Chapter 17

The Reyes and Rivera families remained at the clinic for the remainder of the day and well into the evening. Misty would periodically check her patients with her analyzer. By early evening, it was apparent that their condition was improving. After Misty informed the families, they returned home except for the mothers, who stayed with their sons for the night. They didn’t want a bed in which to sleep, so we provided them with a couple of our comfortable office chairs. They talked until the early morning hours, until first one and then the other fell asleep. The young men regained consciousness the next day, and their condition improved rapidly after that. Misty’s prognosis was they would make a full recovery, but would need physical therapy; which we wouldn’t provide.

Sue returned to the ranch two days later, and Misty told her to rest and to not exert herself for a few days and she would evaluate Sue’s condition in two days. Two days later, Sue wanted to go back to work. Misty said to wait for another week. Misty later told me all Sue needed was a minimum of four days of rest. By saying seven days, she was able to negotiate with Sue for a total of four days, which is what she wanted her to have as a rest period. Sue was happy that she was able to cut her seven-day rest period back to just four days.

Twice while Juan and Carlo were with us, their lawyer paid our two guests a visit. While the lawyer was with them, the Deputy stepped out of the mobile home that housed the clinic. He informed us that under local law a lawyer and their client had the right to privacy to discuss the defense they would use to get the accused a not guilty verdict. We let him know that the Multiverse was different. In the Multiverse, the court system was not about winning and losing, the court was interested in determining the truth and seeing that justice was done.

They had been with us for a little over a week, when Carlo’s sister passed them a message. The two gangs were going to raid the Embassy Clinic at noon tomorrow, rescue Carlo and Juan, and see they got across the border into Mexico.

The gangs had scouted our facility. They knew the locations of the Sheriff’s Deputy, our Security Guards, and where Carlo and Juan were kept. What they did not know was that we had a force field and the amount of firepower we had available to use in our defense. The force field was deactivated whenever Carlo and Juan had company and during shift change for the Deputy. The rest of the time, it was active. As a result, the presence of the field was not noticeable for all of our people had splinters and there was a visitor’s badge, with an imbedded splinter the officers wore. The force field recognized the splinters, and that allowed our people and the Deputies to pass through the field unimpeded.

The perimeter detection system and our force field were the first things I had Sergei’s people install after we had completed construction of the concrete pads for the mobile homes and portables. We had made a few improvements to our data storage capacity, since the assassin attempted to kill me, which allowed us to use a higher resolution setting for our outer perimeter cameras. We could monitor the ranch’s entire perimeter in more detail now, and we used the low-resolution setting for the cameras that covered the area around the mobile homes and portables; that setting was more than adequate for most purposes.

It was true that our main competitor outsold the Archer Conglomerate in the field of detection and force field equipment by a ratio of over three to one, but that was due to their equipment being much lower in price. Their equipment was of good quality and it had good features, but the Archer Equipment was far more sophisticated, had a higher level of quality, and allowed a much greater flexibility in its use. That was why the price was higher, but price wasn’t what had limited our data storage capability; heat was our problem. When I had returned from my last trip, I had brought back a high-efficiency, high-capacity cooling system for the portable and additional disk storage devices.

Sergei had selected the Archer Conglomerates’ latest line of force field, detection systems, rovers, weapons, and other equipment for my use. The equipment included a few models that were new and had just completed R&D testing. Our living area was one of their Beta test sites for this equipment.

The evening before the expected attack, I had Bill and his people check the settings of the detection system and force field, and then test the two systems. In particular, I had them make sure that the force field’s Friendly Fire feature was set to ON and the force field was manually set to its Level 1 Alert setting.

The Friendly Fire feature was a brand new feature that had just been incorporated into force field technology by Archer’s R&D Division. When enabled, the feature allowed the force field to determine if projectiles and energy fields were incoming or outgoing ‘fire’. The force field could be set to block all of an attacker’s incoming ‘fire’, while allowing the defender’s outgoing ‘fire’ to pass through the field unimpeded.

What actually happened was the force field detected the approach of the projectile or an energy field from within the force field, and opened a small window so the projectile or energy field could pass through the force field.

Prior to the development of this feature, the defender had to position their weapons outside the force field in order to remotely ‘fire’ on the attacker. Unfortunately, being outside of the force field made the defender’s weapons vulnerable to incoming ‘fire’.

Matt and I had discussed jurisdiction last night. We were all busy and we didn’t need the extra work that a trial would cause. The time to conduct the trial wouldn’t be that much, but the reaction from the religious community, the Black Activists Coalition, and The Pure Earth Society may cause us major problems.

Despite the extra work, we wanted to retain jurisdiction. I would discuss jurisdiction with the appropriate Federal, State, and County authorities based on us having jurisdiction, but if they really wanted jurisdiction we would allow them to incur the costs and responsibility of charging, trying, and imprisoning our attackers. My view of the situation was, nobody would want to incur the costs that jurisdiction would bring in order to deal with a situation that was tantamount to a group of US Citizens attacking a foreign power. Matt agreed that if I presented things in that way, it was unlikely anybody would dispute our claim of jurisdiction.

Before sunrise the next morning, Bill had extra Security Guards in the Security Portable. He designated key positions around the perimeter of the mobile homes and portables to which the guards would deploy when the attackers were detected. The approach of the gang would mean the attack was imminent, and at that time, the guards would arm themselves with stunner rifles and energy rifles and deploy to their positions.

The outer perimeter detection system indicated that we had no visitors moving toward the ranch. Just to be on the safe side, Bill had Ken and Carla join us within the force field. With the force field set for Level 1 Alert, our non-security personnel would be blocked from moving outside of the force field. The perimeter detection system was recording video of the perimeter. Since the system extended to outside our fence line, we should have a recording of the attackers’ arrival at the ranch and everything they did while on Embassy property. We also aimed our buildings’ security cameras toward their most likely path of attack.

I had suggested that we raise the arm of our gate so it wouldn’t be damaged. Bill said that was a bad idea. If someone wanted jurisdiction, it would indicate to an Earth court that we knew they were coming and we laid an ambush for them. He said a new gate arm wasn’t that expensive, so I agreed to leave it down.

Noon came and went. The gangs weren’t coming or they were just running late. Around one o’clock, we could hear motorcycles and cars approaching the ranch. In the Security Portable, the operator could see eight cars and fourteen motorcycles approaching the ranch’s entrance. The security system’s operator alerted his comrades informing them of the attacking force’s makeup. As the noise level increased, Bill’s people armed themselves for what was to come and moved to their assigned positions.

Inside the clinic, Carlo and Juan could hear their friends coming to get them. The Deputy was distracted by the noise, so they staged an altercation. When the Deputy moved to break up their shoving match, they attacked him knocking him unconscious. Before they could do anything else, Tammy shot them with her stunner, and used restraints to bind their hands and feet together. She then checked on the Deputy and notified Misty that he was bleeding from a cut on his head and in need of medical attention.

As Bill and I left the Security Portable, Bill got on his radio and reminded all of his people to stay on our side of the force field until the attackers were stunned or incapable of resistance. Bill’s people were professionals and didn’t really need the reminder. However, his people had splinters and the force field would allow them to pass through the force field, so it never hurt to remind people who might forget things in the heat of battle. Bill and I took up our positions in front of the portable. Standing there in plain view, we watched the attackers approach. It may seem to be a dangerous thing to do, but we were inside the force field and we knew the attackers could not harm anyone on our side of the field.

The gangs broke the gate arm as their cars came roaring onto the ranch. The motorcycles surged to the front of the cars after passing through the gate, and outdistanced the cars. We could see that seven of the motorcycles carried a second person; the riders and their passengers drew their handguns. In each of the eight cars that followed the motorcycles down our road, the drivers and three passengers pushed handguns, rifles, and shotguns out of the windows. Some of the cars had a fifth passenger, but that person didn’t have access to a window. So they stood on the seat with their upper torso through the sunroof so they could aim their weapon. As they headed toward our compound, the fourteen motorcycles spread out to form a seven-man front with four motorcycles in the second row and three in the third row.

While charging down the road toward our living area, the first row of motorcycles hit the force field at about fifty miles per hour. The second and third rows tried to swerve and avoid whatever their comrades had hit. A few where successful, but most of them hit the force field at an angle and went down to the ground. Crumpled bikes and bodies lay scattered in front of the force field with their riders and passengers screaming in pain from broken limbs, smashed faces, and other injuries; then there were those that lay silent and unmoving. The first car’s driver slammed on his brakes skidding to a stop. Before the driver could turn around and escape, the cars behind him rear-ended him and each other. The drivers and passengers tried to flee from their cars.

Bill’s marksmen opened up with energy rifles to disable all of the cars and motorcycles that might be capable of being moved. When the riders, drivers, and passengers tried to flee on foot, Bill’s people cut them down with their stun rifles.

The shooting only lasted two minutes. After that, all that remained was the mopping up. We deactivated the force field to aid in moving the injured to our medical facility and everyone else to our temporary jail.

The construction crew that was building the Embassy Compound had heard the sounds of the battle. They were now arriving to do what they could to assist us. They had also dialed 9-1-1 and reported the incident.

Last night, we prepared one of our storage portables for use as a temporary jail. With the help of the construction workers, Bill’s people secured the stunned gang members who had not been injured with plastic tie straps, and moved them to our jail.

A motorcycle hitting what is essentially a brick wall at fifty miles per hour is not conducive to survival; especially, when you aren’t wearing a helmet. Seven gang members were dead, so they were set off to the side until the County Coroner could remove their bodies.

Close to a third of the motorcycle drivers and passengers, eight people, were injured. Five people had been injured when the cars rear ended each other. Misty’s assistants sedated the injured until Misty could treat them. Misty was still treating the gang members’ injuries, by the time Bill’s people had finished clearing the field of the stunned gang members. By then, the local police, paramedics, and media had arrived.

As soon as I could, I had called Sheriff Hank Devon and I told him about the attack and about his Deputy’s injuries, which amounted to a few cuts, bruises, and a mild concussion. I also informed him about the Deputies who had arrived and wanted to treat the area as their crime scene. I put the senior Deputy on the phone with Hank, so he could let the Deputy know that the Embassy had jurisdiction over this incident. Once things were clarified, the Deputy and other emergency personnel assisted Bill’s people and Misty with the cleanup. Hank headed our way to check on his injured Deputy and bring us a replacement for the Deputy.

The media was a different type of problem that needed an immediate response. Our security guards had stopped them from entering the ranch, but I knew that they would not go away. I would need to give them a brief statement, so while driving over to the gate, I decided on the content of the statement.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Ambassador Doug Smith.

“As you can see from here, my Embassy was attacked today by close to fifty, armed attackers. My security personnel were able to stop the attackers without them inflicting any serious injury on the attackers.

“At the head of the attacking force were a small number of motorcycle riders who were firing their handguns at us as they approached our compound. My personnel are protected by a force field, and in their eagerness to assault my personnel, the motorcycle riders hit the force field head-on at a very high speed. That impact killed about a third of the riders. Those that were able to swerve before they hit the field head-on were injured when they grazed the field and lost control. Most of my people were armed with what we call stunners. These are non-lethal weapons that can render a person unconscious. My people stunned all of the attackers who were able to offer resistance. A few of those attackers may have suffered minor injuries when stunned due to their falling to the ground unconscious.

“One of the things that few Americans are aware of is that the treaty between the US Government and the Multiverse Government grants the Multiverse jurisdiction over any illegal acts committed on this ranch. As authorized by that provision, the Embassy’s security personnel have detained the attackers. In the near future, I will talk with the Federal, State, and County authorities to determine if any of them want to claim jurisdiction. If no agency wants to take responsibility for charging and trying the attackers in a court of law, they will be charged and prosecuted here on my ranch according to the laws and customs of the Multiverse legal system.

“Please excuse me ladies and gentlemen, but my staff and I are extremely busy with this situation, so I need to get back to work. However, the Embassy will host a press conference in the near future at a time and place that will be announced shortly.”

I refused to answer questions. After returning to the area of the portables, I reminded Bill that Sereine would be in charge of the prisoners, but due to her lack of manpower, she would need the support of him and his people.

While Misty and her staff, Bill’s people, and Sereine had been cleaning up the mess, Abby was on the phone to her boss, Charles Boyd. She informed him that our compound had just been attacked. The attackers were defeated and all of the survivors had been detained by my security force. She asked if the State Department wanted to intervene and claim jurisdiction over the attackers. After a few moments of thought, Charlie said, “Abby, the Department of Justice would be the agency to bring charges and try the people who attacked the Embassy. However, the crimes they committed are not Federal offenses, so tell Doug you caught them, you clean them.”

Bill had to explain the idiom to me. I understood it to mean that he didn’t want to get the US involved in a jurisdictional dispute. I think my friends have fun with me by using Earth slang and idioms to confuse me.

When the Sheriff arrived at the ranch, he told me he had called and explained the situation to the Weld County District Attorney before leaving his office. In particular, he explained what the treaty meant concerning the District Attorney not having jurisdiction. The District Attorney let Hank know that he had enough problems on his plate and wasn’t looking for more; especially a problem that might easily turn into an intergalactic incident.

It was clear the fate of the two gangs’ members had been dropped into my hands. Of course, I would have to confirm that conclusion by contacting the State Attorney General’s office to determine if the State of Colorado wanted jurisdiction.

Carlo and Juan injuring Sue was a different matter. From what I had been told, they would only get a smack on the hand for the injuries they caused Sue. That didn’t seem right to me, but we didn’t have jurisdiction in that case. But now they had committed a serious crime on Embassy property and I did have jurisdiction. That was the main reason I wanted to retain jurisdiction.

I told the Sheriff that I was pressing charges for the crime they had committed here on the ranch; namely assaulting a law enforcement officer on property controlled by the Multiverse. The Sheriff acknowledged my right to charge and try the two men for the attack on his Deputy. However, he claimed prior jurisdiction over them, since they were already his prisoners and they had to face charges stemming from the accident that injured Sue. Misty said the two of them were ready to travel, so I surrendered them into the custody of the Sheriff who had decided to simplify matters for us by incarcerating them in the county jail. Once the Sheriff was done with them, they would be returned to the ranch to face charges for the crimes they committed while they were our guests. After the Sheriff left with his prisoners and deputies, Matt and I got together in my office.

“Matt, this situation is the type of thing we have anticipated happening, but I had hoped that it wouldn’t happen this soon. We have discussed and planned on how to deal with such a situation. We need to adapt our plan to meet the current situation. What do you think?”

“I agree, Doug. I’ve been thinking the same thing since yesterday, when we learned about the gangs’ plan to attack us. We have jurisdiction over Reyes and Rivera, and if Colorado doesn’t want jurisdiction, then we will also have jurisdiction over the gang members who attacked us. I think we need to implement our plan now and the sooner the better.”

Meanwhile at the United Nations Building in New York...

“Bashira, did you hear the news report about the attack on Doug’s ranch?”

“Yes, I was taking my afternoon break when it came on the breakroom’s TV.”

“I think this may be the event we have been looking for, Bashira.”

“I’m not sure I understand, Amir.”

“We orchestrated a few minor events to evaluate Doug the man and Doug the Ambassador. But this is far greater than anything we have arranged. Think about it, Bashira. Doug has jurisdiction. If they are smart, the US Government, State of Colorado, and County Government won’t challenge Doug’s claim of jurisdiction.

“If that happens, this will be the first time a citizen of Earth has been tried for a crime on Earth by the legal authorities of another planet. Politically, this is not only an unheard of event; it is also a political bombshell. We will have to be very careful in how we handle the situation.”

“Handle the situation? Do you have something in mind, Amir?”

“I have an idea and we need to discuss it. As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, I feel that I should not express any support for or against Doug’s intended actions. However as his friend, I need to call Doug and express my concerns and explain my position to him.”

“It is not clear to me what you think your position should be, Amir.”

“I suppose one could say that since the United Nations accepted his Ambassadorial Credentials there is a political tie between him and the UN. However, this attack had nothing to do with his Ambassadorship. It appears to have been a group making a criminal attack in an effort to free their comrades from the local police.

“Since the attack was not political in nature, it would not be proper for the United Nations to take a position. Although there is the issue of the attack being conducted on his Embassy’s property. Since the United State agreed to host his Embassy and since the United States negotiated a treaty with the Multiverse, I feel that my official position should be that it is an internal matter that needs to be addressed by Doug and the respective authorities of the United States.

“Since his treaty provides Doug with the authority to do what it seems like he will do, I can officially take a stance that supports him as Ambassador Smith without having to take a position of whether it is right or wrong for US citizens to be judged by an extraterrestrial judicial system.

“As his friend, I will discuss the matter and find out from him if there is anything that I can do as an individual to assist him. I will let him know that I will send you out to his ranch today, so you can keep me informed of what is happening.”

“Amir, we both know that there is little or nothing that I can do to aid Doug. I think your real reason for having me there is to assess how he handles the situation as a man and as the Ambassadorial representative of the Multiverse.”

“Yes, you’re right that is my main reason for sending you out there, Bashira. But, I do consider him to be a friend and I will expect you to unofficially aid him if and however you can. For now, let us discuss the types of attitudes, behaviors, and other things you should be looking for regarding Doug the man and Doug the Ambassador. When we finish, I will call Doug, and you should go pack for a trip of at least four weeks.”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Reaching across my desk, I picked up my phone and speed dialed Bill’s cellphone number.

“Bill, Doug here. I know you are busy cleaning up the mess, but as soon as you can, turn everything over to your lieutenant. I am calling a meeting to deal with the current situation and we need you as soon as you can get here.”

After ending my call to Bill, I called Cindy. “Cindy, we need to have a meeting to deal with the current situation and I need you here. Before you join us, find Sereine, Abby, Sue, Sandy, and Kim. Tell them to get to my office as soon as possible.

The six of them joined Matt and me in the office five minutes later. I don’t know why but they arrived as a group. I had expected them to sort of straggle in individually like they usually did. Bill hadn’t arrived, and since I didn’t know when he would be able to get here, I started the meeting without him.

“Kim, when we first met, Matt and I discussed the possibility of having you join my staff. Before we made you an offer, we wanted to see if you would fit in with the position that Matt suggested you fill. For the past year, you have been writing some very good articles about the Multiverse. Based on those articles, I think you are an excellent candidate for the position. Would you be interested in becoming our Public Relations Officer?

“Before you answer, let me say that Matt and I see you wearing three hats. The first hat is that of our PR Officer, and in that position, we expect you to put a positive spin on anything related to the Multiverse. The second hat is that of the Embassy Press Secretary. In that role, you will handle all Embassy communication with the media. The third hat is that of an independent investigative reporter. You will be free to write stories about the Multiverse describing its positive and negative characteristics. You can also address the issues that you handle in your PR and Press Secretary positions. If you wish, you can address any negative aspects of the issues at that time. Are you interested in the position?”

“Yes, I accept, assuming of course that salary and benefits are acceptable. I have the feeling that now is not the time to go into those details. I’m also not sure how wearing three hats will work out, but I am definitely interested in both Embassy positions.”

“Good, you’re hired; we will do the paperwork and everything else, later.

“By now, I believe everyone here is familiar with most of the current situation. The part that you may not be aware of is that yesterday, Bill’s security group recorded a discussion between Carlo Rivera and his sister. The sister told him about the two gangs’ plan to free him and Juan today. Last night, we started preparing in case they actually attacked us. Early this morning, we put additional security personnel on standby to deal with the attack if it occurred. As you all know, the attack took place with a number of the attackers being killed and the remainder being taken prisoner. We now have to determine what we are going to do with our prisoners.

“So far, Abby talked with her boss Charlie at the State Department, and I talked to Sheriff Hank Devon. Neither the State Department nor the Weld County Prosecutor’s Office want to assume jurisdiction for dealing with the attack on our Embassy. I still need to check with the State of Colorado, but I don’t think they will want to get involved in this mess, either. If that is true, and I think it is, then there will be no opposition to our dealing with the attackers ourselves. I’ll contact the Attorney General’s office tomorrow to explain that we have jurisdiction, but are willing to hand our prisoners over to the State if they want jurisdiction. If the Governor doesn’t want jurisdiction, then it is my intent to see justice is done – Multiverse Justice.

“Sereine, since you are the senior Multiverse Police Officer here on Earth, the prisoners are your responsibility. I talked with Bill and let him know that he and his people are to support you, but you are in charge while the prisoners are on Embassy grounds.”

My cell phone ringing interrupted our meeting.

“Good afternoon, Ambassador Smith speaking ... Oh yes, Amir, the attack was a horrible thing. No, none of my people were injured ... Yes, I agree with you that this is not a matter that should concern the United Nations ... Yes, thank you for your personal support, Amir, and yes we will make arraignments for Bashira to stay with us for a few days ... Why thank you, Amir, and I wish you and your family the same. Bye.

“Cindy, Amir is having Bashira join us until this matter is settled in case there is anything that Amir or Bashira can do to support us on a personal level. He should be here late tonight, so we need to prepare a room for him and someone will need to pick him up at the airport.

“Now where were we? Ah yes, Matt and I were aware that a situation would eventually occur and we prepared a plan as to how we should respond. This particular situation is not what we expected, and it is something that we will need to deal with very carefully.

“To start with, even though the details of the treaty between the Multiverse and the United State were widely published, most Americans are not aware that the treaty establishes this ranch as an independent enclave that is governed by the laws of the Multiverse. The first thing we need to do is, make that aspect of the situation clear to everyone. The second thing we need to do is, make sure that Americans are aware that the Federal, State, and County governments acknowledged that the Multiverse has jurisdiction over all criminal acts committed on this ranch. We also want to make it clear that we offered to allow the Federal, State, and local authorities to assume jurisdiction, but they did not want jurisdiction.

“The media was at our entry gate earlier today and they wanted a statement. I gave them a brief statement informing them we had been attacked and we had stopped the attackers. I informed them that we had jurisdiction, and if the Federal, State, and County authorities didn’t wanted jurisdiction, we would prosecute the attackers. I mentioned that we would host a press conference shortly.

“Kim, your first task will be to prepare a press release announcing when we will conduct the press conference. I may want you to put together a flyer also that can be handed out at the conference, but I haven’t decided on the content.

“Matt and I decided that the best way to proceed is to host an informal meeting of the three levels of government agency officials, or their designees. A press conference seems like the best forum to accomplish our intent. My statement today opens the door for that press conference and lays the groundwork for what needs to be said during the conference. The primary points we need to make are the attack took place on Embassy property, the Embassy has jurisdiction, none of the three agencies is contesting jurisdiction, the Embassy will try the attackers, and the trial will be conducted according to Multiverse laws and customs.