Dark as Daylight Ch. 05a

"I can't approve that Mister Zabo. These documents have to remain 'Top Secret, until we have enough evidence against the perpetrators to put them all in jail."

"Mister President, we have already told the perpetrators we are on their tails. They are hunkering down, and are hoping what they've already done is enough to destroy the rocket, the people in the viewing stands, and American prestige. What they're looking forward to is the next rocket. Instead of $1 trillion, they want it to cost $1.5 trillion.

They want you to look at Challenger and what happened to NASA's budget afterwards. While Congress was cutting NASA's budget to the bone, and making it cut corners, when Challenger happened, they tripled NASA's budget to make sure it would never happen again.

After four successful launches, they cut the budget again, forcing NASA to lay off technicians and engineers. Then we lost Columbia, because a piece of foam fell off the liquid fuel tank and hit the orbiters wing knocking off 6 tiles. The blame always goes on the congresses back; but who pressured them to cut NASA's budget, and then reaped the profits afterwards? Those are the people we are looking for Mister President.

People made a lot of money off those catastrophes, especially the people who made those rubber seals that failed for Challenger. Instead of having 6 people check the edges of the seals, they had 20. There was a bonus for any man finding a fault on the edges of those seals. Surprisingly enough, there was an upsurge in the amount of faults found on those edges, when the bonus program was instituted.

"What happens next Mister Zabo?"

"I come down to Washington to collect my father's dollar. Then we set the date for our guests to check the originals at secure places. When you get the results, we will make a plan of action."

"When will you be here?"

"I believe you should make that arrangement sir. Your calendar is a little more pressing than mine."

"I'll have my secretary call you tomorrow with the date and time. I hope your little brother gives you a chance to win that chess game."

"There's no chance sir. Patrick is a menace to society. You put him in front of the chessboard and make your first move, he already knows you're dead."

"I play a pretty mean game of chess myself. Why don't you bring him along?"

"Mister President, he's going to ruin your mood for a month."

"Not to worry, my staff is used to it."

"Alright Mister President, please remember, I tried to warn you."

"Thank you Mister Zabo, I'll brush up on my game at night."

*********************

"Do you think they'll put one and one together dad, before they realize we own the 2 'Brownstones' directly behind you?"

"William, there will be enough agents around our home, trying to keep tabs on these 12 people, they won't know what to do with themselves. I will have a canvas awning set up in my yard, and you will have one behind each of yours, limiting the time any of our people will be exposed. The surprise we have in store for them will definitely knock them off their game.

The lovely thing about living in New York City is they can't use drones; it's against the law. If they use a manned aircraft, it will have to make larger turns, and their vision is blocked by houses and trees. If they use a helicopter, we will see it, hear it, it will still have the same problem as an aircraft. We will have them running around in circles, while the 12 experts are taking a cruise around Manhattan Island, performing their tests."

"I don't know how you came up with that idea dad, but it's a beauty, just like my wife."

"I thought I was walking softly enough he wouldn't hear me coming in the room. Apparently I was wrong, because he paid me a compliment."

"I pay you compliments every day my love."

"That bum used to complement me every day also. Now that I'm old, he doesn't talk to me."

"You know that's not true Jemma. Every night I tell you to move over when we are in bed."

"William you are a dead man."

"Dad, you should know better than pick a fight with mom. You have been married for over 40 years. She just had two daughters for you, who will grow up to be just like Patty, just to show you what you missed. Plus, she is still in pain after her operation. You should tread very carefully about what you say to her now.

You can count on two fingers of your left hand how many arguments you've won against her, since the day you two were married. I remember the story of mom driving you to the Justice Department to get married. Your answers all the way there were, 'Yes dear or Yes Jemma, or yes my love, because you were in fear for your life while she was driving.'

Get on your knees, dad. Ask for forgiveness, kiss her ring as if she was the pope, and say you're sorry. It's the way you taught me to do it with Gwen."

Gwen hit Junior, then screamed, "LIAR."

William pulled her onto his lap, and kissed her fervently, until she stopped pounding on his chest. Then she joined him in the kiss, and made it hotter.

"I can't wait until they finish our home baby, but for right now, we are going up to our room, and attempt to make a grandchild for my nervous mother. Don't bother knocking at our door, mom. We will see you, either after you two make up, or at dinner."

Jemma said, "When you are finished with her, hang her from the ceiling. You've been married over 3 months, and she's not pregnant. I'm very disappointed with you my son. Get your act in gear."

"Children, your mother is remembering a time when I used to hang her from the ceiling, and screwing her for hours in that position. She didn't get pregnant, but she sure screamed a lot."

"Yes, William, I remember those days. It was a lot of fun, wasn't it? The hotel staff always wondered about those holes in the ceiling. However, you were such good customer, they never complained about them."

Gwen asked, "Mom what circus did you train at? It sounds like dad was a kinky old bastard when you met him."

"You are absolutely right Gwen. He was older than I was, and he was much more experienced than me. However, after one evening with him, not only did he steal my body, but the bastard stole my heart. He's never given it back to me. The day he does he will lose his hands, and his balls."

"Mom, he will never give it back to you. Wherever you are at a party, or a business event, his eyes follow you. It doesn't matter if there are one hundred people in the room or just four, he knows exactly where you are, and will kill any man that touches you, or hurts you."

"That's not true son. He is just looking at my ass. He doesn't want anyone else to touch it, because it belongs to him, and him alone."

"You bet your ass it does."

"Do you see what I mean son, that's all I am to him, a good piece of ass."

"Jemma if you don't stop talking like that I'm going to put you over my knees and spank your pretty ass."

"I just had 2 babies, which he refuses to name for 14 days, and all he wants to do is spank me. Is your father going senile or what?"

"I don't know mom? Let me take Gwen upstairs and I'll test your hypothesis on her. I'll let you know if it works."

"Keep your hands away from me William. I don't feel like getting a spanking today."

"You liked the one I gave you yesterday."

"You were doing something else when you were spanking me."

"We could do it that way again. As I recall, there was a very satisfactory ending."

She snuggled into his arm and shoulder. "Yes it did."

As they were leaving the library, Jemma yelled, "Don't forget to hang her from the ceiling, when you're done with her. I want a grandbaby soon."

Gwen yelled back, "We will give him one more month mom. If we don't strike gold by then, I'll have dad do it."

Junior yelled, "Like hell!"

Jemma said, "Sounds fine to me."

Senior yawned, "Don't worry about it son, I'll only need to be in there once, and she'll have the triplets."

"I'm going to be putting a chastity belt on my wife dad. She's not safe around you."

"That's not the problem William. Right now Gwen is safe around you. You have to change that or you'll never hear the end of it from your mother."

"I just thought of something Teddy said. We were going to have 3 children. 2 were going to be redheaded girl's like their mother. One was going to have white hair just like you, dad. Touch my wife and you're a dead man."

"I have never cheated on my wife, and I never will."

"He's telling you the truth William. Your dad has always been faithful to me."

"Gwen go upstairs and get dressed We are going to the Starlight Ballroom for some fun and dancing."

Jemma asked, "What happened to sex?"

"It's overrated."

"Like hell it is. You just have to learn to do it better. I'll have your father set up a camera in our bedroom to show you how it's done."

"You're not that ballsy mom."

"You'll have the tape tomorrow night."

"I can't wait."

"I hope you enjoy your dancing William, your father and I will be dancing to a different tune."

************

Gwen and William watched the tape the following evening. They were in awe of what they saw.

They hid the tape very carefully, to make sure Patrick could not find it. They did not want Patrick to watch the video clandestinely. It would be the best Triple X feature he had ever seen, including the ones he watched on his computer.

**************

William and Patrick walked into the oval office and were greeted by the President. The President took out his wallet, and handed William a $1 bill. Using only 2 fingers, and touching the very edge of the $1.00 bill, he put it into a small plastic bag.

"Why are you doing that?"

"My father wants to make sure it is your $1 bill, and not one of mine."

"Your father is very serious about his $1 bills."

"Yes sir, he is. He will have a fingerprint expert make sure yours are on the bill, before he frames it. Shall we take care of business before Patrick ruins your month."

"May I ask you who do you think the culprits are?"

"We believe it is a member of your National Security Council. They brief you personally once every week, and you act on everything they tell you. 4 of your predecessors treated them differently, with varying degrees of success.

One did not believe Iraq was ready to disperse chemical weapons, and disregarded their assessment. Instead of to allowing the Army to go to Baghdad, which he could've taken with minimal losses, he stayed within the United Nations Security Council's mandate, and stopped the war. It was a mistake, but one in good faith.

The next president came in, straightened out the economy and put the National Security Council on the back burner. He liked direct access from each agency, and raw data. His only mistake was thinking that a rebellious Saudi millionaire was nothing to worry about until too late in his administration. When he finally tried to kill him, they missed several times.

The following president was a warmonger who brought us into 3 wars, and got us out of none. Our soldiers died, as they did in Vietnam, because he controlled the war from the White House, and the Congress, instead of letting the generals run it from the front.

Lyndon Johnson found that out the hard way, and didn't run for a 2^nd term.

Your predecessor got us out of the wars, despite bitter disagreement from Hawks in the Congress. Unfortunately, in his 2^nd term, he had to defend everything he did during his first term, and didn't get anything of consequence through the Congress during the term. Numbers wise he was very successful. Unemployment was down to record lows, corporations were seeing record profits, the stock markets were at record highs, and the talent coming out of our colleges were being recruited heavily."

"Now you sit in this office, in your 2^nd year, just getting used to what is going on around you. The infrastructure of this country is falling apart. There are 19,700 bridges that need repair or replacement desperately.

Highway construction and repair has been put off since 1998, by a reluctant Congress who refuses to raise the tax on gasoline. If you are going to pollute the air, and use these roads, you should pay to fix them, or walk to work.

If the Congress doesn't have the testicular fortitude to do it, you, as president of the United States, should ram it down their throats, and force them to do it. The highway trust fund is bankrupt, because the Congress uses that money for other programs, and that is illegal.

The Congress does so many things that are illegal, everyone turns a blind eye to them. If you have the courage, maybe you should point it out to them at the State of the Union Address.

At the last estimate, it is going to take $9.5 trillion to fix everything that's wrong with our bridges, roadways, and airports. Every day you wait to act, another $10 million is added to that figure."

"I thought you said Patrick was going to ruin my month?"

"I only gave you food for thought Mister President. Whether you wish to act on it or not is up to you."

"Stephen tell Mark to get a transcript of what Mister Zabo just said, and put it forcefully into the State of the Union Message. I will not build another rocket, until this country's infrastructure is fixed."

"There is another way Mister President."

"What is that?"

"Doctor Even Luck, his son, Gordon, and his daughter, Delicious, along with 200 scientists, hundreds of engineers, thousands of workers, and 20 investors who put up $350 billion of their own money, launched a spaceship with 66 people on board just over a year ago. The last report we received from them was they were passing the planet Uranus, at .92 lightspeed. We have not heard from them since, and we don't expect to hear from them again.

NASA and all the space agencies around the world followed their progress as far as they could, monitoring their radio, television, spectrometer and telescopic reports. They will be going over this material for a generation or more, because all of this information is new."

"My people at NASA told me this was all bullshit."

"You have Internet access on your computer, I take it?"

"Yes I do."

"May I open an Internet page for you and you can do the rest?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you recognize this logo?"

"Yes, it's the European space agency."

"Put in the date of December 25 of last year, and hit enter."

"Put the timeframe to 3 minutes before 5 P.M., and raise the sound."

"Ladies and gentlemen this is Mrs. Jennifer Luck. We are on schedule for a 5 PM departure. We will hover at 500 feet to do our internal checks and then proceed on a southeasterly course of 138° and increase our speed to 28,000 mph, until we leave Earth's atmosphere. At that time, we will use our forward magnetic engines to pull us towards the moon, and our rear engines to push us away from the earth... We are now 60 seconds from liftoff, and again I wish you all a fond farewell."

It was agreed that Teddy would announce the next two sequences.

Teddy said, "30 seconds to left off."

I said to her, "Teddy, it's lift off, not left off."

"K."

Teddy announced, "10- 9- 8- 7- 6- 5- 4- 3- 2 -1-Left off."

A few seconds later, the spacecraft lifted gracefully off the ground, and stopped at 500 feet. I announced to everyone gathered below us that all our internal checks were in the green, and we were retracting our landing gear. Everyone watched as the 4 large pedestals we rested on slid smoothly into the ship and locked into place.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our forward engines are now locked onto the moon, and we are ready to go. From the crew and passengers on the Good Luck 1, we again say goodbye."

The president watched as the ball, that was floating a moment ago, increased speed so rapidly, the cameras were hard-pressed to keep up with it. If it was not a black dot in a blue sky, it would have been impossible to track.

As he listened to the reporter on the European space agency's channel he became furious. "Get me that asshole from NASA on the line now."

James Bolden asked, "Yes Mister President, how can I help you?"

"In one minute I'm going to fire you, but before I do it, I want every piece of information you have on the spacecraft called, 'Good Luck 1' on my desk tomorrow morning. That includes all film, discs, and paperwork. If anything is altered, you can consider yourself under arrest for falsifying government documents. Is that clear Mister Bolden?"

"Sir, you are talking about hundreds of thousands of documents, discs, and testimony. I can't possibly have that to you in the morning."

"How can that possibly be? Every time I asked you about this supposed spacecraft, you told me it was a toy, a figment of someone's imagination, something that would never fly. I just watched it on the European Space Agency's webpage, and it sure as hell look like it flew to me. I'm wasting $1 trillion of this country's money on a spacecraft that may or may never fly. I'm getting ready to cancel it. I want to know how much money we've spent on it to the penny. Tomorrow morning Mister Bolden, 9 o'clock sharp. Oh I forgot, you're fired."

****************

"Mister President, I know some people who would give their eye teeth to take a look at that stuff."

"And who might they be?"

"Our people who are running parallel investigation."

"I'll see what I can do about it."

"Patrick looks bored to tears sitting over there. I guess it's time to see how good a chess player he is?"

"There goes your good humor for the month."

"Perfect timing don't you think? When that asshole gets here tomorrow morning, he will get my wrath for lying to this country for the last 6 years. He was in that job too long anyhow. He was becoming complacent. Patrick, if you beat me in under 20 moves, I'll let you run NASA for me."

"Really, if you let me do that, I'll see if I can get my cousins to retrofit Orion onto our engines, and get it off the ground for you in 1 year."

"I told you that kid could ruin your day. Now you are going to have to explain to the press why a 16-year-old is running a major part of the government."

"He hasn't beaten me yet."

"Yes sir; he has."

16 moves later the president tipped over his king, and acquiesced to Patrick, who was running around the oval office screaming, "I'm going to run NASA," over and over again."

William said, "Mister President, if it's any consolation to you, NASA is in good hands."

The President responded, "How can you possibly say that?

"Patrick graduated from Tsinghua University at the age of 13. He received a double degree. One was in Business Management, the other was in Computer Technology. He wanted to take a 3^rd, because he was bored, but I wouldn't allow it.

He would have been the valedictorian of his graduating class. I told the Dean of the school it would not be proper for an American citizen of that age to speak to a Chinese audience at graduation. The country, and other graduates would lose face, and that is something I would not allow to happen. I wanted his name removed from the list of graduates, and his degrees issued privately. The deans of the school were so appreciative; they could not do enough for us.

Patrick speaks and writes in 4 languages. English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. He knows more about Business Management and Computer systems in this country, and in China then anyone I've ever met except, our sister, Patricia, of course.

He received his Master's Degree, from NYU, in Business Management this past summer. He did most of it on line, but had to go there to defend his thesis. He got straight A's again."

"What happens when he goes before the Senate for confirmation? He's only 16."