buzzed, and Terry answered.
“Hey Terry, this is Bob at News World Online. We looked at the images you emailed us. They are great pictures but I’m sorry but we aren’t going to be able to use any of them.”
“How come?” responded a disappointed Terry. “They even posed for me.”
“Terry,” replied the editor, “they are the cutest pictures of dogs playing poker I have ever seen but they just aren’t newsworthy.”
Meanwhile, 3000 Miles Away
In the Oval Office President Bennett, her daughter Leslie and a few key members of the National Security Council were reading Gopher Point while they listened to a briefing by the head of her security detail, a tall, muscular, bald, African-American man named John Thumper.
“Madame President, according to our men on duty at the time, while the intruders were in your office the monitors showed you were completely alone. But when we later viewed the recording, the entire meeting appeared. I believe they wanted to have a moment alone with you Madame President but left the playback afterwards so nobody thought you were imagining it. Now that they have established your credibility, I have an uneasy feeling the recording will soon disappear from our digital files.”
“What about the phone number listed in the book?” asked President Bennett as she leaned back in her chair.
“According to the NSA,1 the number doesn’t exist, Madame President,” reported Agent Thumper. “I tried dialing it but only got a busy signal.”
General Losmeyer interrupted. “Madame President, our satellite feed is coming online. Any second now we should have images of their house at Otter Rock, Oregon.”
Everyone gathered around the sixty-inch screen at the side of the room. The screen initially dark…then the usual fuzzy satellite signal interference…and finally...
“Quick, Boo-Boo, while I distract Ranger Smith you graaaab the pic-a-nic basket…”
“What the hell is this?” shouted General Losmeyer, throwing his hands in the air.
“This is the episode where Yogi steals Ranger Smith’s jeep!” Leslie laughed. “They are sending us a message.”
President Bennett looked at her daughter. “And that is…”
“And that is, Madame President,” said Leslie, “that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want to. But they aren’t going to. They’re probably watching and listening to us right now.”
“You got that right,” growled Commander Pinky as she watched the 3-D holographic image displayed in the middle of the room.
Leslie smiled at her mother. “Whoever they are, they are very powerful, and totally unafraid of us. They are offering us their friendship. You have a chance to make history, Mom. I recommend you make the call.”
President Bennett turned to her National Security Advisor. “What are the Russians doing?”
Several minutes later General Losmeyer hung up the phone. “Ma’am, as soon as the carrier task force changed course, the Russian brigades headed east.”
President Bennett walked to the window and looked outside. She had campaigned for this job because she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. “It was time,” she whispered to herself, “to do just that.”
“The course of the world has just changed,” announced President Bennett. “And my administration is going to be a part of it. I’m going to make the call.”
General Losmeyer protested, “Madame President, I strenuously object. We still don’t know much about them.”
President Bennett held up Ian’s book. “General,” she said forcefully, “we know enough to know they could kidnap me anytime they want, but they haven’t. I think it’s obvious from their actions that they want to make friendly contact.”
President Bennett stared at the telephone on her desk for a few moments and picked it up.
Keiko’s cell phone rang—she answered and then appeared on the TV screen in the Oval Office.
“Hello, Madame President. This is Keiko. It’s so good to hear from you. Friday night would be fine. How about we pick you up at around seven p.m. your time? There’s a three-hour time difference, you know. Good. How many will be in your party? Ok, yourself, your daughter Leslie, and the head of your security, John Thumper. Ok. Is there anything anyone in your party can’t eat? Good, good. Dress is dinner party casual. I’m going to say goodbye now Madame President, but Ian would like to say hello.”
Keiko ended the connection.
The TV screen at the edge of the room went blank and the satellite feed came online, zoomed and focused. Wyatt appeared on the screen. He stood on the beach, his wetsuit unzipped and pulled down to his waist, exposing his bare wet chest while he carried his surfboard underneath his arm. Romeo and Juliet flanked his sides.
“Sorry about Yogi, Madame President, but we do value our privacy. I also apologize for the informality,” said Wyatt. “I wasn’t expecting to talk to you again so soon.”
Noticing Ian’s damp, dirty blond hair pushed behind his ears, Leslie unconsciously brushed her own hair while she sighed.
“Everyone at La Belle Aurore is looking forward to meeting you,” said Wyatt as he smiled. “By the way, please remember to remind John to leave his weapons behind, and explain to General Losmeyer standing in front of your desk that there is nothing to worry about. Anytime you request, we will immediately return you and your guests to the White House.”
Wyatt waved. “See you on Friday, Madame President.”
The screen went black.
General Losmeyer looked around the room at the other wondering faces. “Did those two dogs with him just smile and wave at us?”
Leslie turned to her mom and whispered excitedly. “He’s hot!”
President Bennett sighed. “Russians and space aliens are easy,” she muttered beneath her breath, shaking her head. “But kids are hard—even in their mid-twenties!”
President Bennett stood and addressed the room. “This whole subject is now considered absolutely classified. Ok, everyone, you have three days to get me briefed and ready for the most important dinner of my presidency! And nobody, and I repeat nobody is to tell the first husband anything about this. Is that completely understood?”
The room nodded in agreement while Leslie giddily contemplated what she wanted to wear.