Free The Trojan Horse by Christopher Nuttall Page B

visit their chambers for a series of private discussions.  That had to mean something, she told herself; the aliens talked a good game, but if they wanted to work with the human race they’d have to work with the most powerful nations on the planet.  Jeannette was more than familiar with the high ideals and lofty blether of politics – and how rarely the words of political leaders translated into any form of great and lasting change.
     
    “We welcome you,” the alien said, in a whispery tone.  “There is much we must discuss.”
     
    Jeannette leaned forward, careful to keep her face impassive.  There was no way of reading the alien’s body language, but the aliens might be capable of reading human body language.  They’d been intercepting transmissions for years and many of those transmissions would have been educational, intended to teach a human audience about everything from the economy to basic biology.  They might have even determined how to read human expressions, or monitor internal physical reactions that could indicate if a person was trying to lie…there was just no way to know the limits of their capabilities.
     
    “Of course,” she said.  “I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say.”
     
    ***
    “They’re offering us what ?”
     
    Toby sat in one corner of Air Force One’s Presidential Lounge, listening carefully as the President, Jeannette McGreevy and Albert Demeter, the Director of the CIA, discussed the alien’s offer.  The Vice President’s face could be seen on one of the screens; he’d been told to remain in a secret underground bunker until they knew for sure that the Galactics came in peace.  General Elliot Thomas should have been included, but he’d had an urgent appointment elsewhere.
     
    “They’re offering us ten fusion power units,” McGreevy said.  Her hawkish face – Toby distrusted her and had ever since she’d tried to bribe him away from the President – was flushed with excitement.  “According to the figures they’re offering, they would be able to power the entire nation alone, without the need for any fission power plants, wind farms or any other means of producing power.  They’re clean and environmentally friendly…”
     
    The President twitched.  Bare hours after the alien speech, the environmental lobby was already pressing their political representatives to start reducing pollution sharply – never mind the fact that most global production came from China and the Third World.  The price of rapid growth and the development of heavy industries was pollution, a price that dictatorial governments willingly paid to ensure that they became more independent of the free world.  No one knew for sure just how badly the USSR’s government had polluted Russia, but what had leaked into the public domain was horrifying.   The former USSR might be the most polluted country on Earth.
     
    “They’ve also offered to start licensing certain items to our industrial firms,” McGreevy continued, seemingly unaware of the President’s concern.  Her ambitions were an open secret in Washington, but few were prepared to challenge her openly.  “From what they’ve offered us, we can produce advanced batteries that will allow us to become energy-independent of the Middle East, medicines that will allow us to cure most diseases and hundreds of other devices that will improve the quality of life all over the world.  And all they ask in exchange is some land.”
     
    Toby frowned.  The aliens had asked for only one thing; a small area of territory within the Continental United States that they could make their own.  It wasn't an unreasonable request, but there were sticking points.  Galactic Federation law, which no one on Earth knew anything about, would govern the territory, effectively granting the aliens extraterritorial rights and freedom from American law.  It struck him that the Chinese must have felt just as stunned and