CHAPTER 13

Admiral Augesburcke snorted in the most outward sign of irritation his decorum could muster. This was his fourth visit to this office in the last week, and like the others he was doomed to have his concerns ignored. Fleet intelligence had been monitoring Galactic communiqués since the peace accord with the Chem and there were disturbing signs that a Galactic military alliance was forming to deal with the fledgling Terran Empire. Talk of an offensive against the Terrans along many different fronts was as widespread as it was open. The Galactics were apparently too pre-occupied with the hasty assembling of a military answer to Terra’s newly disclosed might to worry much over communications security. It did not take long for Augesburcke to build an accurate picture for the coming hostilities which pitted Terra’s untried fleet against at least four times their number on as many as three Galactic fronts. Such dire information failed to impress the new President of the Federation, however. Her first act had in fact been to suspend all fleet construction and disband the naval yards involved. Her rational was two-fold. First, it was time to move resources towards domestic needs; and second, the Terran Federation had a more serious threat than any Galactic alliance, and one closer to home: Alexander.

“Just who does he think he is Augesburcke?” Faizah Sadat, the President of the Terran Federation asked. Her latest action in this newly created office was to watch another unannounced and completely unexpected address by Alexander to all the members of the civilized galaxy concerning nothing less than Terran policy towards the Chem civil war, and warning against Galactic interference in Terran affairs. The fact that the speech was made without the approval, or even the advisement of the Federation Senate and its President irked the Egyptian no small amount.

“This man has the gall to announce Federation policy at his own whim, without approval, without even consultation. I made no such request for an announcement, and certainly the Federation Senate did not. I repeat Augesburcke, who does he think he is?”

Admiral Augesburcke had no more liking for this woman. It was a feeling based upon more than their shared experiences in CODOTS; and heightened because at one time, before the Presidential bug apparently bit Sadat, he’d had a very real respect for her. Like everything else in the Terran Federation these days she was new and she had no idea what she was doing. With her background in CODOTS, however, Augesburcke felt Sadat should have been as prepared as anyone for her task. To his disappointment and irritation Sadat instead assumed her office with all the enraged jealousy of an ordinary politician when she felt someone encroaching on her territory. Before allowing the Admiral to answer her demand she replayed the tape of Alexander’s speech and fumed. Then for the third time she asked, “Just who does he think he is?”

Augesburcke had to carefully conceal his glee, as even his newly grown dislike for Sadat could not dislodge his professionalism. His answer to her question, though, was blunt, and efficient. “Madame President he thinks he is Alexander of Terra, and that just so happens to be exactly who he is as well.”

Her condescending response did nothing to further Augesburcke’s affection for her. “Admiral, your admiration for this man is not lost upon me. He has done a significant service to the Terran Federation. May I remind you, however, that Alexander of Terra is not the President—I am. Despite his designation as Ambassador he has no real power and absolutely no real authority over the policies and actions of the Terran Federation.”

“You’ve not met the man, Madame President,” Augesburcke told her. “Nor, it seems, have you bothered to study our agreements with him. He was given carte blanche in our dealings with the Chem, and he is the Ambassador to Chem, as well as all other Galactic civilizations. I must remind you as well, not only was he unanimously appointed by the Federation Senate but the Senate also approved his powers and responsibilities.”

“His carte blanche powers are no longer applicable, Admiral,” she told him. “As I understand they were only intended to be used during the Chem crisis. That situation is now concluded. As to his powers as Ambassador to the Galactics they are certainly not absolute. No Ambassador to any state has the power to make policy. It is the Ambassador’s job to relay policy, not to initiate it.”

“Then you have every right to take it up with the Federation Supreme Court which should be in session in another six to nine months,” Augesburcke smiled. When she frowned and started to retort, he interrupted her. “I say again, Madame President, you’ve not met the man. If you seek to enforce this new understanding on Alexander I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.”

“Admiral Augesburcke I did not bring you here to lecture me,” she told him testily. “The fact remains that this man, this Alexander, is answerable to the Federation Senate, and thus to me.”

“That is true on my account, Madame President,” he told her, “but what I am trying to get across to you is that it is not true on the account of Alexander of Terra.”

“Admiral for the last time there is no Alexander of Terra!” She told him angrily. “This man has usurped his authority and I will not stand for it. I cannot understand your willingness to defend this man. He is not a dictator. He has no constitutional authority. Yet he is portraying himself as if he is the head of this government. That cannot be allowed. Surely you agree with that.”

“What I agree with does not matter.” Augesburcke told her. “The fact of the matter, Madame President, is that there is indeed an Alexander of Terra. It is a legal title created by CODOTS specifically for this man. It was not given with any time limitation, and he has continued to act within the authority CODOTS gave him.”

“Admiral, CODOTS dissolved a week ago and its powers reverted to the Federation’s Department of Defense. No resolution passed by the Federation Senate has approved the continuation of that particular CODOTS policy. The only matter which has been approved is the naming of Alexander Thorsson as the Federation Ambassador to Extra Terrestrial civilizations, with the rights and restrictions inherent in the position. I am willing, in view of Alexander’s past service, to view this incident as a misunderstanding and let it go at that. If Alexander will agree to abide by the responsibilities of his position he may continue in that role. If he does not I see no alternative but to have him replaced.”

“Madame President, with all due respects, you really don’t understand any of this do you?” Augesburcke said.

“Admiral Augesburcke you begin to try my patience, I did not ask for your opinion on the matter.” She replied.

“No you didn’t, but I’ll give it to you anyway, because that’s my job.” He told her. “You see it doesn’t really matter whether you think of this man as Alexander Thorsson or Alexander of Terra. For all intents and purposes, Madame President, Alexander Thorsson died in a Scythian experimentation ship. When the Chem kidnapped him he became exactly what they made him: Alexander of Terra, the sole representative of our species. That is how the Chem see him, that is how the Galactics see him, and Madame President, that is how the majority of Homo sapiens in the Terran Federation see him. We helped, of course, by feeding on the Galactic’s Alexander myth, but it was Alexander who beat us to it. He became that myth. He fleshed it out, and not as the figurehead that we intended, but as the myth itself. We wanted a figurehead, Madame President; I was just as guilty of that as you were. I wanted someone to play the part and make the bluff work, and then when the job was done I thought, as you do, that he could walk quietly away. We fooled ourselves. We wanted an actor, but what we got was the real McCoy.”

“You don’t really believe that this man is truly Alexander reincarnated, come alive again to complete his conquests? I am not about to give him the absolute powers of a dictator so that we can go to war with the galaxy, Admiral, are you?” The President exclaimed.

“You don’t give a conqueror power, Madame President, he takes it.” The Admiral told her.

“Admiral you are not making any sense. Are you trying to tell me that this Alexander is going to attempt some form of coup, or do you dare to tell me that the military will support such an action?”

The Admiral shook his head and laughed, “Not at all, Madame President, he has no need of a coup. As far as the galaxy is concerned he is already Alexander of Terra, the Overlord of the Terran Empire. Listen to their transmissions. The irony is the Galactics think it is you who have accomplished the coup! Reality is not always what things are, Madame President, but what things are perceived to be. You should know that, Doctor Koto has repeated it often enough. Look at things as they are reported on the Terran and Galactic broadcasts. Terrans have watched Alexander’s rise from the jungles of Pantrixnia to the very visible head of our fleet. They know his past lives and his present. They feel they know him as well as any other being, and they want to believe what they think they see. As far as the majority of Terran citizens are concerned he is nothing less than Alexander of Terra, Protector of Human civilization. He is Lincoln. He is Cromwell. He is Alexander. He does not need your approval, and you, Madame President, certainly don’t have the power or the charisma to strip him of any of the powers that the galaxy, or our own people, has placed upon him.”

“Then what do you propose we do to bring this Alexander back to reality, so to speak,” she asked.

“You misunderstand me, Madame President,” he told her. “I have no intention of either belittling what Alexander accomplished, on behalf of the Human race I might add, or preventing his further accomplishments. I am an honest soldier, Madame, an old and overused phrase I know, but nonetheless true. Let me be blunt, both of us are here in your beautiful and comfortable office because of one man: Alexander of Terra. You shall go down in history as the first President of the Terran Federation not because of any skills or intelligence on your part, but because of the absolute greatness of one Human. I myself owe my position as the living head of the Terran Fleet to this same Human. Alexander somehow dredged up the best qualities of our species when we needed them the most. One misstep would have cost us our civilization, our history and our future. Now you want to tear down the Human who is, more than anyone else, responsible for the continuance of our civilization? I will take no part in that, Madame President. I have no aspirations to reap the rewards of the empire he made possible while at the same time telling him, “Thank you very much but we’d just like to forget you ever happened!"“

“Understand me, Admiral,” the President told him in a tone that left no room for argument. “I will not allow this Presidency or this Federation to be controlled by a man with delusions of grandeur. The role of Alexander Thorsson is finished. I will make it my job to stop his political career here and now. If I am successful at anything it will be as the person responsible for preventing a possible megalomaniac from assuming a position of power!”

“You are not only too late, Madame President, but you have completely misread Alexander’s character,” Augesburcke told her. “Unlike yourself, Alexander has already tried to remove himself from any aspiration to power. After our victory over the Scythian’s and his successful negotiation of peace with the Chem I asked Alexander why he was willing to leave. He would have had the world at his feet and deservedly so. His answer, Madame President, piqued my curiosity. He looked at me in a manner which gave me no doubt that this sensation of power and victory was nothing new to him. It was not a surprise, the outcome that is, it was expected. Anyway, he looked at me and told me, as if lecturing, that a conqueror should leave power behind at the pinnacle of victory, while he was still a conqueror, and not a despot. What you desire, Madame President, is what Alexander desires. He felt, at the moment that he’d done his part. He accomplished his goals and then he was going to return to Chem. That would have been the end of it. Unfortunately, destiny seldom leaves characters like Alexander the time to live out their lives quietly, and happily. As we’ve seen already events surround Alexander, and when they do, even if he is not their source, he will seek to control them. Mind that lesson, Madame President. If you wish to lessen the impact of Alexander on the Terran Federation then leave him alone and accept him as he is. If you try and destroy him, or even try to impede him then I’ll guarantee that he will become far more powerful than you ever dreamed.”

“You are a hopeless romantic, Admiral,” the President told him. “This Alexander is just a failed military man who happened to be at the right place and the right time. By luck he’s gained notoriety beyond his worth. I am inclined to ignore him, but the merest possibility of him deluding the masses and seeking power attracts my attention. If he will not submit to my authority then I will use my authority to quell any ambition he might have.”

“You are making a mistake, Madame President,” Augesburcke told her.

“I believe I am aware of your opinion, Admiral, that will be all,” She told him coldly.

Augesburcke shook his head and got up. He walked to the door gruffly, but before he left he took one long last look around the room.

“Is there anything else Admiral?” The President asked.

“Only this, if you insist on following this course of action against Alexander I would be asking myself some questions,” he said, pulling at his mustache, a sign he knew that she knew meant extreme irritation.

“And what would they be?” She asked sternly.

Augesburcke’s face betrayed no humor as he said, “First I’d ask myself, what is Alexander going to do with this room when he’s sitting behind this desk and I am not? Second, I would start to wonder what Alexander was going to do with me, when he’s sitting behind that desk and I’m not?”

“Are you threatening me, Admiral Augesburcke?” the President stood up suddenly, all of her features distorted by anger.

“No Madame President I am not, and I mean that sincerely.” He told her. “I do not wish for an Alexander dictatorship even with a Galactic empire as a prize. You are, however, speaking of trying to destroy, politically or otherwise, a very powerful and fated person. Such characters in history do not react well to such treatment. Alexander has made your position of power possible, and your payment is nothing less than a betrayal. That is how he will read the message you are sending. Be very careful Madame President. Alexander is not a normal man. His enemies do not fare well. Just ask the Scythian’s.” With a final hard stare he closed the door, leaving the President of the Terran Federation alone with her thoughts.