shoot-down order! I would give it again! The American people elected me to protect the American way of life, and by God I am going to.'
'But, Mr. President, there's only one saucer, flown by two American citizens. Surely they — '
'I don't believe a word of that crap. One saucer? Seen in dozens of places? The damn aliens are conducting a disinformation campaign, but they can't fool me!'
'Sir, as a hypothetical, perhaps we should at least consider the possibility that no aliens.'
'If there are no damned aliens, then this saucer thing is a right-wing conspiracy. Either way, the nation must be protected. Now get the reporters in here. I want the public to know that this administration stands ready to defend the American way of life.'
Somehow the fact that the military was no longer flying armed patrols got lost in the hullabaloo. For this, Bombing Joe De Laurio was thankful. He sat in his Pentagon office with the television on wondering why everyone else in Washington had gone off their nut.
That evening he attended a special intelligence briefing for the Joint Chiefs before he went home to dinner. The CIA man was adamant: There was only one saucer, and it was in Australia.
'Roger Hedrick has it,' the Joint Chiefs were told. 'He forced the test pilot to fly it from Missouri to Australia. He was actually in the thing when that National Guard F-16 pilot fired missiles at it.'
'Has the president received this briefing?' Bombing Joe asked.
'He will get it as soon as he finds the time, sir. Right now he is meeting with leaders of Congress.'
'Umm,' said Bombing Joe.
'To continue, gentlemen, Roger Hedrick has the saucer at his cattle ranch — or station — in Australia. He is currently inviting the governments of China, Russia, and Japan to send representatives to his station to inspect the saucer and bid on it. He intends to sell it to the highest bidder.'
'Why would anyone want one saucer?' someone asked.
'Technology, sir. Our scientists say that the technology contained in the saucer will drive worldwide technological development in the twenty-first century.'
'Why wasn't the United States invited?'
'We are not privy to Mr. Hedrick's thinking,' the briefer replied as respectfully as he could, 'but we suspect he is inviting only governments that would not enmesh him in litigation over the ownership of the saucer.'
'How much does Hedrick think the saucer will bring?' the chairman asked.
'Our source tells us he mentioned a figure to one of his aides: Fifty billion dollars.'
When Charley got back to the main house from her ride, Hedrick was waiting. He had with him two academics, graying, distracted men in cheap clothes. Charley and the professors followed Hedrick the hundred yards to the aircraft hangar where the saucer was parked. Rigby appeared from nowhere and joined the little party.
The machine was right where Charley had left it. She explained the basic functioning of the propulsion system to the professors and Hedrick, then opened the hatch and let them go inside.
They inspected the flight deck, then entered the machinery bay. One of the scientists had a radiation detector with him, a device about the size of a laptop computer, which he used to check the reactor and water separator.
'Extraordinary,' one of them muttered, but mostly they kept their comments to.themselves.
Rigby ensconced himself in the pilot seat. For a moment or two Charley thought he might be a pilot himself, then she decided he wasn't.
Hedrick stayed with the scientists.
'We could learn a lot more,' one of them said, 'if you let us take things apart.'
'Can you guarantee that you could properly reassemble everything?'
'No, sir. There may be seals and whatnot that would have to be replaced.'
Charley got tired of watching Rigby preen, so she let herself down through the hatch and sat beside one of the landing gear pads.
The guards — there were eight of them, all armed — paid little attention to her.
After about an hour, Hedrick lowered himself to the hangar floor. 'Ms. Pine, we would appreciate a short demo flight.'
'Have you fueled the saucer?'
'Uh… no. We haven't touched it.'
'We will need some water, the purer the better.'
'The well water is quite free of minerals and impurities. I have it checked monthly.'
'Get your thugs to rig a hose.'
When the tank was topped off, Charley ordered the hangar doors opened.
Only then did she climb back into the saucer and close the hatch behind her.
'Seats, please, and strap yourselves in.'
Hedrick stepped up beside the pilot seat as she strapped in. 'Ah, Ms. Pine. I know you're the world's hottest jet jock and you could win the world acrobatic competition with this thing, but I want you to take it
'We're on your nickel, Mr. Hedrick.'
Charley Pine lifted the ship gently off the concrete, snapped up the gear, and drifted it out of the hangar. The professors were staring. Whatever they expected, this wasn't it. The only sound was a subdued hum from the machinery spaces. Flight was smooth, effortless, even when Charley lit the rocket engines and added power in a seamless rush.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hedrick whispering with the scientists, which shattered her reverie. She leveled the saucer, flew it in a straight line for several minutes, then made a wide, sweeping turn to head back to Hedrick's station.
When the saucer was back in the hangar, the scientists wanted to see the computers in operation. Charley fired off the main flight computer, but she didn't don the headband, preferring to punch the buttons beside the screen to bring up various displays. Hedrick didn't object; he merely watched.
When she had the reactor secured, Hedrick asked Rigby to escort Charley to her room.
She went willingly, leaving the scientists to confer with Hedrick. Rigby trailed 'along three paces behind her like a well-trained dog.
After his session with the leaders of Congress, the American president was a subdued, thoughtful man. His orders to shoot at saucers had panicked the electorate, the senior legislators said. They demanded that he call off the military and that he publicly reassure the country that under no circumstances would he order or allow rash military action against possible alien ships with unknown military capabilities.
The president caved in to congressional demands. Outraged voters he understood. He had made a mistake, he acknowledged.
Huddled now with his national security team, the president seemed distracted as the CIA briefer went through his presentation. The president's face was gray and sweaty, his shirt a sodden rag. The saucer was for sale, the briefer said, to the highest bidder. If the president thought that fact significant, he gave no sign.
At one point he muttered, 'We must be bold,' but he didn't explain the relevancy of that observation.
Finally O'Reilly said, 'Roger Hedrick seems bent on setting the world economy on its ear, as long as he makes a profit.'
That remark seemed to get through to the president. He jerked, then looked around wide-eyed.
'Is the saucer valuable?' he wanted to know.
'Oh, yes, sir. Hedrick seems to think it will bring at least fifty billion in cash. If he sells it to Russia and allows them to pay for it over time, it is possible he might get two or three times that amount.'
'Perhaps more,' Bombing Joe said. This afternoon he had a long talk with the colonel who headed the UFO team, now just back from Libya. Colonel West thought the saucer worth whatever it took to get it.
'The saucer is everything from computers to metallurgy,' Bombing Joe explained to the serious people, 'from
