Jennifer sat in the conference room listening to the two men bickering. She was sure they would prefer the term argument, but it was already well beyond that point. General Mac was arguing for consolidating military forces inside the US to defend its borders only. General Whitmore argued for a more global defense.
When the argument started each man had his allies around the table. Duke, Michael, and a few others sided with General Mac, although Jennifer suspected Michael only took his side out of loyalty. He argued halfheartedly, which was not like Michael.
On the other side of the argument, there was Myra, Dr. Hadley, General Whitmore, along with a few more. Jennifer suspected John agreed with them, but he remained silent. To her surprise the President remained silent on the issue. Perhaps he was hoping for a fist fight, which seemed inevitable at this point.
The focus was solely on the two men, who had long substituted personal insults for actual arguments. Only Jennifer noticed when Myra left the room. She listened to the two men for another minute, and decided the meeting was officially over with no real agreement on anything.
She got up and followed her daughter out the door. She quietly closed the door behind her and looked down both sides of the hall. Where would Myra go? She asked herself. The roof maybe? She decided to try it. She decided to take the stairs to get some exercise in.
When she finally found the roof access she opened the door and found her daughter by the ledge staring at the sky. She walked over and stood next to her without saying a word. Together, they stared at the sky.
Jennifer wondered where the alien ships where. They were up there somewhere planning. Jennifer was sure they were not bickering like us humans down here. That gave them a significant advantage. We really don't stand a chance, she thought to herself. They were going to come down here and enslave us all. Why? What was there game?
“We will win,” Myra said, almost as if she could read Jennifer's mind. She turned to her mother and smiled.
“How do you know?” Jennifer asked. “I mean do you know something you haven't told us?”
Myra shook her head. “We will win because we must,” she replied.
“We will win because God is on our side,” Michael said from behind them. They both turned to find Michael and John had joined them.
Michael smiled at the girls. John walked up to the edge and stared at the sky. After a few moments of silence he looked down to the ground, and then backed away from the ledge. The others chuckled.
Myra walked up to him and held his arm. “We will win,” she repeated.
“I just don't see how,” John said looking at her. “They can simply destroy us from orbit. Even if we did manage to defeat them, there is still the problem with the shadow people and their allies you spoke about.”
“You have to trust me,” she replied. “I know lots of things you don't now.”
“Myra,” Jennifer said. “You have to prepare for the worst. They aren't up there bickering about whether they should defend everyone, or just themselves. They are united. Even without their technology, they still have that advantage.”
“They have unanimity, not unity,” Myra replied. “There is a difference. They have never learned how to be united in the face of their differences, so they conquer. Everyone who isn’t like them is an enemy. We just have to show them the way.”
“We have far more in common with ourselves then we do with them, and we still can't unite ourselves,” Jennifer responded. “How are we going to teach them anything?”
“We will, when the time comes,” Myra answered. “It is our nature, and our strength.”
Myra looked up to the sky and smiled.
Should be continued?
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