The Return (The Next Galaxy) Read online

  THE RETURN

  LAMEES ALHASSAR

  Copyright © 2017 Lamees Alhassar All rights reserved. ISBN: 1543189466

  ISBN-13: 978-1543189469

  DEDICATION

  To all my fans. Thank you.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1 1 Chapter 2 11

  Chapter 3 23

  Chapter 4 31 Chapter 5 37

  Chapter 6 49 Chapter 7 63

  Chapter 8 71

  CHAPTER 1

  If everything happens for a reason that means you made the right choice even when it’s the wrong choice. ― Treyco

  “How can we be invaded?” Her loud, shrill voice bounced off the smooth walls of the large-sized room and echoed for an instant before subsiding. Instead of a response, all she heard was silence. Considering that she was not alone in the room, but among a group of people gathered at her call to discuss really important matters of state, the silence was all the more telling and disconcerting.

  President Jane Parker was standing at the head of a huge mahogany table. It was a stark table, bare except for a vase of flowers in the center. The meeting having been called on an emergency basis, there was no time to organize digital place cards, or even electronic note pads for the participants. This was something that added to the sense of unease felt by the president, for she was a stickler for propriety.

  Seated around the table were several men and women dressed in the customary black or blue suits, wearing a common expression of intense worry. This too didn’t sit well with President Parker, for since she was little, she had made herself wholeheartedly believe in her father’s favorite dictum; When the going gets tough, the tough get going. The sorry lot who had assembled in the room with their hangdog expressions looked like they would like nothing better than to curl up in a fetal position in their beds and suck their thumbs.

  The silence and the dark and somber mood of the people gathered there in their formal attire was more reminiscent of a funeral service than a meeting of the most powerful female president of the United States with her all-powerful cabinet. The fascinating thing about human nature is that it is so predictable. No matter how experienced and seasoned a person may be in their line of work, it takes just a hint of the unpredictable and unknown for people to revert to their primeval instincts. They either retreat into a shell or become overly aggressive. Psychologists call this the fight or flight syndrome.

  Human beings become extremely tense prior to any momentous event or occasion. Their heartbeat starts to accelerate and the adrenal gland works in overdrive, preparing them to cope for what is to come. The origin of this lies in our caveman past, when danger was ever present in the shape of wild animals, forest fires, and one’s human enemies. The times might have changed, but the response to threatening scenarios remains pretty much the same.

  The president, who was wearing a well-ironed and creased dark-blue business suit adorned by a small carnation in the lapel of the jacket, cast her eyes once more at the members of her powerful cabinet. For people who were among the most powerful in the world, they looked remarkably meek and feeble. A couple of the men had a day’s stubble on their chin and the other lady member of the cabinet wore a crumpled business suit and had no makeup on, which was quite odd, for she had the reputation of being quite a fashionista.

  Swearing silently to herself at such a pathetic display of lack of courage and fortitude when it was most required, she said out loud, her voice bouncing off the walls once more and jarring the people into attention:

  “Am I not talking to my trusted advisors? Or is the 97th president of the United States simply talking to herself?” she asked.

  When the time comes for one to stand up for one’s convictions, none of these worthies will be forthcoming. If it were a matter like deciding to bid for the Olympics, they would all have raised their hands in a second, she thought with some bitterness as she waited for someone to offer their analysis of the grave situation facing them.

  After what seemed like an interminably long time, she saw one of the men raise his hand. “Yes, Defense Secretary? What do you have to say?” she asked.

  Defense Secretary Bob McNamara was normally a distinguished-looking man with a booming, baritone voice and a shock of silver-grey hair. He wore expensively tailored Savile Row suits and spoke with a clipped accent that showed his upper-crust upbringing. But today he wore a ragged look with dark circles under his eyes, giving him a downbeat appearance.

  That is what happens when you divorce your wife of three decades and marry your secretary thirty years your junior! thought President Parker with contempt. She herself had had a crush on the man in the earliest days of her political career and knew what a cad he was. His less than enviable record with ladies notwithstanding, he had a fine record as an astute and competent man who could be counted upon to deliver when it mattered. But today he looked like a pale shadow of his usual formidable self.

  Instead of his usual deep and rich voice, he spoke in a rasping whisper, which added to the sense of foreboding in the room.

  “Ma’am, I don’t mean to be rude, but the answer to your question is yes. Yes, we can be. As a matter of fact, Earth is soon going to be invaded, and there is virtually nothing we can do about it,” he stated plainly, and promptly flopped back into his chair.

  President Parker looked at Bob with utter disdain and thought how easily this dandy had deteriorated from his confident persona where he still didn’t shy away from flirting with her, the president, and his present situation where he could barely stand and make his point. Looking at his new avatar she was reminded of a quote from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, where the principle character, Caesar, has this to say about another important character of the play, Cassius:

  Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.

  Shaking her head disparagingly, she said, “I admire how blunt you are, Mr. Secretary. But with such a response, you might as well have also handed over your resignation letter to this council. Do you realize what you have just said? You have virtually admitted that you are incompetent!

  “The president does not take kindly to a defense secretary who imagines that his job profile requires him to dress dandily, quote Plato and Voltaire when the going is good, and advise abject capitulation at the sight of the slightest hint of serious trouble. You have been living a great life on taxpayers’ money and when it is time for you to perform to the best of your abilities, you collapse in your chair and say that we DO NOTHING! Come on! The only person who will be doing nothing will be YOU! For you will cease to be defense secretary as soon as I can organize it.”

  Bob was taken aback by the vehemence of the president’s rebuke. He sighed wearily and raised his hand again. But the president did not allow him to speak. Instead, she angrily continued with what she was saying. “Yes, your statement is an outright admission of your incompetence. What do you expect our nation to do? Fold our arms and sit on our chairs, waiting for the planet to be taken over? Because that is what you are implying. As for me, I was never an admirer of Nero and fiddling while my world burns down. That is best left to people like you.

  “I would rather follow in the footsteps of Winston Churchill, who, when faced with a potentially catastrophic impending Nazi invasion, rallied his people by saying to them:

  We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, w
e shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

  The defense secretary grew red with suppressed rage and raised his hand again to speak. But the president did not relent, and impatiently gestured at him to stay quiet.

  “You do realize that other countries of this world still look up to the United States, don’t you? And do you know why? It is because we are a beacon of hope, succor, and security. What do you expect me to tell them? That we are helpless and totally feckless in leading the world in facing this unprecedented challenge?”

  The secretary of defense dropped his hand and sighed once again. Suddenly and most unexpectedly, he clenched his two hands into fists and slammed them hard on the table and abruptly stood up. He had banged the table so hard that the flower vase in the middle of the table rattled with a loud noise and for an instant almost teetered over, but somehow regained equilibrium and came to an abrupt stop, accompanied by a small sound that echoed and appeared larger than it was. Everybody’s attention was riveted on the vase while it was moving and turned to the president once it quit shaking.

  President Parker, who had been about to say something, paused and looked quizzically at her defense secretary.

  Oh, the old geezer still has some life in him? Wonder what he has to say now, after all that I said to him, she thought irritably.

  “Madam President. You need to come to terms with what I have just said. Yes, yes, and yes again. We cannot do anything about the impending invasion. I am fully aware of my responsibilities as defense secretary, and despite your colorful description of what you believe to be my true essence, I know that leading you up the garden path is not part of it! And if you want to know what you should tell the world, then I am going to tell you. Just tell them the truth. The truth does not always present a pretty picture, but sometimes it is the only thing we have. This is one such occasion. We need to face the bitter truth and accept it as it is, without fooling ourselves about our invincibility by displaying bravado. That is something best left to children.

  “You accuse me, Madam President, of being incompetent and unworthy of my high office without giving me a chance to redeem my good name. Let me bring to your attention that all of us in this room, from the highest to the lowest, are sworn to serve the people. Not a person. High office is not about pandering to the ego of an individual. It is about making the right decision, and if that means apprising people of the truth, then I am willing to take the criticism on the chin for the sake of my country.”

  Chastened for the moment, President Parker rubbed her forehead in a reflex action, indicative of her own nervousness and the fact that some of the defense secretary’s barbs had hit home. She took a deep breath and said, “The truth? What is the truth, Secretary? I think the word truth is a much abused one. One person’s truth might be another person’s lie. When it is daytime in America, it is night in India. What you see as a half-empty glass is a half-full glass to me.

  “In any case, haven’t we heard that one should practice what one preaches? Those who profess to be the paragon of all that is true and right may actually have feet of clay. You, Secretary of Defense, have an unimpeachable record of public service, so far. I emphasize, so far.

  “So perhaps, just perhaps, you can brief this council better than I can about what we don’t yet seem to know.”

  The defense secretary looked at all the men and women seated around the huge table. He resisted the urge to pick up the vase stationed in the middle of the table and hurl it at the woman who was turning the knife inside him with her cruel words. He took a deep breath to compose himself and addressed the council forcefully. “Is there anything that we don’t yet know?” he asked. “This council has been privy to detailed information pertaining to all the developments and incidents that led us to where we are today. There is nothing hidden from any one of us. Our biggest mistake has been that we were way too complacent all this while. The signs were always there—UFO sightings, eyewitness accounts of alien visits, unexplained disappearances of aircraft and sea vessels, and so much more. But we steadfastly refused to allocate funds to study these phenomena or shore up our space defense capabilities. People like me, who tried raising these issues, were shouted down as the loony brigade. The chickens have come home to roost, ladies and gentlemen, and there will be hell to pay.”

  CHAPTER 2 The female member of the president’s cabinet, Stella Jones, a chic New Yorker with a posh East Coast accent, raised her hand. Normally the president couldn’t stand her. Her dislike was not on account of a natural competitive spirit asserting itself when dealing with another female practicing the same profession as her. She was well past that age. And as she had reached the pinnacle of her profession, there was nothing left for her to prove. It was rather her nagging suspicion that her younger female colleague used manipulation and opportunism, rather than competence, to get ahead in life. But right now she saw an ally in her. The defense secretary was being stubborn and obdurate and not amenable to reason and she needed help in countering his arguments. She knew how persuasive he could be, and didn’t want him to gain the upper hand in their verbal exchanges.

  President Parker nodded. “Yes, Science Secretary, you may speak.” “I think that my counterpart has got things mixed up. What invasion is he talking about?” she intoned in her equally upper class accent. “As far as I am concerned, all that we have right now is just a case of UFOs, not invasion by unknown or hostile entities. Heaven knows that planet Earth has had UFO sightings reported for millennia and we still stand. There has been no mass annihilation of human life. That didn’t happen even in H. G. Wells’ sci-fi book War of the Worlds.”

  The defense secretary frowned and waved a finger at her. “How can you make such an irresponsible statement? The UFO sightings down the centuries were mostly cases of mistaken identity or hoaxes. These are not unidentified flying objects. These are goddamned full-blown military spacecraft! Are you trying to tell me that you cannot tell what an impending invasion looks like?”

  The science secretary shook her head. “No, I cannot, Mr. Defense Secretary, and I didn’t believe in Santa Claus, even as a child. May I remind you that members of this council believe in working with facts and figures? Not the ranting of a venerable and tired old gentleman who likes to tilt at windmills and imagines giants coming to attack us at any moment. For God’s sake, grow up! We have not yet seen any verifiable proof whatsoever that Earth is about to be invaded. Rather, the truth of the matter is that we are about to be visited. And I must emphasize that it is a visit by unknown entities, not an invasion, as the defense secretary wants us to believe.

  “Little children who are afraid of the dark are told fancy fairy tales by their parents to soothe their fears. We are the cabinet of the president of the United State of America, not a bunch of toddlers for whom the truth needs to be dressed up in myth! Only in this case it is not fairies but aliens. For crying out loud, you remind me of Don Quixote tilting at the windmills, imagining them to be giants! You who love to quote Greek philosophers listen to what Plato said about the likes of you: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

  The defense secretary was about to react to the science secretary when the president raised her hand. “Enough, Mr. Defense Secretary. Do not respond to what your colleague has just said.”

  The defense secretary shook his head and sat down quietly.

  The president pointed at the science secretary. “I see more than a glimmer of hope in what you have to say to us, Science Secretary,” President Parker said. “For centuries mankind has wondered if we are alone in the universe. In our quest to find life in places other than Earth, we have scanned the night skies with powerful telescopes, listened to radio frequencies from the remotest parts of space, and sent out space probes to other planets and beyond. To you, Defense Secretary who likes to quote philosophers, I have a quote from my favorite singer of the old times, Billy Joel:

  As human beings, we nee
d to know that we are not alone, that we are not crazy or completely out of our minds, that there are other people out there who feel as we do, live as we do, love as we do, who are like us.

  “Now, when we know for a fact that there is life other than what we find on Earth, we are acting like scared chickens. What sort of an impression will we give of ourselves as a life form to visitors who obviously come from a much more technologically advanced world? Wasn’t it Einstein who said: ‘Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.’”

  She paused and looked around the table. “I am sure that after we have been brutalized by the doomsday prophesies of our dear colleague in charge of defense, we, the members of this council, would like to hear what you have to say.”

  Stella stood up and bowed her head. “Thank you, Madam President. I really do not mean to fight with anyone,” she said with a brief, sly glance at the defense secretary. He did not look back at her. Rather, he concentrated on fiddling with a pen in his hand. The science secretary continued. “On the contrary, we really must learn to look at events in their proper perspective. In order to do so, we must take another look at the pictures NASA has been monitoring ever since they got a hold of them yesterday.”

  As she said this, she picked up a remote control close to her tablet and pointed it at the white wall on her right. A yellow line appeared and began to draw itself on the white wall. It created a huge rectangular boundary. Almost immediately, the white space within the yellow boundary began to fill up with a black background until there was no more whiteness within the yellow boundary. A portion of the wall that was once white in color had now suddenly been transformed into a black patch surrounded by a bold yellow outline.

  The science secretary pressed another button on the remote and the black patch came to life. In the process, pictures began to be displayed on the screen, transforming the object that was formerly just black on the wall into a sort of motion picture screen.