All That Glitters Ch. 37

"The differences in DNA between most of our species is far greater than two percent While we may be able to enjoy physical sex with some of the others species we will never be able to successfully produce offspring together," Meela told them.

"I see, the plumbing might be the same, but the waters will never mix," parroted one of the Grotté teens.

Grace had teased her father, but she somehow knew in the back of her mind that it was impossible to be anything but Friends With Benefits with opposite sex of another species. Now, she had the knowledge that she needed to confirm her instincts. She smiled, nonetheless. It HAD been a tremendous tease to her father, and he had definitely enjoyed himself at the party, as had she.

It was near to 23:00 hours when Hanalei and Junelliya came to see the President with their children in their arms.

"Good night, Mr. President," Junelliya said. "It is time for us to feed our babies and put them down for the night,"

Grace came over and cooed over the two little children. Ikekia lifted her pudgy arms and said her best, and only, word, "Ug," getting laughter from the fifteen year old girl. She took Ikekia in her arms and cuddle her close, while the little girl tried to purr for her. Fortunately, Juneya settled on Grace's shoulder and rumbled her purr for the teenager, giving Grace the idea of what Ikekia was trying to do. She gave the baby back to her mother, thanking Juneya for letting her hold the child, and waved to the family as they departed, the cats calling out their 'goodbye' sounds.

"And with that, it is time for us to make our own departure, Grace. I must be up early tomorrow, as normal, and we will need to be prepared for the next ambassador on the list," he looked inquisitively to his Chief of Staff.

"The Djinaëte delegation in the morning and the Asocan delegation in the afternoon, sir," Jason Canter provided.

"Let us say our goodnights in order to prepare for tomorrow, my dear," the President told his daughter.

They said their goodbyes and made their way back to the shuttle port and eventually to the Presidential Compound.

Presidential Compound, Capital City, Terra

Televangelist Mike Hollister was waiting for the appearance of the President. He had been up all night, cropping images for his media show, showing the President cavorting with half naked aliens while at Denders the night before.

Mike had managed to get the imagery before it made the entertainment nets. He had already spread the word on his own Televangelist private channel, making the President out to be an evil person. Now he was preparing to confront the President while his portrayal of the President was being widely distributed between other Televangelists and Right Wing Religious channels. He was ready. He had been boasting to his TV audience of how he was going to confront the President over his activities with the devils and the animals the evening before.

The President had just finished breakfast with his daughter and was escorting her to the transport that would take her to her high-school, when he was suddenly confronted by a media spokesperson, shouting at the President from the sidelines.

"Mr. President, the Right Reverend Mike Hollister here, Televangelist. We have seen the images of you cavorting with the devils!" Hollister shouted.

"Keep walking, Grace," the President quietly told his daughter. "Just ignore the man. I've seen his type before, a person with an agenda and no scruples on how he achieves it."

"But he claims to be a Reverend, father," Grace observed. "Shouldn't he be telling the truth and not lying to his people?"

"Yes, he should, however, people like him recognize the power they have over others and seek to apply that power for their own use, regardless of how they might misuse it," the President told his daughter.

"Look at the images, Mr. President!" Hollister shouted. "Look at you cavorting with half-naked beasts!" The images were being shown on a large monitor that Hollister had set up during the night.

"How dare you!" Grace shouted, her father trying to stop her but she shrugged him off and marched on a now smiling Hollister, who thought he had the confrontation that he wanted. "How dare you call such wonderful people beasts! You have not even made an attempt to speak with them, not even made an attempt to see them in person.

"Instead, you twist and turn the images of my father to make him look bad in the eyes of those who are watching this. You have taken my father's image out of context.

"I see my father dancing with the Byandi; however, I do not see him dancing with the other delegates that were present. Why are they not in the imagery, Mr. Hollister? Do they have just a little too much clothing on for your purposes?

"The Right Reverend indeed! You are a disgrace to all religious leaders of the Union. How could you twist what was a beautiful evening into something lecherous?" Grace demanded.

"Beautiful? Has your father twisted your mind, little Grace?" Hollister demanded playing up to the other media cameras. "Look at him there, playing with those creatures, lusting after them. I'm sure he was debating whether to father a human/alien hybrid!"

"Have you not been to school, Mr. Hollister?" Grace demanded. "If you have, you have certainly forgotten all you have learned. Do you not understand the basics of procreation, sir?

"While the plumbing may be the same, the waters will not mix, Mr. Hollister. It is impossible for humans and members of the Interspecies Community to have hybrid children. The DNA is just too different, Mr. Hollister. Any high school child can tell you that. In fact, I just have.

"I am looking at your images Mr. Hollister. I don't see any of my father's entourage in the images, only my father. In fact, I was there last night, Mr. Hollister and I do not see my image either.

"What have you done, Mr. Hollister? You show my father in the worst of light, pronounce him evil to the members of your following. You twist and turn the images of what was a delightful evening of entertainment into something of almost criminal intent.

"Do you not have a responsibility to your followers, sir? Do you not have the responsibility to tell them the truth? Is there not a standard amongst Televangelists or the religious right to do the right thing?

"My father has that responsibility, Mr. Hollister. He is required to tell the truth, to inform all the people of the Union of what he is doing on their behalf. Why is it the Televangelists do not appear to have the same lofty ideals? Yet you claim to be the Right Reverend.

"I do remember being taught about 'not bringing false witness to your neighbour', Mr. Hollister. Do you remember that, sir? From where I am standing, sir, it appears not.

"Walk away Mr. Hollister, and never again attempt to put my father in bad light by twisting the images of something that was entirely innocent into something potentially criminal just to serve your own ends."

Flipping her hair in a dismissive gesture and giving Mr. Hollister a look of utter distain, Grace finally moved to her transport and entered it. But the damage had been done. Mike Hollister was now the focal point of many of the surrounding media types, all demanding an explanation of his misuse of the President's image.

The President returned to his offices, a genuine smile on his face for the first time in many a morning.

Denders Resort, Terra

People were having breakfast in the cafeteria and watching the morning news, checking to see how the Pod-Drran accreditation was being received. However, the highlight this morning was how Grace Holloway had protected her father, the President, and the Interspecies Community against a backward looking religious zealot.

The clips of the presentation of accreditations and of Grace Holloway were repeating every few minutes so that people who had not yet had breakfast could see it. The commentary in the cafeteria on the subject was very brisk.

"Do not worry about us, Hanalei," one of the Grotté said. "This is not the first time that the Interspecies Community has butted heads with those fervently opposed to their people becoming part of it or of the introduction of 'devils that would twist the good name of a people'."

"I think that every species that joined the Greater Community had to go through this. Your people, too, it seems, Hanalei, though we have seen much more tolerance from the humans than we have initially seen from some other species," Augraf stated.

"But that is the extremes, isn't it?" Porra asked. "Where there is a great deal of tolerance, there is also a great deal of intolerance in the background. Such appears the same here in the Union."

"Humans have been anticipating the introduction of Sentient neighbours for hundreds of years," Junelliya explained. "However, we have also been quite alone for those many hundreds of years. It will take time for some of us to come to terms with this event.

"Until a few years ago, the prospect of intelligent neighbours was something found only on our entertainment channels. Then we had the revelation of the existence of the Pod-Drran and the Djinaëte, who we originally called 'Insectoids' because of how they looked. Now, we suddenly have nine-more species to contend with.

"Although there are many of us who are more than ready to move forward, it will take time for some humans to catch up with reality." Junelliya finished.

"Well said, Junelliya," Juanita exclaimed, sitting down with her breakfast, joining them at the table. "You would make a great diplomat ma'am."

"She is the better diplomat, Juanita," Junelliya stated, pointing at Grace Holloway's image on the monitor.

"I just loved that interpretation of DNA, 'the plumbing is the same, but the waters will not mix', brilliant," Juanita laughed.

"That is Meela's teachings, ma'am," said a Harradi teen from a nearby table. "We were having a kind of teen girls night last night, and got to talking about, you know, males and such. Some of us speculated about what might happen if we did things with other species.

"Meela, corrected us. That is here quote," the teen said.

"Well, I, for one, am glad that Grace was a good listener, and an excellent interpreter," Fiona said. "I'll see you all in a bit, time to start the Tuesday morning brief."

"I will be there shortly, Fiona," Juanita told her as she wolfed down her breakfast.

Juanita smiled at the group and raised her mug, sliding out from the table and heading to the conference room as the staff came to clean the table. It would be an interesting day at the Presidential Compound.

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

The Tuesday morning brief was rather somber as some of the delegates had stayed up till the wee hours of the morning, Fiona kept it brief. Juanita indicated that the next ambassadors to present their credentials would be Ambassador Her-ii of the Djinaëte and the Asocan Ambassador, Dragon Alvoie, giving out the timings for the departure from the shuttle port.

Once again, Sylvie was responsible for getting delegates from the resort to the shuttle port.

One item of interest to all was Sylvie's report that attendance at Denders Resort was suddenly up significantly as the mainstream media had finally located their 'hideaway'. She urged caution when speaking to guests as many were possibly reporters in disguise, some of whom would have an agenda of their own to report.

She reported that Denders, the IPPF, and UDC security, were attempting to ascertain whether people currently seeking residency at the resort were just the curious public or more professional reports and such. One thing of note that did come up in the searches, was that many of the people coming were the rich and famous.

Fiona advised that official media reporting should be conducted at the President's Communication Center to avoid the more unscrupulous reporters. Any media at Denders should be handled through Cynthia Stewart, as she could be trusted to be unbiased toward the Interspecies Community.

Preparations were made to once again move the greater number of delegates who would be attending the second ceremony. Most would stay in the capital for the day for the Asocan's presentation in the afternoon.

Presidential Compound, Capital City, Terra

Grace had made the news and entertainment channels, not as the daughter of the President, but on her own merit by speaking out against ignorance and intolerance. The President couldn't be happier for how his youngest daughter had stepped up to the plate when that boor Televangelist, Mike Hollister, had harangued him early in the morning. By unspoken agreement between the news media, the President seeing his daughter off to school each morning was a private moment and not meant to be a time that was interrupted by the media, until Mike Hollister had broken that photo-op moment for his own personal use.

The President's staff were conducting a series of polls about the incident.

"The polls show that 74% were shocked by The Right Reverend Hollister's misuse of your imagery, Mr. President. "A further 82% give high marks to your daughter for standing up to the man and 63% say he should be defrocked as a Reverend for his actions," Jason Canter, his Chief of Staff advised the President over the incident.

"So far, all looks favourable for your daughter, however, I would advise counselling her on speaking out of place. She does not have the experience to do such. A better media specialist than Hollister would have handed your daughter her head," Jason stated.

"I will speak with her when she returns from school, Jason, however, I will have to wait to rebuke her. I'm just too damn proud of her at the moment," the President responded.

That got a laugh from his people.

"Shall we get ready for the next group then people," Canter called out.

"Mr. Canter, make sure that boor the Right Reverend Mike Hollister is not allowed into the media center ever again," the President ordered coldly.

Jason noted the formal manner in which the President had ordered this, using his surname vice his given name. He immediately understood just how serious his boss was on the issue of Mike Hollister...

Morgan High School, Capital City, Terra

Grace had inadvertently become the talk of her high school. The imagery of her berating Mike Hollister was being moved about the school on the sly, keeping it away from the teachers.

In a school for the children of the elite of the Union, Grace was exceptional because of who her father was. None of the other student's families were in the same league of power that her father possessed.

Yes, it was true that he was an elected official, however, his re-election was not for some four more years and the scuttlebutt was that he would easily achieve re-election, as he was a much better manager of the Union than his predecessor had been. Thus, his power was likely secure until the turn of the century.

Grace was always in imagery with VIP's by dint of the fact that her father met with elite of the Union. Businesspeople, entertainers, heroes, her father met with them all and Grace often had the opportunity to meet them as well.

There was always a competition to see who had the best imagery of various VIPs. Most were of entertainers, some of dignitaries, others of the famous for other reasons.

This time, however, Grace had trumped them all. She not only had personal imagery of the high and mighty of the Interspecies Community, but also of the low, teens just like her, the sons and daughters of the famous of their people, and of the common workers.

Grace was sharing the imagery she had taken the night before with her school friends and her competition, the other sons and daughters who frequently met the famous. She smiled as more and more people came to see the pics and vid clips she had taken, until he arrived.

Michael Adenomere, the son of Jaar Adenomere, Patriarch of the senior branch of the Adenomere family and CEO of the Adenomere Trading Company on Planet Adenomere. The Adenomere family did not have a good reputation. They were reputed slave owners and also reputed to be rather cruel to their slaves.

Michael appeared to fit the model. He was arrogant, standoffish, and loyal only to himself. He had a clique around him that were the sons of other senior families of the Alliance, who could afford to send their children to Morgan High School, people who, though not exactly ostracized, were not warmly welcomed either. Thus, they banded together with Michael as a clique.

It cost quite a bit of money to send a child to this school, even more to board at the school. Because of the distances to their home worlds, these children were being boarded at the school for the entire year, and only returned to their home worlds once every three years, for a period of a few months with their respective families. Yet somehow, they maintained an attitude of aloofness that simply did not fit the facts of their situations.

"Well, if it isn't the belle of the hour," Michael said with a sneer. "At least for those freaks you call friends."

"What would you know about friendship, Michael Adenomere?" Grace demanded. "You seem to have to buy your friends," she remarked.

That was the wrong thing to say as Michael stormed over to her with hatred in his eyes.

"You bitch!" he shouted. "How dare you, a female, speak to me like that!"

"A female, Mr. Adenomere?" Grace said, not backing down as he approached. "Last I looked, Union law allowed that the sexes were equal. It would seem that you have yet to learn that aspect of our laws."

"I wish you were on my planet, girl," Michael sneered. "I would put you in your place rather quickly."

"I rather doubt that, Mr. Adenomere," Grace returned. "You are the type that needs people to fear him. I will never be afraid to stand up to a bully like you."

With a snarl, Michael lashed out at Grace, his fist seeking out her face, it never got there.

Grace was normally surrounded by bodyguards, but not in school. Here she had to tend with normal life, if going to an elite high school could be called normal. However, she had been taught to protect herself by some of the best, the Presidential Security Detail.

As Michael's right fist came at her, she stepped outside of his strike and brought her crossed hands up to trap his lower arm in the V they created. Her right hand came up and grabbed his right wrist, pulling it down across her body while she turned to her right. She slammed her open left hand into his elbow, locking out his arm, forcing his body to follow where she led it.

Grace deftly slid her left foot forward as she pivoted, to allow Michael to simply tumble over her outstretched leg. Michael went down hard, slamming into the floor where it met the wall. The impact was substantial as his body had nowhere to go as he impact the floor and the wall simultaneously.

Michael gave out an explosive 'Ooof!' on crashing face first into the waiting hard surface.

"GRACE!!" came an angry voice that Grace immediately recognized. "We do not fight in this school!"

"I was not fighting, Prof. Halen," Grace told her homeroom teacher. "I was protecting myself from this ceorl. He attempted to strike me. He should have known better. You may ask anyone who was here what happened. I'm sure someone recorded it."

Three students raised the arms which had their comps on it, confirming what Grace had just said.

"Both of you shall meet me after classes in my home room, is that clear?" Ms. Halen stated, getting nods from the two protagonists. She took copies of the recordings into her own comp for review to see what had happened.

While Grace had never been involved in fighting in the school, because of who she was, she would not be allowed to get away with anything in school. That was true of many of the students, including Michael Adenomere...