Best Intentions

Mark decided that if he held a grudge over this incident, he would never be able to work with the United States government. He would try and put it behind him for the time being. At least the reign of President Stone was over.

“I just hope that whoever is elected president will be somewhat more reasonable,” he thought.

When the presidential election did come along both the Democrats and Republicans contacted Mark for endorsements. He thought back to the simpler days before all this had come to pass. Back then he would have supported any Democratic candidate over a Republican without question. But things had changed. Mark wanted to help the entire world and felt that it wouldn’t be right to support either party, in spite of his experiences with the Republicans.

“Though,” he thought, “if Vice President Foster had decided to run for the office I would have thrown my support to the Democrats in a heartbeat!”

Mark did watch the debates, and wasn’t surprised that many of the questions posed to the leading candidates concerned his actions and what the candidates thought about them. A young African-American Senator had won the democratic primaries. He was very charismatic and managed to gain the support of many younger voters. The campaign would be hard fought against an older Senator, one who Mark had met on his junket to Jupiter. Senator McQuick hadn’t impressed Mark on that trip, and he didn’t think that he would make a great leader. With a sigh, Mark realized that things wouldn’t improve under his leadership. His choice of running mate didn’t impress Mark either.

It did annoy Mark when during the debates; Senator McQuick kept mentioning that he knew Mark personally, and in fact had taken a trip to Jupiter aboard his ship. He kept alluding to support of Mark Richards and believed he would have a much better working relationship with him then would his opponent.

“CJ, please get me John Stevens on the phone,” Mark said sounding more than a little annoyed.

“Affirmative, Mark. Just a moment.”

“Hello,” said the host of The Everyday Show a minute or so later. “Who is this?”

“Hi John, how are you? It’s Mark Richards, do you have a few minutes to discuss something?”

“Mark! Sure, I have time. How are you and what’s on your mind?”

“To be honest I’m annoyed, John,” Mark said being frank with the comedian.

“Not at me, I hope!”

Mark had to laugh at that. “No John, not this time anyway! It’s that old windbag Senator McQuick. He keeps throwing my name around in his campaign like we’re old friends or something. It’s really starting to annoy me.”

“Well, he did go on that trip to Jupiter, so technically he hasn’t lied, has he?”

“So, you’re a lawyer now? Would I be charged if I said that it might have been better to just leave him out there?”

“No, I’ve often thought the same thing of many republicans and they haven’t put me away yet!”

“Well, he keeps implying that I support his candidacy for president and that is simply not true. I’m trying to stay out of politics completely.”

“So would you like me to say something to that effect on my show?”

“You catch on quick, John, as usual! If you can just let people know how I feel in your usual subtle manner that would be great.”

“Not a problem, Mark, not a problem at all,” John replied. “As a matter of fact he is scheduled to appear on the show in a couple of days. I think that would be a perfect time to let him know your feelings!”

“Oh, that should be good. I’ll be sure to catch that episode! Thanks John, I appreciate it.”

“Mark, I can say this with all honesty, it will be my pleasure!”

Mark watched the episode and came close to falling out of his chair when John passed along his message to Senator McQuick. Seeing his pasted on smile falter before he could get control was priceless! References to him and CJ disappeared from the Senator’s speeches and campaign ads with impressive speed.

Mark was pleasantly surprised when the young Democrat became the first African-American President-elect. He made it a point to send a heartfelt message of congratulations.

President-elect Henry Morris was pleased and in return extended a personal invitation for Mark to attend the inauguration ceremony. Mark expressed hope that they would have a good working relationship but declined the invitation.

President-elect Morris promised to do everything he could to make sure they would.

Mark was hopeful. “He may just be someone we will be able to work with, CJ. If he intends to keep half his campaign promises we should be able to get lot done.”

“Affirmative, Mark. It appears like the American people made the proper choice for Office. I am confused by the closeness of the election though; can the people not see that he was a better choice for the job of president than Senator McQuick?”

“Oh CJ, you still have a lot to learn about humans,” Mark said with a laugh. “People are not nearly as logical as you and don’t always vote in an intelligent manner.”

After the inauguration, President Morris wanted to get right to work. The first thing he did was to meet with his chief of staff Ram Manuel. The plan was to get up to speed on any problems left over for him by the previous administration.

“Mr. President, we have two urgent reports from the former president relayed through the Secretary of Defense. The first concerns activity that has been detected on Pallas and the potential threat it poses.”

“Pallas, is that a place, Ram? And what kind of activity are we talking about?”

“Pallas is the third largest body in the asteroid belt, Mr. President. According to the report, some kind of construction project is underway. Analysts believe that the facility is a shipyard for the production of neutron-steel hull material.”

“Why did President Stone consider this to be a threat to Earth? Did they ever even ask Mark Richards about it?”

“No, Mr. President, they did not. I have asked the director of the Kitt Peak Observatory, Dr. Abjit Saha, to look into it. In fact,” he said checking his watch. “I’m expecting a call from him this morning.”

“Good, Ram. I want to hear what he has to say when he contacts you.”

“Yes, Mr. President, that brings us to the second report.” He hesitated before continuing, reluctant to be the bearer of bad news.

“Well, spit it out man, I don’t have all day!”

“Yes sir, I’m sorry. I should have brought this up first. Mr. President, I found this information more than a little disturbing to say the least and I’m sure you will as well.” He paused to take a breath before continuing, “an attempt was made to board the alien ship and capture Mark Richards.”

“What? You have got to be kidding Ram! When did this happen and why wasn’t congress ever made aware of an action like that?”

“It was just a few months before President Stone left office. As to how they kept an operation like this a secret, I have no idea, but I see the hand of the former vice president in this.”

“You’re right Ram, it is his style.” President Morris sat back in his chair. “Ok, let’s have it. What exactly did that pair of fools do?”

By the time the president had heard all the details of the operation, he was impressed by the audacity and skill of the men who had risked their lives. He was equally terrified by the prospect of some awful retribution by a vengeful Mark Richards, and possibly by the computer if they had harmed him.

“Those idiots,” President Morris said, smacking the desk. “What the hell were they thinking?”

“The whole thing doesn’t make much sense, Mr. President. It’s obvious that Mark Richards wasn’t harmed by the attempt, and he did make his displeasure known. From his congratulatory note, it doesn’t seem that any grudge he has with them will be transferred to your administration.”

Just then the phone rang. Ram Manuel picked up the receiver. “Hello?” He said and listened for a few moments. “I’m here with the president right now; let me put you on speaker, Dr. Saha.”

He put the receiver down and pushed the button. “Hello, Dr. Saha, can you hear us?”

“Yes, Mr. Manuel.”

“Do you have any information on the Pallas asteroid for us?” asked President Morris. “Can your telescopes see what is going on up there?”

“Yes and no Mr. President. I have information, but we cannot see what’s happening. You see, it’s gone.”

“What do you mean gone? What’s gone? The asteroid? Is that even possible? Could you have miscalculated the orbit?”

“Mr. President, we’ve known the orbit of Pallas for over one hundred years. It is just not in that orbit anymore, we’ve been checking and rechecking and there has been no error.”

“Do you have any idea what happened to it, Dr.?”

“We have been scanning the general area and have found an object of a similar mass and shape. We do not know for sure that it is the Pallas asteroid, but no known body of that size has been seen in this particular orbit before. However its albedo is far brighter than what we have recorded from Pallas in the past. The orbital speed does not match the seventeen point six kilometers per second measured for Pallas in its normal orbit. In fact, this object only has a velocity of less than ten kilometers per second.”

“So, if the object is Pallas, what does the velocity change mean?”

“We don’t know, Mr. President. It’s spiraling inward, though the course does not follow the laws of orbital mechanics. We should be able to predict the course of an object by its speed and distance, but the calculations don’t work in this case. Frankly, we are baffled. For one thing, the velocity cannot be constant; the current position could not have been achieved at that speed so it must have been slowing down since it moved out of the belt.”

“Let’s say for argument that the object you detected is Pallas and it has somehow been forced out of orbit. Could it pose a threat to Earth?”

“Mr. President, I will have to track its course over the next few weeks, possibly months to get any idea of the trajectory, but anything of that size moving into the inner system would have to be considered a potential threat. May I ask why you believe this object is the Pallas asteroid, Mr. President?”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Saha, but I am not at liberty to discuss that at this time. I do have another question though.”

“Yes Mr. President?”

“Just what kind of force would it take to move something like Pallas out of orbit and reduce the orbital speed?”

“Mr. President, the asteroid called Pallas is more than five hundred and fifty kilometers in diameter. Its mass is something like twenty million billion metric tons. The delta V required to change the course of an object so massive as well as reduce the intrinsic velocity in such a short period of time is astronomical. Only a major collision with another large body could possibly do it.”

“Then you believe that this may have been caused by a natural phenomenon, Dr. Saha?”

“I just don’t know, Mr. President. The energy required should have shattered both objects. Except for the change in albedo, the shape corresponds almost exactly to the telescopic photographs we have on file of Pallas.”

“Thank you for your time, Dr. Saha. Please let us know when you have calculated the asteroid’s new orbit and where it is headed.”

“Certainly, Mr. President. I will keep your office informed of our findings.”

Ram disconnected the phone and turned to the president. “I guess we know why President Stone said we should keep an eye on Pallas now, Mr. President.”

“Yes, Dr. Saha isn’t sure, but I am certain that what he observed is the Pallas asteroid. It’s obvious that the structures that were detected on the asteroid must have been the construction of some sort of gigantic engines designed to move it. We need to find out why he’s moving it and to where.”

“I would suggest that you try to arrange a meeting with Mr. Richards as soon as possible to let him know that you would never condone any action like those of the previous administration. If we can establish a good line of communications he may decide to tell us what he’s doing with that asteroid.”

“That’s a good idea, Ram. Let’s send him a message asking him to visit the White House at his convenience. If he agrees to come here, it will at least show us that he still has some trust. Though I wouldn’t be surprised and couldn’t blame him if he didn’t want to after learning about what President Stone tried.”

“Certainly, Mr. President. I will attempt to get in touch with him and convey your request right away.”

Mark took Ram Manuel’s call. It was something he had been hoping for. Mr. Manuel conveyed the president’s wish for a meeting. Mark, remembering his last visit to the White House three years prior said he would have to get back to them.

“What do you think, CJ, should I put trust in this president? I could ask him to meet with me here instead, but I’d like to start off on the right foot with the new administration.”

“Mark, I believe you should speak with President Morris for yourself before you make a decision. Ask him if he has any knowledge of the attack on you by President Stone. I will monitor the conversation and should be able to judge the truth of his statement by the stress patterns in his voice.”

“You will be able to tell if he’s telling the truth, CJ? That would be helpful to me in making my decision.”

“Affirmative. I believe that I can, Mark.”

Mark had CJ patch into the telephone system and put a call through to the White House; President Morris had left orders that any communications from Mark Richards was to be put through no matter what the president was doing, which impressed Mark.

“Hello Mr. Richards, this is President Morris, I want to thank you for getting back in touch with me.”

“Sure Mr. President, thank you for taking my call. The former president kept me holding more than a few times in our dealings.”

“I know that that isn’t all he’s done, Mr. Richards,” said the president being candid with Mark. “That at least is something you won’t have to put up with from my administration. I have kept up with your actions on behalf of humanity. What you have accomplished in cooperation with the United Nations is to be commended. You deserve as much if not more respect than any single world leader.”

“That’s kind of you to say, Mr. President and I do appreciate the sentiment.”

“Mr. Richards, I would like to sit down with you face-to-face so we can discuss our common interests, will you come to the White House?”

“I would like to Mr. President, but I do have some reservations.”

President Morris had been expecting that. He tried to address Mark’s concerns. “Mr. Richards, I have to tell you that I have only now been made aware of the former administration’s unfortunate choice to take action against you. His decisions were his alone. No one in Congress had been made aware of the president’s plans.”

“It was unfortunate all right. So you’re telling me that you personally had no prior knowledge of that incident, Mr. President?”

“That is correct, Mr. Richards. I would never condone that sort of operation. You have my word that if I had known about it, it would not have remained a secret from the American people.”

“Could you hold for a moment, Mr. President?”

“Certainly, Mr. Richards. Please take all the time you need.”

“Well CJ, President Morris sounds sincere to me. What do you think, can he be trusted?”

“From my analysis of his speech, he is relaying a factual statement. I do not believe you would be in any danger from President Morris if you were to visit the White House.”

“Thank you, CJ. Please put the president back on.”

“Thanks for waiting, Mr. President. I have to tell you that before speaking with you I would not have felt safe visiting you at the White House. During a previous visit five years ago or so I did not have that good a time and wouldn’t want to repeat the experience. I would be honored to visit with you there, unless you want to come here instead?”

“Mr. Richards, I would love to visit that ship. But as my staff would have a collective heart attack, it won’t be possible at the present time. You do have my word that you will be as safe here as I am.”

“Mr. President, I believe that you are a man of your word. If you tell me that I will be safe, I would be happy to come.”

“How about tomorrow, say around eleven AM? Maybe you could stay for lunch, we have a good chef here, I’ve discovered.”

“I will be there, Mr. President. Please call me Mark though, I don’t like being formal.”

“Ok Mark, that is if you call me Henry, at least we can drop the formalities while having a private meeting.”

“It’s a deal, Mr. President, sorry, I mean Henry. I will see you tomorrow. As I will be arriving by air, you might want to let the army know so they don’t try to shoot me down.”

“Don’t worry about that, Mark,” the president said with a chuckle. “That might have been something the former president might have contemplated, but not me.”

Mark said his goodbyes and disconnected the call. “Well CJ, it looks like I’m off to the White House again tomorrow.”