Independence Day: Crucible (The Official Prequel) by Greg Keyes Page A

be a big part of that. You lay out everything you want, in writing. Let me worry about international negotiations.”
    David absorbed all of that for a moment.
    “Well,” he said, finally, “now that you mention it, there’s one negotiation that really can’t wait.”
    “And what’s that, David?”
    “This guy in Africa, Umbutu. Reports are that he’s got a nearly intact ship. We’ve got to get in there.”
    “Mr. President, if I may?”
    The speaker was a dark-skinned woman with short, curly hair, probably a couple of years south of forty.
    The president nodded. “David, this is Francine Pinckney, my advisor on foreign intelligence.”
    “Ms. Pinckney,” David said.
    “The region you’re talking about wasn’t exactly stable when the aliens showed up,” she said. “Now it’s much less so. Umbutu was a provincial authority, but now he can probably be better characterized as a warlord. In fact, he’s renamed his province the Republique Nationale d’Umbutu. They have a flag and everything.”
    “Classy,” David said. “Humble guy.”
    “Because the ship was intact, many more aliens survived there than elsewhere. Because of that, and because Umbutu wouldn’t accept any outside help—not even air support—the ground war there has dragged on almost a year. We’ve heard almost nothing from the regime. One thing is clear, however. Umbutu refuses to let anyone representing any foreign power or agency into his ‘country’ for any reason. He’s made it clear he considers the alien ship to be property of the state. Short of a military invasion, there’s no way to get to it.”
    “There will be no invasion,” Whitmore said. “We’re trying to bring the world together, not pull it apart. And before anyone suggests it, covert action is also out of the question. In the present environment, diplomacy is our most powerful tool. There must be something this guy wants. We’ll find it. Besides, you have nearly three dozen other wrecks to work with.”
    “Yes,” David said, “but this one isn’t a wreck.”
    “Does that make such a big difference?” the president asked.
    “Well, I don’t know,” David said. “It might. We can’t know until we check it out.”
    “I’ll take it under advisement,” Whitmore said. “So, for now, let us know what you want, and we’ll get what we can.”
    “Well, it’s not just what
I
want,” David said. “I’m just the messenger. I drew the short straw. I’ll talk to Isaacs and the new guys and we’ll have a proposal in—I don’t know, a matter of days. One thing I think we can do immediately is improve SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, fine-tune it to be more sensitive to their signals.”
    “Good,” Whitmore said. “Just—write it down.”
    “Okay,” David said.
    “One more thing,” Whitmore said. “The Earth Space Defense will largely be a military organization, but I think it needs a civilian director. I want you to be that director. I want you to run it.”
    “Yeah, right,” David said, grinning.
    But none of them smiled.
    “Oh,” he said. “You weren’t kidding. Ah—run it? Not so fast. Look, that’s not—that’s not me. Let someone else do that and let me, you know, do my thing. I’ve got ten projects going right now. I’m not—
clearly
not—the leader type. Evil counselor, I can do, you know, the guy plotting in the shadows, Cardinal Richelieu and so forth—”
    “David,” Whitmore said. “You’re a hero, and like this building, you’re a symbol. You
beat
them. People will feel more confident if they know you’re in charge.”
    “Because they don’t know me,” David replied. “I just—I’m sorry, no. I’m happy to help build this thing, make it work, pass it along. Give me a fancy title. Just don’t put me in charge. I’m the guy who tells the guy in charge what’s wrong with what he’s doing. I can’t do that if—well, you get the picture.”
    Whitmore studied him for a moment, then