GENESIS - THE BEGINNING. Book 1

CHAPTER 4 ... The White House, Cape Town. South Africa

"Houston? We have a problem."

Sayed looked up as Blondie walked into his office. "Just the man I'm looking for," he signed a document with a flourish, and dumped it into the 'OUT' tray. "What's this about Houston's problems?" He sat back in the comfortable chair and stretched out his legs.

"A joke Say. And a corny one at that. Still, we do have a problem," he said, pulling a chair closer.

"Problems? You want problems? Let me show you problems, Blondie." Sayed stretched across the large desk and plucked a thick pile of forms from the over-stuffed 'IN' tray. "Listen to this will you; 'Permission requested to purchase 40 thousand toothbrushes from Colgate. It then goes on to give a tally of how many soft, hard and extra hard brushes are required. Oh, and they want 40 thousand toothpaste tubes of all makes and sizes. Forty thousand? I ask you with tears in my eyes, where the fuck did this dumb shit come up with that total? Forty thousand fucking toothbrushes when we are sending half a fucking million men and woman to kick some Galactic Empire butt." Sayed threw the papers into the bin beside his desk. "Here's another; ten thousand kits of – wait for it," he glared Blondie, "Combrosias Nail Polish Remover with one set of false nails." The forms followed its predecessor to the bin. "I frankly believe somebody out there is trying to make a quick buck."

Blondie smiled grimly, "Well, at least you have your fingers in the pie Say. You wanted everything to go through your office. The idea was to cut out the possibility of too many loose tongues."

"But this?" Sayed threw the 'In' tray with its contents across the room. "I'm not going to accept rubbish like this."

"Then get a couple of guys and have them sign the relevant secrecy documents and have them sort out all the chaff, then give all those chancers a hefty fine. Have the F.B.I. backtrack all the documentation to their sources and fine every person involved." He thought for a while. "The fact that a lot of these purchases may be 'in-house" needs to be determined and hefty fines issued for dereliction of duty or plain laziness."

"Well, that was easy," said a chuffed president. "Problems sorted. Now, let us see what we can do with this Houston guy's problem. Who is this Houston by the way?"

"Forget Houston Say, it was a lame joke. The problem is rather more serious than a few tubes of toothpaste." He tapped the bridge of his nose with his middle finger. "We have a teenager in the interrogation room."

"The interrogation room? A teenager? Why does this sound like it's got absolutely nothing to do with Sayed of the United Confederate of Nations?"

"Because Sayed of the United Confederate of Nations is not thinking. Because if he was thinking, he would realize that his top advisor would not bother him with such a problem if it were not serious. Because Sayed would ..."

"Ok.Ok. you made your point for fuck sakes. So why is this teenager my problem?"

"Let me see if I can get this across in as few words as possible." Blondie said, thumbing his tired eyes. "He came to us requesting to see you personally and by us I mean the Secret Service. He mentioned something about a 'war' and they promptly took him in for questioning. Him and his mother and sister."

"War ... ? Mother and shit, Blondie. What's this about?" The President sat forward in his chair and glared at the 'IN' tray that lay some meters away. Application forms, invoices and other unknown as yet documentation lay strewn across the plush carpet.

"Satanism."

"Huh?"

"The bugger and his sister are Satanists. He says the devil sent him to help you wage War on the Galactic Empire." A weight had been lifted from his shoulders.