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  When Zach finally burst into the office, he was carrying a cup of coffee in one hand, and a stack of papers in the other. "Sorry that took so long, Mr President."

  "That is quite all right. Have a seat." He gestured to the couches near the fireplace, and got up from behind the Resolute desk, and made his way with his notebook to join his colleague. "What news from New York?"

  Zach lowered himself into the couch and took another sip from his coffee mug. "Well, after that stunt on Monday, the consensus is to give Ranix an opportunity to speak to the world. Considering that he has never been interviewed, and has never directly talked to the film crews, the footage from the trip he took to Mariscal Estigarribia with Major Hunt gave the world a more, human, shall we say, look at him. If anything, Major Hunt should be given a pat on the back, because taking Ranix away from the ship, and making him appear less threatening, is just what people needed."

  "You do have a point. I trust you didn't read the full report of what happened Monday after they departed the airport." The President said with a smile on his face.

  "No, I haven't seen any other reports about Monday." Zach leant forward and took another sip from his coffee cup.

  "It seems that Major Hunt, who is supposed to be getting a promotion sometime soon, thought that it would be a good idea if he let Ranix drive his car."

  "And?"

  "And they were both nearly killed when Ranix drove it into a tree at 40 miles an hour."

  "You've got to be kidding me!" Zach roared and slapped his thigh. "That's great."

  "Am I missing the positives here?" The President asked.

  "Mr President, people on this planet are looking for ways to distance themselves from the visitors, and in some cases, find the means to make the aliens appear more human. Ranix wrecking Major Hunt's car does a pretty good job of bringing him down to Earth. He's fallible, flawed. People don't want to be made to feel on a daily basis that the master race has shown up to enslave us, and situations like this will help fight that fear."

  The President sat back into the couch and looked across the small coffee table at his long-time advisor, and gave what he had just heard serious thought. On many levels, Zach might have had a point, and at the same time, if either Major Hunt or Ranix had been killed, it could have set back relations with the visitors to an irreparable position. The President was wise enough to know that Major Hunt was still the only human that the aliens trusted completely.

  "Fair enough. What is the proposal for the United Nations address?"

  "It's pretty straightforward. We need to approach Ranix and check that he is comfortable with the idea, and then fix a date."

  "Have you thought about transport and logistics?" The President asked.

  "Not the details, but in the broad strokes, we'd be looking at flying him directly on an Air Force jet to New York, transporting him to the UN building, and then flying him back. We'd try to minimise the time he's away from his ship."

  "If he agrees, what is the press release going to be?"

  "The United Nations and we will go with a full court press on all media outlets, ensuring that word spreads as far and wide as possible. This will be a historic moment, and the UN is hoping to get the largest possible audience it can."

  "And you're not worried about security?" The President asked. "I can guarantee you that the Sentinel Commander is going to want to hear your safety plan."

  "We'll have a team of Secret Service assigned to him, and NYPD, and FBI support."

  The President nodded. "And who is going to bring this proposition to him?"

  "I think that Major Hunt is probably the only real candidate we can turn to."

  32

  Joe wasn't surprised to get a phone call from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs after his accident with Ranix. General Anderson had given him an old-school dressing down, the kind of verbal abuse that Joe hadn't heard in several years. He couldn't blame the general. He and the acting captain of the alien spacecraft had almost been killed four days earlier, but the telephone call he received from the President caught him a little off-guard.

  "Good morning Mr President." Joe was standing outside next to his battered Corvette, waiting for a truck that was going to tow it to the airport, where a United Parcel Service 747 that was making a delivery of supplies to Tohil would pick up the car and fly it back to the US, where hopefully a Sting Ray specialist could repair the damage.

  "Joe, how's the car?" The President asked

  Joe looked at the red sports car, whose entire front end was heavily damaged, along with extensive damage to the passenger compartment, shattered windscreen, front axle damage. The list went on. "Well, Sir, it's a little banged up."

  "And you're feeling fit for duty?"

  "Very much so, Sir."

  "Excellent. I would like for you to extend an invitation to Ranix to appear at the United Nations, where we are hoping he will make a live address to the world."

  "I see. So this is basically an open opportunity for him to say whatever he wants to a global audience, I take it."

  "That's right, Joe" The President paused for a few moments. "What do you think he'll say?"

  "To the invitation or for his speech, Sir?"

  "Both."

  "I suspect that any concern raised would be that over security, and that would come from the Sentinel Commander, but other than that, I think that he'll accept the invitation. As to what he'll say, that's anyone's guess, but I'd venture to say what he's been saying to us the whole time, he wants peaceful relations with us."

  "Excellent. Make sure he accepts."

  "Yes, Mr President."

  Joe turned the satellite phone off and shoved in back into his trouser pocket. The President's request wasn't that big of a surprise when he gave it a moment's thought. He knew that there had always been interest in providing Ranix with a platform from which he could address the world, and the UN was the perfect place to do that. There had been plenty of footage of Ranix at the crash site, and most recently at the airport which had helped with the perception that he was not a threat, it was now just a question of letting him have the chance to say that in words.

  Giving his car one last stroke, Joe started walking towards the ship, which was being worked on hurriedly by a team of Tohil engineers under the supervision of Sulvan and two of the Sentinels, who were acting as chaperones and guards at the same time, making sure that no tampering or removal of sensitive items was happening.

  That was one of the things that impressed Joe about the chief engineer, he was very protective of his ship, and its components. Every piece of scrap that had fallen off the ship had been collected and stored in the hanger bay. Sulvan didn't want a single ounce of the ship to fall into human hands without knowing about it, and to date, the SETI team, along with the President, were the only people to have received a tour of the interior of the ship, something the John Robert from Tohil was still unhappy about.

  As Joe got closer to the ship, he noticed that Doctor Beck was approaching from the ship with a big grin on his face.

  "Morning Major."

  "Morning Keegan, why are you in such a good mood?"

  "I spent the night on the ship." He replied. Joe did notice that the Doctor's usually perfect hair did look a little ruffled.

  "And?"

  "Fascinating experience. Did you know that for the last month or so, the crew has been on a sleep cycle similar to ours?" The doctor set some papers down on the ground and started gesturing with his hands in a very excited manner. "Well, at night, the interior lights are shut down except tiny strip lighting along the floor, anyway, if you leave your cabin and walk down a corridor, the ship's lighting will automatically light up in the direction you are travelling, much like a flashlight."

  Joe smiled. "That is pretty neat."

  "I know. That ship is filled with technology that is just amazing. Anyway, I'm going to send a report back to Berkley." Beck turned around and looked at the ship. "It sounds like they're coming along quickl
y with the repairs. Master Engineer Sulvan said that they should be able to lower the landing gear sometime next week."

  "What'll happen to the supports if the landing gear is operational?"

  "I think that the plan is to fill in the crater, and then extend the landing gear, and remove the supports. That will also allow the cranes to be disassembled and be removed."

  Joe gave the pair of giant red cranes a quick glance. "It'll be good to see the end of those horrible things."

  "True." Keegan picked up his papers. "Off to file my report."

  With the Canadian walking off, Joe continued on his way to the ship, which had the usual buzz of activity around it. Every day at first light, a large number of Tohil workers and engineers would make their way to the ship and begin the day's tasks. The first task that was performed was the removal of all the damaged panelling on the bottom of the ship. This process, under the watchful eye of Sulvan and his two assists and had taken five days to accomplish.

  Luckily, other than the jump coil, which had been destroyed upon landing, the only other sensitive components on the underside of the ship were the three large landing gear units, which were mostly intact. While Sulvan went to work repairing the landing gear with the assistance of specialist engineers from Airbus, who had been flown in from France, the rest of the Tohil engineers went about covering the underside of the hull in thousands of LI-2200 silica tiles, the same tiles used on the space shuttle's hull.

  When Joe reached the ship, he could feel the buzz of activity flow over him. There was a very positive energy coming from the work crews that had been brought in to help repair the ship, and even though they were only permitted to work on the exterior of the ship, they knew that their participation was monumental. The cooperation between human and alien was truly unique, and every once in a while, Valerex, the assistant engineer, would emerge from the ship accompanied by Venko, and confer with various Tohil representatives, always with the assistance of hovering translation devices.

  As Joe watched the hustle and bustle of the several dozen workers, he failed to notice the Sentinel Commander jump off the top of the ship on a high arched trajectory, sending him almost thirty feet into the air, allowing him to land just two metres behind Joe with the grace of a ballet dancer, and almost silently.

  It was the gust of wind that the giant robot produced as it landed that gave away his position to Joe, who quickly spun around, drawing an imaginary pistol from a thigh holster, bringing it to bear on the Sentinel, just before the large machine was able to complete his turn, mimicking the same gesture.

  "Gotcha!" Joe yelled, with a broad smile on his face.

  The Sentinel Commander immediately clutched his hard alloy chest and stumbled back a few paces. "You got me."

  Joe gave a single fist pump, before walking over to the robot. "Nice try." He turned and looked back at the ship. "Nice jump. I assume you could have taken a shot from the top of the ship, or anytime during your descent."

  The robot righted itself and walked towards the human. "You are correct. I thought this method would be more entertaining."

  Joe nodded in agreement. "Much more." He walked over to the Sentinel Commander, and placed his hand on the chest of the giant machine and checked the heat levels. "I also suspect that had you been in Combat Mode, I wouldn't have been able to turn around in time to beat you."

  "You are also correct on that point." The robot looked down at Joe with its piercing blue eyes. "I wanted to give you a sporting chance."

  Joe smiled. "You're getting more human by the day, my friend."

  "Sulvan unlocked several restricted programs in my neural-net that allow me to develop the ability to have empathy, or at least to understand the concept of empathy." The Sentinel Commander looked up at the ship, almost in a moment of reflection. "Most in the Alliance believe that it is unwise to allow machines to have emotions. I am here to perform a mission, not to experience feelings." He looked down at Joe and changed the subject quickly. "Now, what brings you to the ship this morning?"

  "I need to speak with Ranix if he is available." Joe replied as the pair started to walk towards the stairway that located at the ship's hangar bay.

  "Just a moment." The Sentinel Commander opened up a secure communications channel to the bridge, where he found the acting Ship Master and discovered that he was indeed available. "Ranix is on the bridge, and is available to see you."

  "Thank you." Joe and the machine continued to walk towards the hanger bay doors in silence while continuing to look on as the underside of the ship was being worked on.

  When they reached the hangar bay, Joe and the Sentinel Commander entered the ship. "I'm going back to the top of the ship." The robot said.

  "I didn't know there was an internal access hatch for the Sentinels to the top of the hull."

  "There is one access point just to the rear of where the Sentinels are stored."

  Joe nodded, and the pair parted ways. With the crew prepping for a possible launch there was a much more lively atmosphere inside the ship, almost matching the sense of purpose and energy that was going on outside the hull.

  When Joe reached the bridge, he found Ranix sitting in the command chair, and Rais and Yuli at their positions, running what looked like simulated flight operations. Joe stood silently behind Ranix as he issued orders in Universal to his two crew members who carried out his orders with little or no verbal response.

  With all eyes directed towards the bridges main display screen, Joe was able to take a seat at one of the stations behind the command chair and watch the simulation unfold. Unfortunately, Joe was unable to decipher the images that were being displayed, except what looked like a map of South America.

  When the simulation ended, Rais and Yuli faced Ranix and noticed Joe sitting behind their acting Ship Master and made his presence known. Standing up, Ranix approached Joe. "Good morning, Major." In the absence of a translation device, the ship's computer performed the conversion at a much slower pace than the specially designed devices, and with a much more mechanical sound.

  "Good morning," Joe replied and waited the few seconds for the translation before continuing. "Is there somewhere we can talk?" He asked.

  "Please." Ranix replied, before saying something to Rais and Yuli, and then heading off the bridge towards the centre of the ship. They reached the furthest forward stairwell and went up one deck, and then continued their way to the middle of the ship.

  Reaching a closed doorway, Ranix entered an access code on a small keypad next to the hatch, and the door opened with a sharp hiss. Entering the room, Joe noted that it had a significant number of monitors and computer equipment along the sides of the chamber, which couldn't have been more than ten feet wide, and ten feet deep. There were two comfortable looking chairs on what looked like sliding rails in the centre of the room. Once Ranix entered the room, the doors closed behind him, and the room's lights automatically became activated.

  Joe had realised right away that he had never been in the room before and noted that the green lighting was unique to this chamber on the ship. Standing in silence, he watched as Ranix entered a code into a keypad that was on the interior of the room, bringing the room's monitors, and the artificial intelligence to life.

  "So, Major, what can I do for you?" he asked, gesturing for Joe to take one of the room's chairs. The rooms translation system was more advanced than the one on the bridge, and while the monitors around the room were all blank, Joe could tell they were alive by the slight hum that emanated from them.

  "Just curious, what is the function of this room?" Joe asked, giving the space another glance.

  "This is the ship's intelligence centre. As you know, this ship was designed for reconnaissance. This is where the intelligence officer would receive and send all classified materials, as well as conduct any analysis while on missions." Ranix also looked around the room, with a look on his face that gave Joe the impression that he hadn't spent much time in it before. "The first time I came in here w
as with Sulvan once I assumed command of the ship."

  "I got that impression," Joe said. After a moment, the pair finally locked eyes. "I have been asked by my President to invite you to make an address at the United Nations." The translation happened quickly, and in what sounded to Joe like a clear format.

  "To whom would the address be made?" Ranix asked

  "To the General Assembly, but it would be broadcast live to the entire world."

  "And the purpose of this address?"

  "It would give you an opportunity to say to the world what you've been saying to my team and me since we first met: that you want peaceful and friendly relations between the Alliance and this planet."

  "You do understand that it is not in my powers to start official relations."

  "I do. I read something about it in the Alliance Diplomacy section of one of the datapads we were given, but that little detail doesn't matter. What does matter is that you are able to reassure people that we are friends, and you will do everything in your power to ensure that that trend continues." Joe leant forward, "There are some nervous people on this planet about the possible direction of things to come, and now that your ship is getting closer to being repaired, those people are getting more nervous." Joe sat back into the chair and slumped back a little bit. "The exposure you got when you went to the airport with me has given the pro-alien groups around the planet a lot of positive footage, and now is the time to capitalise on that goodwill."

  It took the computer a little while to digest the lengthy statement that Joe had made, and it had to make sure that its translation was accurate before giving Ranix the translation. The alien listed in silence without making any facial expressions, giving Joe the impression that he was in deep thought.