The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
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President Eisenhower, his hand on the telephone sitting on the table in front of him, looked around the conference table, trying to gauge his cabinet members and top generals before making his call. Many obviously had doubts about the actions just decided by him. His military chiefs in particular were clearly hesitant, except for the fiery commander of the Strategic Air Command, General Curtiss Le May, always prompt in adopting aggressive solutions. However, his Secretaries for State, Interior and Defense all showed masks of resolve. Eisenhower, himself having some doubts about the wisdom of what he was about to do, sighed and picked up the receiver.
“This is the President. Patch me at once to the palace of the Overseer of Palestine, in Jerusalem.”
After maybe less than a minute, the telephone started ringing at the other end of the line, with someone picking up after the second ring.
“Overseer’s palace! May I help you?” said in both Hebrew, Arabic and English a melodious female voice. Somehow, the soft tone of that voice only made Eisenhower feel more guilty.
“Miss, this is the President of the United States. I wish to speak urgently to the Overseer, Miss Nancy Laplante.”
Since it was nearly two O’clock in the morning in Jerusalem, Eisenhower was expecting to be told that Laplante was sleeping. To his surprise, he was simply told to wait for a moment. After less than forty seconds, the receptionist came back on the line.
“Mister President, the Overseer will now speak to you.”
Eisenhower’s surprise when the line was then cut turned to anger, leaving him to glare at his telephone receiver.
“What the…”
“You may speak, Mister President.” then said a female voice in his back.
Eisenhower swiveled his chair around abruptly, to find Nancy Laplante standing calmly a mere ten feet from him, wearing her customary white robe and with her golden crown of Palestine on her head. General Le May was on his feet at once, shouting towards the door of the room.
“GUARDS!”
Two Secret Service agents, along with two military policemen, rushed in at once with commendable diligence, pistols drawn. Laplante simply made a slight wave of her right hand and the four men froze where they were, completely motionless. She next gave a benign smile to Eisenhower.
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“Don’t worry about these men, Mister President: they are only frozen in time until I am gone.”
“How…how did you know where to find me, miss?” Asked hesitantly Eisenhower. “My location is supposed to be secret.”
Nancy Laplante gave him the look an adult would give to a young, inexperienced child.
“The One knows everything, and I am one with The One, Mister President. You were calling me to give me an ultimatum, I believe. You may deliver it now, for all the good it will do to you.”
Eisenhower suddenly felt dizzy, overwhelmed by her presence. He was in theory the most powerful man on the planet now, yet felt like a mere dwarf in terms of real power compared to that young, beautiful woman. He however managed to speak in a reasonably firm voice after a few seconds.
“Miss Laplante, your acts against the United States and against allied states amount to acts of war. You either cease and desist or we will be forced to declare war on you.”
“A war against The One.” said Nancy, smiling. “That should be amusing to watch.”
Before Eisenhower, incensed by those words, could reply, a high-pitched, ear-splitting noise suddenly filled the room, forcing all the men present save for the frozen guards in covering their ears while grimacing with pain. Eisenhower, like the others, ended up on his knees, his hands clasped over his ears. After maybe ten seconds of that acoustic torture, the piercing noise stopped as abruptly as it had started, allowing Eisenhower to look back at Laplante, who was not smiling anymore.
“Mister President, everybody inside the Pentagon had to endure that noise. I could have made all of the United States ear it as well but I and The One are not sadists.
Here are the conditions of The One to your nation and your allies, Mister President: you will tell your nuclear bombers to stand down, will cancel that embargo against the Holy Land of Palestine and will reverse that stupid braking of diplomatic relations tonight. You will also stop following the lead of the various misguided and intolerant religious groups which claim each to hold the universal truth. You will as well allow the people of your country to listen to whatever opinions they wish to listen to, so that they can make their minds on their own rather than being dictated to. No more censure and bans on religious ideas that don’t fit with the views of the official churches. If you refuse to abide by those conditions, then all adults in the United States will be made to endure the
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sound you just heard, and that until you submit. Please believe me when I say that I only wish for Palestine to live peacefully with your nation and all other nations, Mister President. We will however not let ourselves be intimidated into not promoting truth, justice and tolerance. You have until midnight, local time, to comply to all of my demands. After that, all American adults will be unable to do anything but wish that you become reasonable. Don’t force me to return, Mister President.”
Nancy Laplante then vanished into thin air. The two Secret Service agents and two MPs at the door then came back to life, scanning the room with their pointed handguns.
“WHERE IS SHE, SIR?” asked anxiously one agent. Totally mortified by now, Eisenhower spoke in a low, shaky voice.
“Stand down, all of you: Laplante is gone already. You may resume your guard duties outside the door.”
“Uh, yes, Mister President.”
Once the door of the conference room was closed again, Eisenhower looked at the other conference participants, who now appeared at least as shaken as him.
“I hate to say this, gentlemen, but it seems that we lost this war before we could even start it. In view of what Laplante can do, I believe that we have no other reasonable choice but to accept her demands. Does anybody here disagrees with that?”
The men around him, who all held more power than most other people on Earth, nodded their heads in quiet agreement, clearly beaten into submission by Laplante’s demonstration. The only exception in the group was General Le May, who slammed his fist on the conference table.
“WE CAN’T SIMPLY GIVE UP LIKE THIS, MISTER PRESIDENT! IF WE DO, WHAT WILL STOP LAPLANTE FROM THROWING SOME CURSE ON US AGAIN
EVERY TIME SHE DISAGREES WITH OUR POLICIES?”
“And how do you propose to counter her powers, General?” asked pointedly Eisenhower. “She can appear anywhere, anytime and do damn near anything she wants.”
“We have nuclear-tipped bal istic missiles, Mister President. Let’s use them and erase Palestine from the map before that Laplante can do more damage to us. We may wel have this one occasion only to act, Mister President.”
Eisenhower disliked that idea at once. While Laplante was often enough a pain in the neck, destroying Jerusalem would be still an extreme measure. There was also another factor that was being forgotten here.
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“What about the Time Patrol, General Le May? Even if we succeed in kil ing Laplante by nuking Jerusalem, I doubt that the Time Patrol will not react fiercely to that.
You better remember that the Time Patrol was able by itself to stop World War Two in two weeks, General. We are simply no match to people who can travel through time at wil .”
“Dammit, Mister President, we can’t surrender like this!”
“Yes, we can, and we wil , General.” replied Eisenhower in a definitive tone. “I am not going to risk our country further just because some churchmen are screaming foul. Stand down your bombers, General, now! The rest of us will try to decide in the meantime how to best accommodate our needs with Laplante’s views.”
What Eisenhower didn’t say was how humiliated he felt at having to capitulate like this against such a tiny opponent as Palestine. He had to rethink that notion nearly at once, though: you couldn’t call God a tiny opponent. That distinction failed however to make him feel much better.
08:06 (Paris time)
Tuesday, September 27, 1955 ‘B’
Hotel Jacob, Paris