Alien in the House

Chapter 36



LET THAT STATEMENT sit on the air for a few moments. “Um, what did James and Paul say?”

“That my answer had better be ‘yes.’”

“Oh. Serene?”

“Said that she’d been shoved into a high-level role with less preparation and I could man up and suck it up.”

“Oh. Did you ask your parents?”

“Yes, in desperation. They’re thrilled. I think my mother’s already called the entire population to tell them about it. My father’s proud, I can tell.”

“Oh. What about our politically inclined guests?”

“Senators Armstrong and McMillan and Representative Brewer all agreed this was the right thing to do. Lydia even pulled herself together long enough to say she agreed as well. Your mother and father both are behind this idea a hundred percent, too.”

“Oh.” Contemplated all the things I wanted to say. None of them seemed helpful.

“Yeah.”

We stood there in silence for a little bit. “Wait. How can you take this position when, like an hour ago, I essentially declared us in a state of war against the U.S.? I mean, I didn’t do that on purpose, but it was noted and reacted to like it was very real.”

“I asked that same question, baby. Andrei mentioned an obscure clause in the original A-C agreement with Earth, that states if one of our ‘leaders’ consents to take a ‘political position of reasonable power’ within the U.S. Government, then American Centaurion will shift to become ‘closer to their new country of choice.’”

“Does that mean we become the fifty-first state or something?”

“No, but it alters our situation with the U.S. so that we can get mad, but we have to work it out in the same way Arizona has to work out arguments with New Mexico.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. I have no idea how Andrei found that clause.”

“Oh, I do. Olga. She’s probably had that clause handy since we moved in. Maybe longer.”

“Yeah. Good point. So, my taking the position means we just solved any war issues with the U.S., potentially forever. Andrei did say that we have escape clauses in case the government turns on us.”

“Well, that’s good. I guess.”

“Yeah.”

Stood there with a little more silence going. “You haven’t even been the head ambassador for a full year.”

“Co-head ambassador. Yeah, baby, I don’t know what to do. Becoming a full-fledged politician is about the last thing on Earth I want.”

“The President and the governor asked you to do this personally?”

“Yes, we were on the phone. The governor said he’d come out here, tonight, if he has to, in order to convince me.”

“Let’s avoid that.”

“So you want me to say yes?”

Contemplated all our options. They seemed amazingly limited. “Well, it’s just for now, right? Until they have time to do another election?”

We looked at each other. “Supposedly,” Jeff said finally.

Contemplated some more. There was no way Jeff wasn’t going to do an excellent job doing whatever it was representatives did. Civics and Social Studies had been a long time ago so I wasn’t going to be a lot of assistance. However, we had a wealth of people who could teach him.

The light dawned. “That’s why the Cabal of Evil is hanging around, isn’t it? They want first dibs at influencing you.”

“Yeah, I think so. Your mother called the President right after Eugene was arrested, after we took the dog downstairs. I think they knew about this plan before I did.”

“Senator McMillan said to do it?”

“He said, and I’m quoting, that it was my civic duty to help guide and govern my country, protect all the citizens entrusted to my care, and answer when the call came.”

“Yeah, he’s a war hero all right. What did Armstrong say?”

“He’s really happy about this. I’d be willing to describe him as giddy.”

“Wow. Well, he’s one of the few politicians we’re legitimately close to. It has to be some sort of political coup to be able to say a presidential appointee is your dinner buddy.”

“I suppose. I wouldn’t call him my buddy.”

“Five bucks says he does.”

“I don’t take sucker bets, baby.” Jeff heaved a sigh. “I have to do this, don’t I?”

I hugged him, tightly. He hugged me back even tighter. “It’s not fair. It’s never been fair for you, Jeff. But that’s the problem when you learn how to be a good leader so young—you’re stuck leading for the rest of your life.”

“There’s leading and then there’s . . . this.”

“Santiago would be proud to have you follow him.”

Jeff was quiet for a few moments. “I suppose. We’ll never know.”

“He wanted you to run for office.” I nuzzled against him. Who knew when I’d get to nuzzle again tonight? “So, who’s going to be the Chief of Mission then?”

Jeff stopped hugging me and moved me away from him a little. “What do you mean?”

“You’re taking a new job. I know for a fact there’s no way you can be the Chief of Mission here and also be a congressman. Even if we wanted to go for it, it’s against governmental law, rules, and regulations. So, who are we moving into the position?”

Jeff cleared his throat. “You, ah, don’t know?”

“No. Do you want me to guess? We’re in the middle of a huge lot of something going on that I think we’ll need to get back to shortly. Besides, Vance is going to come to find me at any given moment. Do me a big favor and just spell it out for me as if I were Jamie. Or younger.”

Jeff shook his head. “I’m just surprised you’re even asking me, baby. It seems pretty obvious to me, and to everyone else, too.”

“Does it? It’s not seeming obvious to me, but I’ll admit that I’ve been missing some obvious things tonight. So, again, throw a girl a bone and just tell me who’s going to be our new Chief of Mission?”

“The same person who’s Chief right now, baby. You.”