Chapter 15

I needed to talk with Matt, Bill, and Sue about presenting my credentials and a few other things.

“Matt? Doug, here.”

“Hi, Doug, what’s up?”

“I’ve finished the immediate things that I had to do. Do you have time to go over the arrangements for my presenting my credentials?”

“Yes, when do you want to do it?”

“I’m still at the ranch, and we should be back at my home, shortly. Let’s meet there in two hours.”

“See you then, Doug. Bye.”

“Hello, Sue, it’s Doug. Matt is going to be at my place in two hours. I would like for you and Bill to be there also, so we can discuss the arrangements for me to present my credentials. Can you two be there?”

“No problem, we’ll be there.”

Thirty minutes later, the final box was moved into the shelter. One of my bodyguards closed and locked the shelter doors. Turning to Ken I said, “I guess we’re done for today, Ken. I need to get back home for another meeting.”

“I’m glad it’s you and not me going to all these meetings. I hate meetings.”

I stepped inside and thanked Carla for the iced tea. My ladies and bodyguards were standing beside the porch when I returned.

“Everyone ready to go home?”

Everyone was, so we walked over to the pile of boxes, and I hopped the boxes and us into the front room of our Denver home. My ladies went to work telling the bodyguards where they were to take each box, and the pile of boxes seemed to just disappear. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get ready for my meeting.

Bill and Sue arrived as Rita was letting Matt and Mary into the house. Rita showed them into my office and said she would bring us all a cup of coffee, as soon as it finished perking. I asked Rita to have Cindy join us with her computer. Mary left with Rita to help her with the coffee. I think Betty enlisted her to help in the kitchen, for she didn’t return.

“Matt, you have been working with Ken at the State Department making the necessary arrangements for me. Where do things stand, now?”

“We are a lot closer than we were, Doug. However, Ken seems to think that we should make connections with the Washington power brokers before you actually present your credentials.”

“Why would he want me to do that?”

The look on Matt’s face said he disagreed with Ken,

“Ken believes that you will need these contacts very shortly after you present your credentials. With that in mind, he feels you should develop contacts now, by attending some of Washington’s social events.”

Turning to Bill and Sue, I asked, “And what do you think of that, Sue?”

I surprised Sue. She’d thought I would ask Bill, first. She replied, “I suppose that would depend on whether you need these people to accomplish your goals. You need to consider what you want to do, and who you will need to help you to accomplish the goals. I personally dislike socialites. They seem very impressed with their own importance. I do have to admit that they seem to be very good at fund raising for beneficial charities and causes.”

“And you, Bill, what do you think?”

“I agree with Sue, if you plan to go that route. However, that’s the political approach, and you don’t impress me as being that type of person. From what I have seen of you, you seem to favor a more direct approach. Somehow, I think that you have something else in mind.”

“Why do you disagree with Ken’s recommendation, Matt?”

“Ken works in a political environment. His approach is what I consider ‘kiss ass’ politics. Most of the people that I have observed who favor that type of approach seem to be ‘no shows’ when it comes to actually getting down and getting their hands dirty with work.

“Furthermore, it can end up with you making an open-ended commitment to provide support for an undefined effort. Then when the person asks for help, you learn that you don’t really believe in the task on a personal level. I think you need to stay away from making those types of commitments.”

Combining three opinions that were similar wasn’t difficult.

“You are right, Sue. The first thing we need to do, is to define what I need to do after presenting my credentials. Bill is also right in that I am not a political person. However, I think that in my position as Ambassador, I will need to present a somewhat political persona.

“Frankly, I think we need to take a close look at the people Ken is suggesting we enroll as supporters. I don’t believe that enlisting a large number of supporters just to have people say they support us is a good thing.

“We need to keep in mind that any alliance we make will require us to help them as much as they help us. I also am not interested in forming alliances with people who have agendas that I do not agree with. We should also avoid supporters if they have a history of not helping people who help them.

“However, I do not think I should delay the presentation of my credentials to make those types of alliances. Once I have presented my credentials, it will probably be easier to make contacts with people who can help us. Of course, we need to know what those people will want from us before we make a commitment.

“What’s the next step in Ken’s plan, Matt?”

“Well, Ken doesn’t have a plan in that sense, Doug. He’s identified four things that he feels you need to do. Gathering supporters was the first thing he mentioned. He is also proposing two meetings: a meeting between the President, the Secretary of Defense, and you to finalize your interim agreement, and a meeting between the President, the UN Secretary General, and you to discuss your tenancy here on Earth as the Multiverse Ambassador, and to arrange for you to establish your Embassy in the US.

“Ken told me that the Secretary General and the President will want to understand your position here on Earth, and why an Ambassador is needed. If they agree that an Ambassador is needed, then they will want to know what you expect from them and what you will provide in return.”

That didn’t sound right to me. “Matt, I thought we had worked out an interim agreement with the President and Secretary of State. What you just said makes me think they want to change that agreement.”

“Now that you mention it,” Matt said, “it does sound that way. I took it to mean that they wanted a face-to-face discussion to reaffirm what you had agreed to doing.”

I said, “Matt, give Ken a call before we go any further. We need to clarify what it is that we will be discussing in our meeting with the President and the Secretary of State, and what they intend as an outcome of those discussions.”

“Hello, Ken, this is Matt. I have Doug, Bill, and Sue with me, so I am going to put our call on speaker so we can all participate.”

Matt switched his cell phone to speakerphone, and we all gathered around the phone and said hello to Ken. Matt later said we needed to get a conference phone for these types of calls.

Matt said, “Ken, we were talking about the arrangements you recommended to me. When I mentioned that the President and Secretary General would want to discuss arrangements with Doug, he said that it sounded like the President wanted to change their interim agreement. What’s going on at your end?”

“I don’t know what’s happening Matt. The Secretary told me that the President wanted to talk about these things with Doug. He didn’t tell me why. All I’m doing is passing on their message.”

It seemed to me that Ken had been caught in the middle, and we really needed to be talking with his boss, and possibly the President.

“Doug here, Ken. I want to move ahead with this as fast as we can. It seems as if something is going on that I don’t know about, which could cause problems. I suggest that we all sit down and discuss this. Would you and the Secretary be available to talk with us sometime tomorrow?”

Ken put us on hold so he could check on the Secretary’s availability.

While he was doing that, I said, “I think that we should push on this issue. I am thinking of going to Washington, and remaining there until we resolve these issues, and have a firm date for me to present my credentials.”

Ken came back on the line and confirmed that we were still connected.

“Doug, the Secretary said that he has an hour that he can spare you at one o’clock, tomorrow afternoon. Will that work for you?”

“That’s fine with me, Ken. I am bringing my entire party with me, and I plan to stay until we can finalize all of the arrangements. We will need hotel reservations for fourteen, preferably near your office. Where would you recommend us staying?

Ken told us about the hotel he favored. I decided that further talk with Ken at this time was meaningless, for his suggestions seemed to be coming from his boss.

“Ken, things have changed drastically for me since I saw you last. I am planning on five of my key people joining me in the meeting. I will also be accompanied by two large and formidable looking pets, and two bodyguards who are armed with non-lethal weapons. Matt says we will need you to get us through your building’s security.”

We made a few additional arrangements for meeting with him and the Secretary, and then said our goodbyes.

Turning to Matt, I said, “I would like to have Bill, Sue, and you at this meeting as my advisers. However, that would be a conflict of interest for you if you are still employed by HS. We have talked of your resigning in a week or so. If you are going to resign and join my staff, would you be comfortable resigning today?”

“Yes, today is fine with me. I would have done it sooner, but I felt it might be advantageous to be an HS employee; especially, if they tried to pull something on Bill and Sue. Since nothing has happened so far, I suspect they will wait to see what develops. My resigning in protest now might delay any further action on their part even longer.”

“Let’s defer this conversation until later. If everyone is in agreement, I suggest that:

1. Sue check out Ken’s hotel, and if it’s adequate, make reservations for enough suites or rooms to accommodate our party beginning tonight, for two weeks. If necessary, my bodyguards can have single rooms instead of sharing a suite.

2. If I recall, Matt, you have written your resignation. So all you need to do is finalize it, so it’s effective immediately and turn it in to HS. As far as I’m concerned, you are working for me as soon as you resign.

3. The rest of us will pack for a two-week stay in Washington DC.

4. When everyone is packed, I will hop us to Boston, and we can catch the train to Washington DC. I’ve never been to Washington, and some of us don’t have the necessary IDs to fly.

“Cindy, add ‘getting IDs for everyone’ to the list of what we need to do during this trip.”

“I don’t think we made a list for that, Doug. Are there any other items I should add?”

“Make a list, and just add that for now. We will add other things as we define them.”

Matt, Mary, Bill, and Sue all headed for their homes. Rita left to spread the word about leaving on a trip. The rest of us started preparing for our trip.

Sto had been feeding me his thoughts and asking questions. After everyone had left, I had a thought conversation with him about what was going on and what we planned to do. I reiterated that he should let us take care of any verbal and emotional attacks that the people we would be talking with might make. I also let him know that his impressions of the people, their emotions, and thoughts would be very helpful. I now understood what Sereine had meant by Coral talking to her to be restful. I had become accustomed to Sto’s thoughts and comments, so I rather missed them when he was quiet.

I knew that my ladies were packing a bag for me, so I decided to call HRD and talk with William.

“Hello, William speaking, what can I do for you?”

“It’s Doug Smith, William. I thought I should call you so we could update each other on what’s going on. How are the plans coming?”

“I’m making good progress in that area, Doug, but I will need those specifications I requested soon.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I have the specifications for you here on my desk. I have a number of things scheduled for the next few weeks, but after that I should be able to fit you in so we can go over the specification sheets together.”

On my last trip, I had given my Mom a tape measure, a two-cup measuring cup, a stopwatch, and a one-pound weight from Earth. I explained the Earth measurements that I needed to her and asked her to document the Earth measurements relative to the equivalent Multiverse measurements. She had done so with a little help from Rita and Mary; of course, I had to translate for Mary.

“I can take a look at the plans when I come by, and we can discuss any necessary changes. Anything else that you need from me?”

“Nothing that I can think of right now.”

“Well just to let you know, I purchased a large piece of land east of Greely that’s adjacent to the north end of Riverside Reservoir. I’ll take you out there for a site survey when we get the chance. I also have the preliminary plans for the inner and outer perimeter defense systems.

“That’s all I have for you for now. I am going to Washington DC for a week or two to take care of some business. I’ll call once I know when I will have time available to meet with you. Do you have anything else, right now?”

“No, Doug, that’s it for now, bye.”

I decided to make the rounds and see how everyone was coming with getting ready to leave. When I saw Sereine, I took her aside and explained what we would be doing in Washington and that I explained it to Sto, so he wouldn’t overreact if someone got upset with me. I may be a worrywart, but I suggested that she have a similar talk with Coral. She said she would, but didn’t feel it necessary for she had many similar talks with Coral in the past, and Coral was well trained as to how to behave in those types of situations.

Sue called, “Doug, I wasn’t sure how you planned to get from Boston to Washington DC. I contacted a travel agent and we can fly, rent a van, or go by train or bus. It takes about 7 hours by train, bus, and van, but only 2 hours by plane. Do you have a preference?”

I said to Sue, “We can’t go by air because most of my people don’t have IDs. I was thinking of the train, but we will need transportation in Washington. Let’s rent two of those fifteen-person vans for two weeks. That should give us the best flexibility for travel and comfort. I suspect we may need to travel in the DC area. Just keep us away from the Boston airport. I had a bad experience there.”

“When will we pick up the vans?”

“We should be in Boston in about two hours, and be sure to let the hotel know that we may be arriving late.”

“That won’t be a problem, Doug. We have a guaranteed late-arrival at the hotel. That should give Matt enough time for his end of things.”

Sue had been delayed, so we weren’t ready to leave until two and a half hours later. I hopped us to a slightly isolated point in Boston that I was familiar with. Matt and Bill took a cab to the rental place, and returned with the vans. While they were gone, I had Sue call the hotel and confirm that we were in Boston and traffic permitting we would be in Washington DC in around ten hours. Yeah driving time was about seven hours, and factoring in dinner meant we should arrive around one AM. However, I added an additional two hours for delays. I didn’t want to lose our room reservations.

Nine hours later, we checked in at the hotel. I didn’t know about the others, but I was tired. My ladies and I went to bed and slept. I can’t remember us cuddling up as we usually do. The last thing I recalled was putting my head on the pillow.

We all slept in that morning, so we missed the buffet breakfast. It was just as well for my new people had to eat a no-sugar diet, while they were developing their tolerance to sugar. I explained their dietary limitation to our waitress, and they were very accommodating. After breakfast, I had Cindy, Sereine, Matt, Bill, and Sue join me in my suite. The rest of my ladies joined Mary and Sandy in Sandy’s suite. One of my bodyguards was with the ladies, and the other two were with me.

We were reviewing the topics I needed to address with the Secretary General of the United Nations. I had worked out a brief presentation for the Secretary of State and the President during our drive yesterday, and needed to add a few items. For some reason, no one wants me to drive.

Sue was looking at me with a thoughtful look on her face. “Doug, I have been thinking. One of the things you need to do is gain the approval of the world’s population.

“Your hospital cured Mary’s cancer with a simple injection. There are undoubtedly many more illnesses that the Multiverse can cure in simple ways that would be helpful here on Earth. Would it be possible to set up some type of clinic that would make Multiverse medical care available to the inhabitants of Earth?”

“Yes, that’s possible. I have thought of it, and have taken steps to begin that task. Unfortunately, based on what I understand, that task has a number of problems that we will have to overcome. We will need to talk with the World Health Organization. At least I think they may be the best agency for us to deal with, concerning that idea. However, I think we will experience resistance from the drug companies, and from the organizations that represent the medical professionals.

“Cindy, make a list and title it ‘Things To Do for Earth’. The first item to list is, establish better medical care for Earth’s inhabitants.”

“What types of technology can we get from the Multiverse?” Bill asked.

“I won’t know that, Bill, until after I have done an analysis of Earth’s technological level. I can authorize a few items of advanced technology, but I do have certain limitations in doing that until after I complete the analysis.

“Cindy, create another list and title it ‘List of Ambassadorial Tasks.’ Add perform technological assessment of Earth as the first task, and add establish currency exchange rate as the second task.”

We continued our brainstorming until it was time for us to get ready to leave. The more we talked, the longer my lists became. Matt, Bill, Sue, Cindy, two of the bodyguards, Sereine, Coral, Sto, and I headed for one of the vans. Everyone else would wait for us at the hotel. Mary said that she and the other women would relax by the swimming pool, or perhaps go the hotel’s hair salon. Matt drove us to the State Department and we arrived in plenty of time to get through the security checkpoint.

I called Ken to let him know that we were here, and that we would need him to assist us with getting through their security. Ken had made the arrangements, but I somehow couldn’t see them letting us through without an escort, since my bodyguards were armed and we had two large formidable looking animals with us. Besides, it’s a large building and we might get lost.

Ken arrived and I introduced him to all of my new people. I explained that my two bodyguards were armed with non-lethal weapons, and that Coral and Sto also had to remain with us. Ken talked with their security people, and a couple of phone calls later, we were on our way upstairs to a conference room. Once we were settled around the table with beverages, Ken let the Secretary know that we were ready.

While we were waiting for him to arrive, Ken said hello to Matt and Bill; he recognized them from the meetings in Denver. We didn’t have time to explain what happened, but Matt told Ken that he, Sue, and Bill no longer worked at Homeland Security, and that they were now senior members of my Embassy staff.

The Secretary of State didn’t keep us waiting for a long time. When he joined us, he was accompanied by a second man.

Ken said, “Mister Secretary, this gentleman is Mister Doug Smith. Doug, this is Secretary of State Mister Charles Boyd and the White House Chief of Staff Mister Aaron McCaul. I will let you introduce your party to the Secretary and Mister McCaul.”

“I looked at the Secretary and said, “Good afternoon gentlemen. I prefer Doug to Mister Smith.

Pointing to each of my people, I said, “This is my Chief Adviser, Matthew Crane and he prefers Matt; the Manager of my Security Department, Bill Hendricks; the Manager of my Analysis Department, Susan Hendricks and she prefers Sue; and my Personal Assistant Cindy Smith. At the far end of the table are my two bodyguards and Miss Sereine Tatting; she is the Multiverse Law Enforcement Officer who will be in charge of our Trade Checkpoint. My bodyguards, Miss Tatting, and Cindy don’t speak English yet, so they will not participate in our conversation. We also have our two pets, Sto and Coral.

Turning to Sto, I said, “Sto, this is Mister Charles Boyd. Mister Secretary, this is Sto. Sto, this is Mister Ken Smythe. Ken, this is Sto. Sto, this is Mister Aaron McCaul. Arron, this is Sto.”

Sereine came to our end of the table with Coral, and went through the same introduction, using the phrases I had taught her. Aaron, Ken, and the Secretary of State were giving Sereine and I odd looks, so I said, “It would take me a long time to explain why we introduced our pets to you, but it was important. I will explain why later, if you are interested.

“Gentlemen, Matt and Bill have been working with Ken to make the necessary arrangements for me to present my Ambassadorial credentials, and establish my Embassy in the US.

“Mister Secretary, we negotiated an interim agreement with the President and Mister Boyd. It’s my understanding that we may want to add a few minor items to the final agreement. However, in talking with Matt and Ken over the past few days, I have gotten the impression that you and the President may want to renegotiate the entire agreement. Am I mistaken?”

The Secretary looked a little uncomfortable, “No, Sir, you are not exactly wrong.

“At the time we made that agreement, the President and I talked about Ken’s report to me on your meeting with Senator Belton in Denver. Ken said, the Senator was in favor of your remaining in the US, and he told Ken it was critical that you set up your Embassy in the US.

“About two weeks ago, one of the President’s advisers learned that Senator Belton was talking with Homeland Security about you bribing Mister Hendricks. The adviser brought it to Mister McCaul and the President’s attention. The President had Aaron talk with Senator Belton. The Senator told him that you were up to something and that he was looking into the matter.

“Based on that, the President decided that you, Matt and Bill, may have misrepresented things to Ken. He told me that he wanted to go over the accusation of bribery and our interim agreement with you in person. That’s the main reason that I invited Aaron to this meeting.”

I looked over at Matt, Bill, and Sue. They were all displaying signs of anger, and I knew they wanted to respond. “Mister Secretary, I never offered a bribe to anyone at Homeland Security.”

“I took Bill and Sue on a trip to the Multiverse. I had a very important task to accomplish, and I needed their assistance. They assisted me, and I paid them by giving them each twenty-five percent of my net profits on that trip. That amounted to several million dollars.

“Their bank reported the deposit to the IRS, and we believe their superiors were informed by the IRS. Bill and Sue both explained our business transaction, but their superiors persist in the idea of it being a bribe. They sent a Special Agent to Denver. He gave Bill and Sue an ultimatum that they felt was inappropriate and could not accept; so they resigned, and went to work for my Embassy.

“I had a similar need during my last trip, and Matt aided me with that task. I offered him and his wife Mary the same deal I gave Bill and Sue. I still need to determine my net profit, and pay them for their help. When we returned, we learned about the coercion that Homeland Security had tried to use on Bill and Sue that resulted in them resigning. Matt was planning to resign in protest and since I wanted him here as my adviser, he tendered his resignation yesterday and accepted a position with me.

“Matt, do you have anything that you would like to add?”

“Yes, I do. Bill, Sue, and I were on ‘time off without pay’ during our trips to the Multiverse. Taking leave without pay means we can accept employment with another company or person during our leave. According to HS policy, there is no limit on how much money we can earn when on ‘time off without pay’.

“Bill, I know you and Sue want to say a few things, also.”

Sue spoke saying, “Mister Secretary, we did nothing illegal in going with Doug, either during our trip or after we got back. We were informed the day before the meeting that a Special Agent would be arriving to talk with us in the morning.

“Before the meeting, we arranged to have it videotaped. We have a copy of that videotape with us if you wish to watch it. If so, you will hear the Special Agent accusing us of accepting a bribe, informing us that we would not be charged if we donate the money to a charity, and accept a transfer to another office. The tape also shows the Special Agent making a cell phone call to his boss after we left the interview room. He informed his boss that we were on the ropes and Doug would be isolated as Senator Belton requested.

Bill added, “We filed a complaint against the Special Agent and our superiors, and then resigned and went to work for Doug.”

In my head I heard, “Secretary angry at Senator. Aaron angry at Senator. They believe you. Secretary want you talk President. Secretary good man. Aaron good man.”

I said, “There are parts of my story that I can prove to you gentlemen. Unfortunately, I am the only person who can speak both English and Trade Speak, which is the universal language of the Multiverse. Much of what I tell you, you will have to accept on faith.

“I don’t need to lie to you for the information I have given Matt, Bill, Sue, Ken, and the two of you is the truth. Matt, Bill, and Sue have been to the Multiverse. They don’t speak Trade Speak, but they did participate in many of the meetings I had. I translated what was going on at the time because I wanted them to understand the Multiverse and its culture.

“If you wish, why don’t you ask them what they think of my veracity?”

The Secretary glanced at Aaron, and then said, “I think we would like to talk with them about their experiences in the Multiverse, Mister Smith. However, that would be for our personal curiosity. We believe that you are telling us the truth. You may be shading the truth slightly, and I suspect there are many things that you haven’t told us that it would be good to know. However, I do believe that what you have told us so far is the truth.

“I would prefer that you address me as either Charles in a public setting, or Charlie in private.”

“I am Aaron to my friends, Doug.”

“You’re correct, Charlie. There are things that I am not ready to share with the people of Earth at this time. Knowledge of a few of those items might create major problems, but those problems would only delay what will happen, they will not change the situation.”

Aaron said, “That sounds a little ominous to me.”

I replied, “I would need to give you a great deal of information, which I am willing to do, for you to understand what I meant by problems. We don’t have time for that today, so please accept that the things I am not willing to share and the problems they would cause are more of an inconvenience than harmful.”

Charlie and Aaron agreed to meet with us later in the week to discuss arrangements for my presenting my credentials. We would set up a second meeting to discuss the final version of our agreement after I had presented my credentials. Aaron said he would recommend that the President discount Senator Belton’s comments and abide by our interim agreement.

Charlie had to leave for his next appointment, but Aaron stayed to talk with us.

“Doug, if you have time I would like to hear the story of why you introduced us to your pets.”

I wasn’t sure just how much I should reveal to Aaron about our Bushbies, but decided to make a full disclosure.

“Aaron, Sto and Coral are what we call Bushbies. Our scientists have studied their species for a long time. They have learned that Bushbies are very intelligent. They have two ways of communicating. They can sense the emotions and feelings of the people around them, and in that sense, they are empathic. They do not have a language, for they communicate with other Bushbies and people using mental images. This is similar to telepathy.

“Bushbies will sometimes select a human and form a bond with them. In bonding with the human, the Bushbie creates what I think of as a thought link with the human. This link is permanent, but Bushbies can also create a temporary link with some people. Sto decided to bond with me about a month ago. Coral bonded with Sereine around six years ago. Sto and I can pass thought images back and forth over our link. My mind interprets these images as one or more short broken sentences. Sereine and Coral do the same thing.