Short Stories: Including a Short Story with Short Aliens
Harold Carson successfully ran on a third-party ticket in the United States 2036 presidential election. Both major political parties disgusted voters after decades of hostile bickering.
President Carson, born at the turn of the century in the midwestern United States, was the youngest person ever elected to the presidency, surpassing even President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was a youthful forty-three years of age when elected. Many people believed that President Carson was almost as handsome as President Kennedy.
Carson, a green-eyed widower with brown hair, had spent nearly twelve years laboring for global peace. His most notable action was providing a solution to Middle Eastern hostilities.
President Carson’s first year in office was a dismal failure since Congress did not pass any program he advocated. Usually, members of the House passed bills the president favored. This was a political ploy to gain constituent support when up for reelection. The House members would put responsibility for nonpassage on the Senate. After all, it was in the Senate that all of Carson’s supported bills died, killed by his adversaries.
Senator Lawrence (Larry) Slick of the Republican Party and Senator Robert Wiley of the Democratic Party headed the opposition parties. These former rivals joined forces because of the loss of their candidates during the election. They were determined to bring Carson’s administration down, with hopes of their favored candidate winning the 2040 election.
Carson’s senatorial foes took great pleasure in annoying him on a personal level as well. Instead of referring to him as Harold, his appropriate given name, they called him “Harry,” a nickname the president detested. The only other insult that infuriated the president more was when his political rivals sang or played “I’m Just Wild about Harry.”
Early in the second year of President Carson’s term, he visited Dayton, Ohio, campaigning for yet another favored program. He was summoned to the nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and provided with information about the government’s contact with alien entities from other worlds. Many of his questions went unanswered because nobody had the answers, but the response to his query about why he was being told of this now was that the most advanced civilization, the Primterreans, had requested to meet with him.
President Carson was ushered to the base’s massive underground complex to an area where a communication center with interstellar capabilities was located. After he was left alone in a “contact room,” an alien appeared on one of the walls that had a silver screen. The most pronounced feature observed by the president was the large head housing a brain undoubtedly much larger than that of any human and, obviously, with far superior intelligence. The body was long and slender, with lengthy, twiglike arms and legs lacking any noticeable muscle. The Primterrean reminded Carson of an old-fashioned wooden clothespin but with arms that extended down to about its knees. He could tell the being was tall, but it was difficult to estimate its height without an in-person appearance.
President Carson started the conversation. “My name is Harold Carson, and I am the president of the United States, the leader of this section of our planet.”
“I am Sponsor, and I am your contact with my civilization, the equivalent of an ambassador to your society. I will answer any questions that a representative from your world is entitled to at your stage of development. I will not answer questions we deem you are not allowed at this time. We use the same methodology for all worlds we contact to assist in their advancement.”
The president had been assured that the contact room was totally private and no one would be aware of their conversations. He was also told that although their conference would last for hours, only seconds would pass outside the contact room; hence, he could tell inquirers only what he wanted during the subsequent debriefing.
Carson learned much from Sponsor, and he was pleased the experience also educated the alien as to his belief that the knowledge of other beings should be shared with the rest of the world. Sponsor agreed and, in fact, told the president of a future event. In a few weeks, there would be an unusually warm winter day on which a White House press conference would be held on the lawn. A member of the press would ask Carson if he believed in life on other planets. That would be the indication that a craft would appear and the first public contact with extraterrestrials would take place.
A fortnight later, Sponsor’s prediction became reality. Initial questioning from journalists on the White House lawn dealt with Carson’s continued policy failures. Upon calling on another reporter, the question was asked: “Mr. President, do you believe in life on other planets?”
The president said, “With the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy alone, each containing a number of planets, the likelihood of other life is highly probable; in fact, I believe there is life both more and less intelligent than humans.”
A hand jetted upward from one of Carson’s adversarial press affiliates. He called on the antagonist, who asked, “Aren’t you afraid that your political opponents will point to that statement and say you are mentally unfit to continue to serve as president under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and seek your removal from office?”
"No!"
"And why not, Mr. President?"
"If you'll turn to your left, my answer is self-evident."
To the gasps and awes of the press, an alien craft silently and gently landed on the opposite side of the White House lawn, apparently having evaded radar. Within seconds, a ramp was lowered, and three aliens appeared, clothed in uniforms remarkably similar to those worn by airline pilots.