Chapter 21

Our status meeting went well.

Matt was making progress on getting a building permit for our temporary facilities and William was finalizing the supporting drawings. I let Matt know that we would have to install the utility equipment at what would be their permanent location, since Chairman Smart had bought me the equipment I would use for the Embassy Compound. I let him know I would get the equipment’s technical details for him when I had a chance and we would get with William to give him the design specifications. I asked for him to set up a meeting with William for tomorrow afternoon. Cindy added the item to the list of what I had to do.

Bill and Bashira had a tentative plan for the ceremony and the arrangements were being made. If everything went well, I could present my credentials within the next three weeks.

Mary was working out the details of the warehouse with William. I let her know that I would get her a catalog of warehouse equipment that was available in the Multiverse. Cindy added that item to the list of what I had to do in the Multiverse.

Abby reported that she had called her boss before the meeting to make arrangements for hand delivering her report. Her boss passed on a message that I was to call Ken as soon as I could.

Neither my bodyguards nor my ladies had anything to add, so we ended the meeting. Since Cindy was not sexually aroused, everyone stayed for lunch.

“Good afternoon, Ken Smythe speaking.”

“Ken, Doug here. Abby passed on a message from her boss that you needed to speak with me. What’s going on?”

“I spoke with Aaron two days ago. The President and the Secretary General have been talking and they decided to have the President host a small get together of key people who would be involved in you presenting your credentials and establishing your Embassy in Colorado. Since the majority of these people would be American politicians, they decided that it would be best if the President hosted the party in Washington. What I need to know is, are you all right with these arrangements and when would you be available to attend a party?”

“I just got back yesterday, Ken. Things are in turmoil right now and I have several things that need to be done immediately. The critical items should be complete by Saturday. I would like to know more about who would be at the party and what the President hopes to accomplish, but I should be available all of next week. One of the things Abby needs me to help with is delivering her report to her boss. We could do that and stay on for the party if that’s okay with everyone on your end.”

“I think that will work for the President and the Secretary General. I’ll let them know, and get back to you if there is a problem with that arrangement.

“Was there any specific thing you had in mind about needing more information about the goals of the party?”

“Well, I’m not really sure why other people will be involved, since the President and I will be making the agreement.”

“I guess we overlooked that you don’t understand the political requirements associated with this agreement. Please understand that the agreement between you and the President will not be final until it’s approved by Congress. Our politicians will view this agreement as a treaty between you as a representative of the Multiverse and the United States Government. Since treaties require Congressional approval, the President must present it to them for approval.

“You and the President are in agreement with what the final agreement will say. The President is very confident that what you work out with him after you present your credentials will be acceptable to Congress. He believes that any opposition to approving this treaty will collapse by him explaining what could happen if they fail to accept the agreement as it’s written.”

“I see. So in effect, we have an agreement now, and the President plans to blackmail Congress into approving it as written, if necessary. Is that right?”

“Well, I suppose it could be looked at like that. Does that create a problem for you?”

“Not really for I am becoming accustomed to power politics and power plays like that one have never been inappropriate according to my moral code. I am somewhat of a realist when it comes to doing things that are necessary for the good of me and those who support me.”

Ken said, “I think our American politicians call that being pragmatic when it supports their position, and self-centered when it’s practiced by those who oppose them.”

“Now that attitude, I understand. It’s very similar to the way I feel about things that need to be done. Tell me, Ken, do you think I am becoming a politician?”

I had said it in a joking manner so Ken would know I wasn’t looking for an answer. We did however share a brief laugh about what we said. I think it was a nervous laugh, as we both knew that our comments were very close to things we didn’t want to admit to ourselves.

I wanted Ken to make reservations for us, but when I added up who was in my current entourage, I came up with nineteen people. That was too many for this type of trip. I planned to meet with Ken while I was at the State Department and would need Bill for that meeting.

I decided to ask Matt and Mary to remain behind with the rest of my people. I would have Matt and Mary join us for the party, but they would not be needed during the rest of the trip. I decided to leave behind all of my Multiverse people who didn’t speak an adequate amount of English, but I would take Andy and Fitz with me. Mac would be needed in Denver by his wife and new kids.

“Ken, I and my group will need reservations at a hotel for twelve people. Could you arrange for us to have adjoining three-bedroom or four-bedroom suites?

“When I was talking with Aaron, he said the President had asked him to make your hotel arrangements. I’ll let him know your requirements.”

“All right, Ken, I guess that’s all for now. Abby and I will see you when we come to deliver her report on Monday.”

“Bye, Doug.”

A few minutes after I hung up the phone, Cindy let me know that lunch was ready. I took the boxes of earrings and rings with me when I went to the dining room. During lunch, I let everyone know about the plans for next week. After making the announcement, I had everyone select a ring or pair of earrings from the boxes.

“All right, almost everyone here knows that I bought these items in the Multiverse, and they only cost about twenty-five or thirty dollars each. Here on Earth, they are very valuable pieces of jewelry. Based on the ring I gave Senator Belton, I would say that the men’s rings are worth at least five million, and the earrings are probably worth at least thirty million per pair.

“There are a large number of thieves that would be more than happy to steal the jewelry from you. Therefore, I am not going to give this jewelry to you. The Embassy is going to issue the items to you before an official function. After the function is over, I want you to return the items to the Embassy. When you return the rings and earrings, place them in a plastic bag, with a piece of paper that has your name on it. These items are yours to use.

“People are going to learn that our jewelry is very expensive. I will make it very clear that the jewelry belongs to the Embassy and the Embassy issues this jewelry to its people for official functions. I want the thieves to know that the jewelry is returned to the Embassy at the end of the function. That way I hope that you will not become targets for the thieves. If someone accosts you wanting the jewelry, give it to them. This is costume jewelry, and easily replaced. I don’t want anyone to get hurt over jewelry that can easily be replaced for just a few dollars.

Everyone but Abby, Sandy, and Martha knew about the significance of the rings and earrings and that they were not considered costume jewelry here on Earth. Sandy and Martha were having difficulty grasping the concept of costume jewelry being highly desirable here on Earth. I had to explain that the platinum and jewels in the earrings were worth a fortune here on Earth, and that by wearing them in public, they would be envied by everyone who saw them.

We guys found rings that we could get on our fingers; but the rings that Fitz, Matt, and I could fit on our fingers were too loose. We needed to have them sized to fit our fingers. After lunch, the three of us headed for the American Gem Registry jeweler in downtown Denver. Before I left, I grabbed a pair of the earrings, for I wanted to get an idea of how much they were actually worth. Sto and Coral had disappeared again, and their links were shutoff. I didn’t want to interrupt him, so I went downtown without him.

When the three of us walked into the store, John, the clerk behind the counter, said, “Good afternoon, Sir! It’s a pleasure to see you again. Did you bring your rings back to us so we could appraise them for you?”

I had forgotten his name so I read his nametag and said, “Sorry, John, I won’t need to get those rings appraised right now. However, the three of us have rings that need to be resized, and I have a pair of earrings that I would like to have appraised.

The three of us set our rings on the counter in front of us, and I placed the earrings beside them. John took one look at the rings and earrings, and said, “I think Mister Anderson will want to help you with this transaction. Can you wait a few moments while I let him know you’re here?”

“No problem, John.”

Tom Anderson must not have been busy for he was with us almost immediately. After we reintroduced ourselves, and I introduced him to Matt and Fitz, I said, “We need some help with our rings and this pair of earrings, Tom.

“The rings need to be resized to fit our hands and I would like to have the earrings appraised.”

“Give me a moment while I have my gemologist take a quick look at the earrings. While he is doing that, I will measure your ring sizes.”

Tom took the earrings into the back room. A minute or so later, he returned picking up a set of sizing rings. Starting with me, he used the rings to determine the ring size of the finger on which I intended to wear the ring. After writing up the order on an envelope, he put my ring in the envelope. Then he did the same thing for Matt and Fitz.

As he worked with us, I noticed that he was a little nervous or perhaps unsettled would be a better word. “Is there something wrong, Tom? You seem nervous.”

“No, there is nothing wrong. It’s just that I am fairly certain what my appraiser will tell me about that pair of earrings, and I suspect that your rings have the same types of stones as the earrings.”

I said, “I don’t know what the purple stones are, but Matt’s wife helped us pick out the earrings and rings. She tested them with a diamond tester and they tested as diamonds.”

“That’s what I suspected, Doug. I think the red stones might be red diamonds and I suspect that the purple stones are tanzanite. All of these stones look like they are very high quality, so I expect that they are very valuable. Sort of like that ring that you had us checkout the last time. These stones haven’t been artificially treated to give them their red color have they?”

“No. To the best of my knowledge, they are natural stones.”

The gemologist had come out of the back room, so Tom went over to him and listened to what he had to say. When they finished, Tom brought the earrings back to me, and said, “Based on what my gemologist told me, the earrings are red diamonds and tanzanite in a platinum setting. He told me that the red diamonds are an unusual cut, and that they are larger than any he has ever heard of. I expect that we will have to consult with other gemologists, so it will take us about two weeks to do a full appraisal of the earrings. If you are in a hurry for the rings, I can have them resized for you by Saturday.”

“Saturday will be fine. I should have brought one of the extra rings with us to have it appraised also. I’ll bring one of my extra rings with me on Saturday.”

Tom had a shocked look on his face. He said, “Extra rings! You mean you have more of these rings.”

“Yes, why are you surprised?”

“Until you walked in with those rings and that pair of earrings, the largest red diamonds known to be in existence on this planet, are a 5.11 caret trillion cut diamond, a 5.05 caret square cut diamond, and a 5.03 caret brilliant cut diamond. The largest of those three stones is estimated to be worth around twenty million dollars. I am assuming that the red stones in your rings are red diamonds also, and they are around six carets each, which means these three rings are probably worth a total of over sixty million dollars. The red diamonds in the earrings are probably more than twelve carets each. Furthermore, the stones in the earrings and rings appear to be flawless, which is totally unheard of in diamonds of that size.”

“Oh! I didn’t know that, Tom. When I bought the jewelry, I got fifty matching rings in different ring sizes, and fifty matching pairs of earrings.”

My statement stunned Tom. He stood there bracing himself on the counter with his mouth open and eyes bulging. For a moment, I thought he was having a heart attack.

“You okay, Tom?”

“Yes, it’s hard for me to visualize fifty pairs of those earrings. That would easily be more than a billion dollars, even if I didn’t factor in the quality and size of the stones.”

“I understand that better quality gems equate to a higher price. What do you mean by factor in the size of the stone?”

“Well for example, a one caret red diamond is worth about a million per caret. A diamond as large as that 5.11 caret red diamond is much rarer, so its value is around twenty million, which is four million per caret. Now we have two red diamonds both of which are over twelve carets, so they could be worth more than ten million per carat. However, you just told me that you have fifty pairs of those earrings so a hundred similar stones will reduce the per caret price of the gems for they will no longer be rare.

“Frankly, I don’t know what to make of this, Doug. If I present this pair of earrings to my associates, they will go crazy. If I tell them that you have fifty pairs of the earrings, they will think I’m crazy. Where are you getting these stones?”

“Tom, my place of birth is a secret. However, the secret will be released shortly so I don’t mind telling you if you promise to keep it a secret until the news of my presence is made public. That should happen within the next four weeks.

“I was born on the planet, Vora. You can think of me as my government’s Ambassador to your planet. On Vora, red diamonds are as common as rhinestones are on Earth. One of my tasks here on Earth is to encourage trade. However, I also have to see that Earth’s markets are not destabilized or destroyed. These pieces of jewelry are to be symbols of my Embassy, and they will not be sold.

“I will allow a small amount of valuable merchandise of this type to be sold on Earth, but the amount will be very limited, so that it doesn’t destabilize your gem market.”

Now Tom was completely awe struck. I don’t know which affected him the most: my being an Ambassador, my being an alien, diamonds as cheap as rhinestones, or my not selling these gems.

We said goodbye to Tom, and the three of us left the jewelry store.

When we got home, Bill and Sue had gone home taking Andy with them. Matt and Mary left for their place a short time later, taking Fitz and Sandy with them. Matt said he and Mary would be back in time to pick me up to go to HRD in the morning. The rest of my group was scattered around the house taking care of the many chores that needed to be done.

I settled in my office and I was joined by Sereine, Coral, and Sto.

“Where Doug go? Sto miss Doug. Why Doug go without Sto?”

“I had to go, Sto, and I couldn’t find you. You were busy with your business, so I went and took care of my business.”

“What’s up with you, Sereine?”

“Nothing. There is not enough work around the house to keep everyone busy. I can’t do anything regarding the Trade Checkpoint until you are in a position to begin to define trade restrictions; which, of course, will not happen until after you present your credentials. I thought that I would come and keep you company. You look overwhelmed with just coordinating everyone and everything. Is there anything I can do to offload you?”

“I wish you could. I’ve offloaded everything that I can think of that doesn’t require my direct participation. At the moment, I have nothing to do, and feel like I am wasting all this valuable time doing nothing.

“How are the sex education classes going with Sto and Coral? Have you learned anything about Bushbie sexual customs?”

“Unfortunately, Doug, neither Sto nor Coral are familiar with the sexual customs of their species. They are doing what feels proper to them. I think there may be some type of courting behavior that takes place between Bushbies on Toomby, but none of us knows anything about it. Sto and Coral are making up their own way of doing things. I told them that if it works for them then it’s okay, and they shouldn’t worry about doing things ‘properly’.

“As far as me teaching them about sex, human sexual acts and practices don’t work for Bushbies. Coral informed me that Sto is giving her pleasure, and he is getting pleasure from her. They are happy with what they are doing, so I’m not going to tell them to do it differently.”

“That sounds like a good approach to take, Sereine. If Sto and Coral are happy, then I’m happy for them. Did Coral say anything about the possibility of pregnancy?”

“Not exactly in the way you are asking. She said that if Sto impregnates her, he had better be around to help with the kits. If I recall correctly, a Bushbie litter is normally eight kits, but a first litter is often smaller.

“Coral and the kits will be bed ridden for the first week. After that, the kits will be able to get around on their own to a certain extent. They will be curious and into everything that they can get into, and they will grow in size and strength very quickly. Sto and Coral will have their paws full training the kits, keeping them out of trouble, and teaching them to socialize with humans. Learning to be social is very important, for at just nine months of age, they will be big enough to do serious damage to a human. You and I will need to assist them in teaching the kits to be social with humans.”

Rita answered the door when the doorbell rang. It was for me. Special Agent Mark Tomas with the Washington Office of the FBI wanted to talk with me. We went to my office and I had Rita bring us a couple of glasses of iced tea to drink. When we were settled, Agent Tomas began the interview.

“Mister Smith, I am conducting an investigation that relates to charges of misconduct by one or more Homeland Security personnel. Your name has been mentioned in relationship to the events we are investigating.

“Do you know a Bill Hendricks or a Susan Hendricks?”

“Yes, I met both of them some time ago. We became friends, and after they left Homeland Security they accepted positions as Senior Members of my Embassy Staff.”

“I was not aware that you are an Ambassador, Mister Smith.”

“I am, however there has been a bit of delay in my presenting my credentials. The impediments have been cleared, and I should be doing so within a month.”

“According to the information presented to me, you had a relationship with Bill and Susan Hendricks while they were still with Homeland Security. Is that correct?”

“Yes it is, and might I suggest that you allow me to tell you the story of how I met them and our interactions since that time. It may save us some time and will give you a better understanding of our relationship.”

Agent Tomas agreed, so I told him everything that had happened between Bill, Sue, and I from the time I opened my hotel room door and looked down the barrel of Bill’s pistol until now.

“I was told by my superiors in Washington that I would probably hear several unbelievable facts regarding aliens when I interviewed you, and that I should accept them as the truth. I didn’t expect something like this. I was thinking he meant aliens as in people from foreign countries.”

“Man confused. Man thinks it true.”

Sto had been lying on a rug in the corner of the room to the rear of where Agent Tomas was sitting. He got up and walked over to Agent Tomas. At first, Tomas didn’t see Sto coming; but when he did, he froze in his chair.

Without moving a muscle, Agent Tomas asked, “What’s that?”

“That’s Sto. He is a Bushbie from the planet Toomby. Sto is my friend and companion. As long as you don’t try to harm me, he won’t hurt you. In fact, he sort of likes you.”

Sto placed his head on Tomas’ lap and purred, and Tomas started petting him. I had seen Sto do this several times and I was always amazed by the way people automatically accepted him as being friendly when he purred.

“When I was briefed by my superiors, they played a video of the meeting between Bill and Susan Hendricks and a Special Agent. Have you seen it?”

“Yes, I have.”

“Do you know why Senator Belton might be interested in separating them from you?”

“Oh, yes, I am very much aware of the little games the Senator is playing.

“I was negotiating with the President about living in the US after presenting my credentials. Senator Belton made a number of false statements about me to the President. In straightening things out, the President viewed the video, and he instructed his Chief of Staff Aaron McCaul to look into the matter. I assume that you are part of the effort that the President directed.”

“All my boss said was that the investigation was very political, with some high ranking VIPs involved. I didn’t realize the President was involved.”

“I hope you can put the Senator in his place, Agent Tomas.l; but if you can’t, I will do a number on him.”

“Don’t do anything illegal, Mister Smith. I would hate to have to arrest you.”

“Don’t worry about that. My diplomatic immunity would prevent that from happening. Have you heard about the ring I gave Senator Belton?”