The Black Ships Read Online Free PDF Page B

footing. She smiled as her visitor was ushered in, noticing his
involuntary reaction to her appearance. In her thirty eight years of public
service – first in her homeland of Transkei, later in post-apartheid South
Africa - she had little need to rely on her looks but she didn’t begrudge their
effect.  
    She shook his hand in the center of the
office. “Mr. President, please, won’t you have a seat?” She indicated an
arrangement of lounge chairs to one side of her office.
    Parnell sat down, looking around him. “Very
nice, Madam Secretary General. They’ve really captured the look of the fifties
in here.”
    Jess smiled. “I believe maintained is a more accurate description. I’m pretty sure this paneling was here since
the building was completed. It still smells faintly of cigars if you stand
close enough; I was told once that Dag Hammarskjöld
stocked up on Cubans when things were heating up .” I
can chat all day if you don’t want to come to the point. I know what brought
you here, she thought.
    The American president brought his gaze
back from the décor to look at his host. “I suppose you have some idea of why
I’m here…”
    “I imagine it has something to do with the
startling news out of Oxford?”
    Parnell nodded. “We were hoping to keep
things under wraps for the time being to avoid panic but when an entire lecture
hall filled with students conducts a teleconference with aliens…” He spread his
hands. “Half the world thinks it’s just another tabloid headline, the other
half is stocking up on water and dry goods.”
    “And assault rifles, no doubt.” Jess
smiled. “My people tell me that the NRA website has crashed,” she continued as
the President nodded. “It’s only been a few short hours and the world is going
mad. We need to show them that we are taking this seriously.”
    “We need to show the world that we are
taking appropriate, concrete action to protect our planet from outside
aggression,” Parnell jumped in.
    Jess looked at the President for a long
moment, sensing that something was not being said. “Are you aware of evidence
beyond what was discovered at Oxford?” She leaned forward. “You speak of
aggression, but the video link merely showed an alien walking past the camera a
few times before he heard Dr. Colbert’s voice. At that point, he disabled the
camera. What else do you have?”
    Parnell didn’t hesitate; he had obviously
decided beforehand that he would reveal his knowledge if pressed. “We have
video evidence of equipment being destroyed by armed individuals. These
creatures want Mars all to themselves. How long before they decide the same about
Earth?”
    “Why do I get the feeling that you have
come here to press your own idea of appropriate concrete action ?” Jess
asked.
    “Probably because I have.” The American was
certainly frank about it. “Are you familiar with the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency?”
    “Typically referred to as DARPA?” Jess had
been briefed on them as part of the weekly intelligence roundup.
    Parnell nodded. “They’ve been working on
designs for a space-based combat fleet for several years now. I don’t think any
of them ever expected it to be taken seriously but events have overtaken us.
They have an impressive series of designs for three groups of carriers and
escorts but…”
    Jess knew the next step in this dance. “But
the costs of building such a fleet would be ruinous.” So that’s it, she
mused. I knew what brought you here; now I know what you want from the UN. “You wish to use us to coordinate the effort.” Her mind was racing through the
implications, both near-term and long. “No country will give you a single
dollar if they think it goes to a unilateral response, no matter how
necessary.”
    Parnell sat forward in his chair, resting
his elbows on his knees. “We could pay for the fleet ourselves, but it would be
an extreme difficulty,” he said with the air of a man making a