Chapter 40: Safe and Secure

The rescue operations ended before noon. Hank commanded that full communications be restored to the USR and Aztlan from the bridge of the Wacky Wench, Jim Mackerel's yacht. Within minutes all the USR communications channels cleared, but that served only to increase the chaos as frustrated bureaucrats jammed all channels with demands for information, for action, for revenge.

The other 276 Capitallian captives were taken to pre designated zones and turned over to Capitallian federal marshals. As agreed, a quick debrief was held for the federal marshals and for a representative from the reorganized Capitallian Department of Defense. The rescued slaves were still slaves, and medical examinations were in order before the slave advocates could take protective custody of the slaves. As for the slave owners, courts issued summons for them on charges of wrongfully removing Capitallian slaves from Capitallia.

In Jacksonville, Florida, Pensacola Amazon Militia Commando Sergeant Donna turned over only one captive, Slave Rose (also known as Glory Morgenstern) to a slave advocate agency. Ambassador Cai was offered four choices: being released in Florida, being taken to New York City and released, being taken to New York City and turned over to the Chinese Embassy there and release to a Capitallian federal officer. Ambassador Cai requested political asylum. Ned Saunders accepted responsibility for Ambassador Cai and then asked Hank if the two of them could hitch a ride to New York City in Hank's car.

To prevent Capitallia's law from being abused any person who brought forth criminal charges in private prosecutions had to be an injured party. If not directly injured by the criminal activities of the defendant, there was no case. Civil cases had a similar provision.

There were 482 Capitallian slaves illegally removed from Capitallian soil. Owning a slave didn't give the owner the right to do just anything to a slave. Slaves had rights, too, even when those rights didn't include slaves defending themselves. One of those slave rights was remaining in Capitallia. Other countries didn't recognize slavery, following the defunct United Nations' prohibition of human slave ownership by individuals. Besides, the "conventional wisdom" was that slaves in Capitallia were better off than "free people" in many other countries. Slaves were in fact legal residents of Capitallia, people who had a right to be in the country, but slaves were not free people, were not free non-citizen legal residents with their own (limited) right of self-defense. These 482 Capitallian slaves were represented by multiple slave advocacy agencies and the owners of record were charged with the crime of wrongfully removing Capitallian slaves from Capitallian soil.

A few minutes after arriving in Jacksonville, Hank and Amanda got aboard Hank's flying car and took off for New York City with Ned and Ambassador Cai. The ambassador sat up front while daughter Amanda held her father Ned's hand. The trip took only a few hours.

Robin Tyson was having dinner at her home. Robin found that the presence of Hank Bot Five was comforting. Possessing a close approximation of Hank Dalton's personality, Hank Bot Five was easy to talk to. Robin had both robots work undressed in her household when the director didn't have guests. Robin Tyson admitted it to herself--she liked her time in Florida and found the naked human body decorative. Robin quickly got over being upset at Hank's deception, the substitution of a robot for the real Hank Dalton. Robin admitted it only to herself; Hank Dalton was a nice guy but being around Hank was stressful. The several attempts on Hank Dalton's life were beyond what Robin could counter. Guided missile attacks were only one of the dangers. Then there was the fact that Hank constantly was DOING things. Robin unwound, enjoying her dinner and a stress-free evening with a faux Hank, a Hank she didn't have to protect, a Hank that didn't cause her trouble.

Robin's communicator chimed, informing her that she had a visitor at the security checkpoint of her home. It was Hank Dalton and his slave Amanda.

"What are you doing here?" Robin demanded. "You slipped away from me four days ago."

"My guess is that President Proctor is meeting with the USR ambassador," Hank replied. "He may have called and asked you to bring me to another meeting. You told him that I vanished on you. Don't worry about any sexual activity between you and Hank Bot Five--if you didn't request a recording, there is no record proving or disproving that. Fembots routinely purge their memories of sexual encounters so that their owners' privacy is protected."

"I need to call President Proctor," Robin said. "You are wrong about the US ambassador. The President of the USR wants to meet with you and President Proctor."

"I make a lot of errors," Hank admitted. "Guessing wrong proves that I;m not psychic, doesn't it? When and where will we be meeting?"

"Let me call the President," Robin reached for her cell phone.

At that moment President Phillip Proctor was with Josh Luceno. President Proctor's pet tiger, a talking animal named Czar John Paul Jones, was sitting on the floor with his head in Phillip Proctor's lap. The tiger was talking.

"Hank will show up," Paul said. Czar John Paul Jones is such a mouthful that 'Paul' was the tiger's usual name. "Hank doesn't like meetings but he has them all the time."

"Everybody does things that they don't like do," Phillip told his tiger. "There are a lot of things I don't like about being President. I only sought public office to make a difference. Dr. Dalton's taking the USR communications out for half a day scares me because Capitallia is vulnerable too. A man named D. H. James wrote a book on emergency management infrastructure. He recommended bringing back archaic communications systems as back-ups even though the systems contemporary to 2100 were robust and reliable. The USR is using those modern systems of the year 2100 and they failed. Capitallia brought back the old ham radio system based on the Boy Scouts of Capitallia and their advisors. We are perhaps the last nation on Earth to teach the old Morse Code. We kept the old Citizens Band radio system in operation. I don't really like being a politician. All the petty power games seem to rise to the top. I thought being an educator was the key to making a bright future. Sometimes it takes politics."

"Sir," Josh interrupted, "it is Director Tyson. She says that Hank Dalton is with her right now."

"Put her on speaker phone," the president commanded. "Director Tyson, good evening."

"Good evening, Mr. President," Robin responded. "Dr. Dalton is with me and asks when and where do we meet?"

"I'd like him to be my guest on Air Force One in two days," the president said. "We're going someplace convenient for both me and the USR president but for security reasons we won't reveal that location to anybody. Be at the Kennedy Airport no later than six in two days; just yourself and Dr. Dalton."

After the connection was broken, President Proctor and his chief of staff had a few moments to look at the scorecard: 277 rescued Capitallians, a few injuries among the Capitallian captives and their rescuers, but no fatalities, no serious injuries. One new development during the past 12 hours was that the President of the United States, Mr. Huston McGee, had been in conference with President Proctor. The subject: getting the other 205 Capitallian slaves back on Capitallian soil as soon as possible--and before Capitallia conducted another raid to rescue them!

"Mr. Cai requests an immediate meeting with you, Mr. President," Josh said. "Mr. Cai is asking for political asylum and is currently here. Ned Saunders, the field agent that was the command liaison for Operation Bandaid, has taken custody of the ambassador at Mr. Cai's request."

"What's he offering in trade for asylum?" President Proctor asked. "There are many in Capitallia who would open our doors to anybody claiming political oppression. Capitallia doesn't work that way. Nobody rides for free. What is Mr. Cai bringing to the table?"

"Mr. Cai told me that Dr. Dalton restored him," Josh said, "and Agent Saunders confirmed that. I don't know what they were talking about--only that Mr. Cai claimed Dr. Dalton's act of kindness has condemned the ambassador to a slow painful death if Ambassador Cai returns to China."

"What did he do?" President Proctor muttered. "Saunders was wrong about Hank Dalton. It doesn't take him a whole day to destroy the world, only a few hours. I take that back--it only takes a few hours for the world to notice that it has been destroyed. Josh, squeeze Ambassador Cai into my schedule as soon as you can get me a few minutes."

"How about right now, Phillip?" Josh asked. "We have a meeting of the National Security Council in ten minutes but you can be late for that one. The agenda--"

"Is how we'll announce the safe return to Capitallia of 277 slaves illegally removed from our soil," Phillip Proctor finished Josh's sentence. "In two days the President of the United States and I will be addressing both nations as the rest of the illegally-removed slaves are returned to Capitallia. We will be addressing them from Air Force One--Capitallia's Air Force One. For once we'll have a surprise for Doctor Henry James Dalton."

"I'll bring in the ambassador and his escort right now," Josh keyed his communicator. A moment later Ambassador Cai and Ned Saunders entered the room. Greetings were exchanged.

"I want to live," Ambassador Cai announced. "Do you know what an imperial eunuch is, Mr. President? Fifteen years ago I was castrated so that I could be an external official of the Chinese Empire. Removing the source of desire made us fit to love only the Emperor. Dr. Dalton replaced my sex organs and if I return to China they will execute me for treason. I'm doomed. I request political asylum."

"This is Capitallia," President Proctor said to the ambassador. "We don't provide free services. Everybody pays. What have you got to offer Capitallia? Have you a sponsor?"

"No, Mr. President," Ambassador Cai admitted. "I was hoping that the Republic of Capitallia would sponsor me. I do have diplomatic knowledge. Right now I am a dead man. Can you persuade Doctor Dalton to sponsor me?"

"Doctor Dalton is a private citizen," President Proctor said. "Unless his Nevada militia unit is mobilized in Nevada state or Capitallian federal service, Henry James Dalton is his own man."

"What was he doing in the USR?" Cai said in a shocked voice. "I know Capitallian citizens are filthy rich, but how did he find me?"

"I don't know," the president admitted. "Let me introduce you to someone. Paul, come out."

Two hundred kilos of striped cat emerged from behind the president's desk. The two visitors had different reactions. Ambassador Cai blanched and stood stock still, goggle-eyed at the sight of a tiger. Ned Saunders smiled and knelt on one knee, extended a hand to the tiger.

"I'm Ned," Agent Saunders introduced himself. "You must be one of Hank's talking animals. Paul, is your name?"

"My full name," the tiger announced, "is Czar John Paul Jones."

"Czar?" Ned said. "Ah, yes--the father of the US Navy and Marines was also the father of the Imperial Russian Navy. I remember my Marine Corps History and Traditions class now. I don't want to do Hank's professor act, so I won't tell you more about that old pirate who commanded the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War."

Ambassador Cai would have voided his bowls and bladder in fright at the sight of a tiger but for two things--his bowls had been emptied in the medical booth aboard the Wacky Wench and Ambassador Cai's last meal hadn't digested enough and his bladder had been emptied a short time before the normal way.

"Sir," the tiger told the terrified Chinese ambassador, "I don't bite. I can't harm a human. It is how I'm made."

President Proctor told Ambassador Cai a little of Paul's background and told the ambassador why Paul spent his days in the office.

"I just asked Paul to verify that you are not attempting deception," Phillip Proctor explained. "Animals haven't been socialized to ignore the signs of deception like we humans have. Paul, report."

"I like Ned," Paul said. "Ambassador Cai entered the room terrified. Now he is more frightened. I don't detect any deception."

"Good," President Proctor said. "Ambassador Cai, will you attend a meeting of the National Security Council? I want you to tell us everything you know about China's interest in Capitallian slave control technology."