CHAPTER 18
A QUICK DC BUS TOUR
The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
- Oscar Wilde
In the White House Oval Office President Wright was just finishing a long, essentially useless day. Christmas was a week from today. Less than a week remained for humanity, a fact that made all other issues seem trivial indeed. She quite naturally found herself deferring everything until 'after the holidays', with every expectation that there would be no 'after the holidays'. The impotence of her office and herself in the face of the impending Dannos disaster was nearly impossible to endure.
Suddenly there was urgent knocking at her door and her excited Chief of Staff John Ryan came rushing in, showing surprising speed for a man in his seventies. "Madam President! Urgent news! Scan this incredible message, but quickly!” He handed her a sheet of paper.
She skimmed through the message. It was from a Dr. Bates, Head of the DOD. He was claiming presidential powers; he blamed the asteroid business on space aliens, and identified the fugitive Melberg and two others as space aliens called Ra!
"But this is fantastic...” began Wright, only to be interrupted by Ryan.
"Excuse me Madam President! Fantastic yes, but there is a very urgent related matter! Less than two minutes ago, the National Police reported an aircraft of strange design taking off from the DOD Base just north of here. White House Security has it sighted visually and on radar now, and it's headed this way! It should be here in about two minutes! Madame President, we aren't totally sure of this fellow's intentions, or if it even is him. This could be an air attack; we must get you to a safer place!” Ryan had already come around to her side of the desk and was pulling her up out of her chair.
"No, John!” She pushed him away. "We have a little time; let's see if we can see them coming.” She went not to a window, but to her huge VISICOM screen. "Patch me in to White House Security for visuals of the aircraft," she ordered. In moments she was looking at the strange airborne object. The object had headlights like a land vehicle, plus red and green lights like an aircraft. A plume of light trailed along underneath it, suggesting some sort of rocket or jet engine propulsion. It was apparently headed straight for the White House.
"Assuming that it’s Bates, what do you think he's up to, John? You talked to the man recently, correct? Is he coming here to move into this office or what? Is he dangerous? “
Ryan thought for a moment. "Harmless is the word I would have used to describe the man, or perhaps useless. He struck me as career desk jockey; not a man of decisiveness or action at all. Perhaps he's just trying to get our attention. Frankly, his massage had been sitting in my 'in' basket since earlier this morning. I saw who it was from and put it off as low priority. I only remembered it when I got the aircraft report from the NP.”
"So then, he did get our attention, didn't he!” observed the President.
Ryan was distracted by a message on his headphones. "It's Security. They want to know if they should shoot down the bus.”
"Bus! It's a bus?" asked Wright, staring at the screen more closely. The body of the vehicle was just barely visible in the fading sunlight.
"That's what it looks like," answered an equally incredulous Ryan. "Security has viewed it from several angles."
"John, is this Bates fellow attacking us in a flying bus? What’s going on?”
The more Ryan considered the proposition that Bates was attacking the White House, the less sense it made. Judging from the message, his intentions were good, even if misguided. On the other hand, he just couldn't be absolutely sure. For all they knew, it could be that traitor Melberg coming to attack them, not Bates. "I don’t know," said Ryan.
Ryan was again interrupted by his earphones. "I have a voice-only call coming through, Madame President. This man claims that he's Bates, and that he's flying in on a bus! I’ll put it on speaker-phone."