2. Coffee Interruptus-2
612 Words
Over the ocean, a similar scene was being played out, but in a larger, flashier conference room in Number 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC – also known as the White House. Arrayed before the President were the top brass of all military divisions, the Pentagon, and NASA staff, plus cabinet members.
He had just dropped the ‘A bomb’.
The reactions had been varied, but now he, too, was waiting for an answer.
The top representative of the NASA team cleared his throat and said, ‘I’m afraid, Mr President, that we were never charged with that task.’
The President’s eyes widened, ‘But you’re the guys getting within handshaking distance of the little green guys!’
The man from NASA winced almost imperceptibly, but said firmly, ‘That is a matter of National Security. We take our lead from the Department of Defense.’
The President looked expectantly to the Secretary of Defense, who squirmed in his chair, ‘Well, Mr President, er, there is no plan.’
The president threw his hands up in the air and swore richly. Patting his unmoved bird’s nest hair carefully he muttered, ‘Unbelievable! ET, Alien, and a billion others, and we aren’t more prepared than a crappy UFO B-movie! Dang, I wish I could Tweet this.’
He looked up to his congregation.
‘What about Area 51? What about those files someone was supposed to come and brief me on? What about all the unexplained air-encounters?’
He looked around at awkward and reluctant faces, waving his hands in the air once more, ‘Well?!’
One of the lesser mortals standing at the back of the room had edged herself forward towards the NASA representative, handed him a dossier and whispered into his ear, then retreated into the fringe of people.
‘Um,’ announced the NASA man, ‘we do have this, Mr President.’ So saying, he put the dossier onto the highly polished wood, pushed it like a wild west bar tender, and it skidded to a halt before the President at the head of the table, who picked it up and looked at it as if it was required reading in a high school class.
‘“Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis”,’ he read aloud.
‘Oh, yeah, I’ve read that,’ commented the Vice President happily at his elbow, his long-jawed face crinkling with a smile of recognition while doodling on his notepad.
The NASA rep puffed up a little, ‘Yes, our Planetary Science Division researched and listed realistic scenarios should we experience a close encounter with ETIs – that is: Extraterrestrial intelligence. The aim was to inform policy to prepare humanity for actual contact.’
The President ignored this and looked to his Vice, waving the report at him, ‘So Emmet, what’s the skinny on this thing?’
The Vice President looked at the NASA chief, ‘Whaddya say, Chuck? I thought it came down to: a) they help us, b) they make no difference, or c) they kill us.’
The President threw the report down, ‘Kill us?’ he queried.
‘Yup, directly or indirectly.’
‘Indirectly? How in heck can they do that?’
‘Well, Bob, let’s see,’ continued the Vice President warming to his theme and counting off options on his long skinny fingers, ‘new infections we have no resistance to, new parasites, robbing essential elements from the environment, imprisoning us, paralysing us unintentionally, affecting our brain waves until we’re zombies...’
The Vice President took a breath to continue but the President held up his hand, ‘Zombies?... Paralysing? What— What the heck is going to happen?!’
‘Nothing as yet, Mr President,’ interposed the Chief of the Air Force, reassuringly.
‘Jeez!’ shouted the President in amazed frustration and fear. ‘Don’t you think you’d better come up with a plan before something does?!’
There was a rustle through the room.
‘Dismissed!’ cried the President and waved a derogatory hand at the crowd of faces. Then he twisted around to his personal assistant standing just behind him and asked, in agonised tones, ‘Are you sure I can’t tweet this? It’s gold, pure gold, and we’re just flushing it down the pan here, guys...’
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- Writer
