The Big Ones

Chapter One: Transference

Main Conference Room, National Security Council Building, Washington D.C.

"Good morning, President Clinton, President-elect Bush. Welcome to the National Security Council."

"So this is where the Friday Follies are held. Seer, right? How are you doing?"

The Seer shook George W. Bush's extended hand. "Very well, thank you, Sir. How much did your father tell you?"

Bush gave him one of his slanted smirks. "Nothing confidential of course, but he did remark on how much he missed the classified briefings. He also gave a high appraisal of your predecessor."

The Seer's lips gave the barest hint of a grin at that last comment.

"I will also miss the Friday Follies," declared Clinton. "Though I'll still have to trudge through politics with my wife on the budget committee."

"Where she'll no doubt put up a hard fight against me."

"Well probably on everything but SAC. Seer, why don't you tell George what he doesn't know about the Friday Follies."

"As National Security Advisor, it's my job to personally give you the classified briefing on world events as assembled by the NSC. The NSC exists to provide an outside, independent viewpoint free of perceived institutional bias, and you can trust our briefings because as contractors we're paid well to do so. The same goes for our staff like Naamah here."

"As the Seer says, Mister President-elect. Since we aren't here because we agree with you, if we disagree we can only resign, and this job pays too well for that."

"And Naamah's skills reflect her high pay, George. You won't find a better executive assistant. It's been a pleasure working with you Naamah."

"Mine as well with you Mister President. Here's your copy of the briefing book. As usual, sign it here. Mister President-elect, please sign here at the bottom of the front cover. Once you're finished reading, return it to me and I'll file it away here."

"Gentlemen, this week I bring both good news and bad news. The Iran Satrapy of the Caliphate, known internally as the Ummat al-Islamiyah, has decided to step up our secret intelligence-sharing agreement regarding locating and destroying the numerous biological and chemical weapons labs hidden by the Ruling Council within their territory. The bad news is that since the relocation of the Ruling Council to Syria, things appear to be heating up there. The Iranians have told us that the border skirmishes between Syria and Iraq have grown in size and frequency. There are also some reports that some Syrian civilian groups have started to protest against the skirmishes and the unconfirmed allegations that the Syrian military has used chemical weapons. This may finally be the straw that breaks the back of the Caliphate."

"Bill, what's your administration's policy on this region?"

"Well George, we've been slowly but successfully engaging with the moderates in Tehran to prevent the rise of the Ruling Council's fundamentalist supporters to power in Iran and crackdown on their non-nuclear WMDs. We're committed to supporting them at least with aerial assets should they get dragged into a full-scale civil war. Our secret agreement with the Iranians, and the fact that the Syrian civilians disapprove of their government's actions, show that we should avoid nuking the whole damn place if possible if another bioengineered disease gets unleashed like in Algeria back in 1972."

Bush shuddered. He remembered his elation at being accepted into Havard Business School for their MBA program when he got a call from his sister, Dorothy, to turn on the news. The guest medical expert's description of how Blackpox was initially exhibited within a victim as normal smallpox before unfailingly progressing to the naturally rare forms of Confluent Smallpox, where the pustules merged, and then to Hemorrhagic Smallpox, where the disease progresses inwards and attacks the vital organs. The doctor's horrific statement of how many victims, like the French nurses working at the military base close to ground zero, chose to overdose on morphine and kill themselves rather than wait in agony cemented the entire conversation into his mind.