Crockerman stubbed out his cigar half smoked. "I'll be returning to Washington tomorrow morning. Mr. Hicks, I'd like you to come with me. Mr. Gordon, you also. Mr. Feinman, I understand you won't be able to accompany us. You have an important medical appointment in Los Angeles."

"Yes, Mr. President."

"Then if you will, after your treatment—and my sincere good wishes go with you there—I would like you to recommend a group of scientists to meet with the Guest, conduct further interrogations—that doesn't sound good, does it? Ask more questions. This team will be our liaison with the Australian scientists. Carl, I'd like you to arrange with the Australians for one of their investigators to be flown to Vandenberg and sit in on these sessions."

"Are we sharing with the Australians, sir?" Rotterjack asked.

"I think that's the only rational approach."

"And if they're reluctant to go along with our stance on security?"

"We'll climb that wall when we come to it."

A tired-looking young man in a gray suit entered the dining hall and approached Rotterjack. He handed the science advisor a slip of paper and stood back, eyes darting nervously around the table. Rotterjack read the paper, the lines around his mouth and on his forehead deepening.

"Colonel Phan sends us a message," he said. "The Guest died at eighteen hundred hours this evening. Phan is conducting an autopsy at midnight. Mr. Feinman and Mr. Gordon are requested to attend."

Silence around the table.

"Mr. Gordon, you are free to do so, and then please come to Washington as soon as you can," Crockerman said. He put his napkin next to his plate, backed his chair away from the head of the table, and stood. He appeared very old in the dining room's subdued light. "I'm retiring early tonight. This day has been exhausting, and there is much to think about. David, Carl, please make sure Mr. Hicks is comfortable."

"Yes, sir," McClennan said.

"And Carl, make sure the staff here realizes how much we appreciate their service and the hardship."

"Yes, sir."

PERSPECTIVE

AAP/UK Net,

October 8, 1996;

Woomera, Local Church of New Australia:

The Reverend Brian Caldecott has proclaimed the Australian extraterrestrials to be "patent frauds." Caldecott, long known for his fiery harangues against all forms of government, and for leading his disciples in a return to "the Garden of Eden, " which he claims was once located near Alice Springs, came to Woomera in a caravan of thirty white Mercedes-Benzes to hold a tent rally this evening. "These 'aliens' are the Country Party's attempt to mislead the citizens of the world, and to make the Australian Government, under Prime Minister Stanley Miller, the center of a world government, which I of course deplore." Caldecott's crusade suffered a public relations setback last year when it was discovered he was married to three women. The Church of New Australia promptly declared bigamy to be a religious principle, stirring a legal stew as yet unsettled.

AGNUS DEI