Dusts of Avalon - Beastwithin.org

VI. A H M Tcommand link.Daleworth turned the external speakers off and returned to the commandannel. “Sir, who are we sending to the space station?”“General Pyrehill here, lieutenant. I will contact the President immediatelyand see who shall go. But I want you to prepare for flight.”“Me, sir?” Daleworth asked.“You have already been to the space station, so you're familiar with the surroundings.So, you're best suited for the honour guard, I take it.”“Sir, understood, sir. Could I ask you something, sir?”“What is it, lieutenant?”“What do you think the President will think about King Arthur's desire for anarmy to lead, sir? Will the President just hand the reins to him?”“I don't know about that, lieutenant, but I hope the President will work outsome kind of a solution. He's good at that sort of things.”February 17, 2632e President of Earth, Canadian-born Miael Malory, currently on fih year ofthe second, very successful term, had been surprisingly easy to find. e WorldFederation had no single official capital — ea country and territory maintainedits own regional offices, and many of the global ministries were effortlessly handledall over the world, all thanks to very advanced virtual meetings. As it happened,President Malory had been in London, and was already on way to Paristo follow the bale up close. While he was in constant contact with the generals,there was always an annoying short period of time, when his plane landed, whenthe computers had to be shut down and people could do lile but grab their baggageand walk into the car that waited them, and in that precious lile window,they were blissfully unaware of what was going on.e generals had asked some last minute details, and he had authorised theuse of tactical nuclear weapons. e last thing President Malory had heard wasthat the Planner ship had landed and the fight was starting well — standard botfight so far, possibly winnable, even if the overall strategic situation seemed fairlygrim. e next thing President knew was that it was time to pa up and head tothe limousine. e next thing he heard from the military command link was surprisingenough. e Secretary of Planetary Defence, General Armand Fyrehart,was just incredulous. “Sir, you're not going to believe this, but we somehow wonthe bale already…”And then they spun some incredible tale about knights and King Arthur. atwas just some strange, academic theory about the mysterious orbital contact thathe had received a memo about earlier that week.