00065

Within the hour of the "Incident", Gov. Xavier Bright summoned Security Leader Clyden to his inner office, a very private setting for a meeting, at the Governor's House. No sooner than Sec. Ldr. Clyden had stepped over the threshold of the outer office, he heard the news reports coming from the Governor's screen inside the inner sanctum. When Clyden entered the inner office, he saw the Governor's back turned to him. Gov. Bright faced his wall screen. Without turning around from the screen to greet Sec. Ldr. Clyden, the Governor remarked, "It's all over the news already. But then, something like this is hard to keep a lid on. Especially when it is done right out in the open, with so many witnesses. Maybe we could have made some money, selling tickets-"

"Gov. Xavier, I-”

Gov. Bright now looked at the Security Leader. "You neglected to clear the streets before you sprung your trap, Security Leader Clyden."

"If we did that, our raid would not be a surprise. What then? Should I have risked them getting away yet again? Besides that, it was you who wanted us to waste no time to conduct our raid.” A certain sharpness began to creep into Clyden's tone.

"Well, they sure didn't get away this time, did they?”

“Hey, look, Gov. Xavier, it's not like I- like we wanted to blow them up. No, not at all. It ended terribly. But, what's done is done. We cannot go back and undo it. Besides, let's face it. They brought it on themselves. They are the ones who insisted on conducting unauthorized gatherings and holding unapproved religious services. It is common knowledge that their kind of worship, their fanaticism and fundamental exclusivism, leads to all sorts of evils, like wars, death, destruction. You know, all that stuff. Isn't that what you often told me?”

Xavier Bright laughed humorlessly. "Yes, look how their unauthorized services led to the evil of them all being vaporized. I see what you mean, Sec. Ldr. Clyden. Well done, well done, indeed."

"With all due respect, you do remember you wanted me to take care of them, right? And I did. Like I always take care of all your problems. You got what you wanted. Why are you now angry?"

"What I wanted?! I never expected you to make martyrs of them. How can I calm down the Leaders on Earth over this matter? So many tourists there at the time, too. Like I said, I can't hope to keep a lid on this. What made you decide to blast them with tear gas grenades and smoke bombs? You fired them into a place full of fuel ore samples, some of such a high grade they were extremely volatile!"

"I- I assumed the samples had all been removed from the building, when the human miners vacated their quarters. How was I to know nobody cleared out the place?"

"You assumed? You assumed?? How long have you been living and working here on the World of Hope? You know not to assume such things. You should have at least consulted the old reports to find out about it!"

"How long have I been living and working here, Gov. Xavier? Why, almost from the beginning, almost as long as you. I have been serving you for all those years, but the way you've been acting lately, I am surprised to hear you even mention my length of service. I thought you forgot how long I have been serving you, and all the things I have done to help you out, through good times and bad. I solved countless problems for you over the years. I solved this one for you, too.”

“Hmph. Some problem solving. Listen to these newscasts, how upset everybody is over the matter. And so am I. You blew up a lot of citizens, Security Leader Clyden! They were trouble-makers, but they didn't deserve that."

Sec. Ldr. Clyden opened his mouth to say something. He thought better of it, and closed his mouth. Then, on second thought, he decided to say his piece anyway. "Are you upset about all those citizens being vaporized, or are you upset over only one particular citizen, and, actually, she isn't even a citizen, but a visitor to our planet.”

“Sec. Ldr. Clyden, I acknowledge you have served me faithfully for many years. Over that time, I have gotten to know you. However, if you think it is nothing to me, to have so many of our people lost like that, then you never knew me in all that time we have worked together."

"I think I do, Gov. Xavier. Maybe I know you better than you know yourself."

"No, Security Leader Clyden, you know nothing. That's always been your trouble. You think you know more than you actually do. Well, I suppose there's no point in discussing the matter any more tonight. You may go. Please close the door on your way out."

The Governor turned his back to his chief of security again, returning his attention to watching further news reports on the screen. Earth Leader Arthur Bigges of the Council of Earth Leaders appeared on the news. "This is a senseless tragedy. We will be getting answers and a full report from Gov. Bright tomorrow."

Clyden left the office and went out the Governor's mansion. He headed across the lawn toward the Security Agency Building. Clearly, despite the fact that the house church had been taken care of, the house church still caused serious problems for the Governor, and obviously the Governor would never appoint Sec. Ldr. Clyden his Vice-Governor or Lt. Governor after this for certain.

In fact, Gov. Xavier just might remove Clyden from his current position, if Clyden allowed it. So Clyden reasoned.

Talk about good timing. As he walked across the grass in the moonlight, his secure cell communicator chirped. Ah, this may have turned out to be a good day after all. He answered his cell. "Yeah?”

Dr. Kitchen from Research and Development spoke from the other end. He already knew who the caller was. Only one person besides himself had access to this scrambled line. The Doctor spoke just one word. "Ready."

"Good." He smiled and put away the communicator. Sec. Ldr. Clyden walked with a light step the rest of the way to the Security Agency Administration offices. A few things needed to be done, and then big changes would be coming.”

(c) drk 2012