Supernal

Chapter 16

11:55 pm Tuesday, 26th June 2029

Reagan National Airport, Washington D.C.

Summers walked through the airport terminal flanked by two dark-suited secret service agents. He tried to ignore the stares of the people on the concourse waiting for night flights and cursed himself for not insisting on changing out of his orange flight suit at Kennedy. The onlookers must have thought he was a prisoner being escorted to the federal prison. The handcuff that fastened the diplomatic pouch to his wrist probably completed the picture.

The meeting with the Manitan on Monday afternoon had been a question-and-answer session. They had clarified many of the details mentioned in the previous meetings, but nothing new had emerged. He had given the visitors a guided tour of the OCF but when asked to reciprocate, Velan had politely refused, saying he would need to get permission.

The blimp had departed that afternoon, accelerating smoothly and soundlessly. It was out of sight in seconds. Velan had suggested that they should not return until the following Tuesday night when the scheduled Spaceplane flight would be well on its way back to Earth.

Summers had agreed immediately. He didn't want any meetings to take place while he was away and it would probably take a week for his wife and Phil Taylor to assess the recordings he had brought and make any decisions.

A town car waiting outside the terminal building whisked him straight to his home, The White House.

#

Summers gave his wife a brief hug and said hello to the ever-present Phil Taylor. Jane eyed his orange flight suit.

"You didn't get time to change?"

"The Gulfstream was ready and waiting for me at Kennedy. I couldn't get to my locker. They seemed to be in a hurry."

"Well, I did tell them to get you here ASAP. I guess they took me seriously for a change."

"You've got the recordings?" Phil asked.

Summers tapped the diplomatic pouch.

"I hope you've got the key to this damn thing. I've been locked to it for the last nine hours."

The secretary of state produced the key and retrieved the SSD card from the pouch.

"How many hours of meetings have you got on this?"

"There must be about eight, I guess,"

"It looks like we're in for a long night," Jane remarked.

Summers looked at her in surprise. "You're going to start watching it now?"

"Of course," she replied. "You think I could sleep without knowing what's on that?"

"I wasn't thinking of sleeping," Summers muttered.

#

The president and the secretary of state locked themselves in a soundproof room with a laptop and didn't emerge until 7 am. Jane Summers ordered toast and coffee to be brought and asked her aide to cancel all her meetings for the day before disappearing back inside.

At 11 am Summers went and knocked on the door and Phil Taylor let him in. He recognized Mutu's voice coming from the laptop and realized they must be listening to the recording for a second time. Mutu was relating the history of Vitu. His wife paused the playback. She looked worried as he gave her a kiss.