Apocalypse Before Finals - Julie Steimle (bts book recommendations .TXT) 📗

forehead. One of the individuals was a short woman, healthily developed. The other individual was a man, taller than the woman by a head and fit, probably even young, looking at his build. He had a broad chest but no love handles. Both individuals walked down the steps along the wing then stepped onto the grass. Neither looked armed, though the man was carrying a bag made of peach fabric that seemed a little heavy.

<<It appears to be two soldiers, though unarmed.>>

The class seemed to hold their breaths.

<<What we are witnessing may be prelude to disaster or the beginning of peace.>>

The two helmeted figures then fiddled with their helmet straps, unfastening them. The first, shorter one took hers off and then the man took his off. Both shook out their hair and gazed politely at the American president.

Mr. Dallas gasped audibly.

"It's Zormna!" Jesse popped out of his seat.

Brian blinked. Indeed it was. Her goddess-like face was flushed at the cheeks, the cleft in her chin just barely touching the top of her uniform collar. Her green eyes shone with the same old wry intelligence, though she currently seemed cold. Stiff.

And behind her stood Jeff, grinning like he always did when he thought something was funny. He looked out-of-place in that uniform.

"And that's Jeff!" another student yelled out.

Jonathan nodded. "Yep, two dangerous individuals we all have to be protected from."

Brian glanced at his friend and rolled his eyes. In spite of Jonathan's sarcasm, no one else heard him. All eyes were fixed on the screen.

<<It looks like the Vice President is saying something to them. The girl doesn't look convinced that he is the President though. Maybe we could see if we can overhear what they are saying. Can you get that, Bob?>>

The camera zoomed in.  They got some distant sound along with the rush of wind which echoed loudly into the TV, but the sound was too light.

<<Can you get someone with a microphone...? Oh, we have someone in there? Good, can we switch to tha - >> They switched immediately and could no longer hear the news anchor's voice. They heard the voices better on the lawn, but there was still a lot of background noise.

<<...together.>> the Vice President's voice said.

The image of the fiery-haired Martian showed her green eyes narrow a smidgeon. Her full lips press tighter together as she patiently listened to the man talk.

"Oh, no. She's on to them," Brian said, shaking his head.

"It's not like they could hide the President from them anyway. They know what he looks like. They lived here," Jonathan said back.

Darren laughed near the back.

On the screen, Zormna lowered her head and spoke in her clear Irish- sounding English. Hearing her voice again disarmed the entire classroom. It made it real. <<Thank you, Vice President, for those sentiments, but I would like to meet with the President now, please.>>

They saw Jeff chuckle behind her.

The Vice President flushed, looking a mite flustered. Zormna continued. <<Perhaps your advisor, Agent James Sicamore, forgot to tell you that I have been in the United States before now and have lived here for over a year. I know exactly who you are and who the President is.>>

The camera panned to show the President, who still hung back.

<<I can understand why you would want to protect him. But we came in peace, and we mean no harm,>> Zormna said.

Those words sent most of the class reeling.

"We came in peace? She's really an alien," one boy exclaimed.

Brian dropped his head to his desk, shaking it at the stupidity of his classmates.

"I told you - " Darren started.

"Shut up, Darren. Nobody is going to listen to you even if you are right," Jonathan called back. "Look at them."

Darren glared at the wrestler, but he did gaze at his classmates. The news broadcast had better effect on them in convincing the truth than anything he had ever said. Darren frowned and folded his arms. "This sucks."

Jonathan patted him and nodded. "Don't it though?"

The sound from the TV drew back their attention.

<<I am the President,>> their true president said.

They heard Zormna laugh. <<So you are. Nice to meet you at last.>>

She stuck out her hand. The President hesitantly took it.

What everyone expected to happen simply didn't. There was no abduction. There was no assassination. There was no bomb, no hit - no violence of any kind. The five foot tall, pale, flame-haired blonde, green-eyed and brightly smiling girl of fifteen simply shook the President's hand and let go.

That act seemed to stagger everyone in the crowd. Jeff even watched pensively, not the President, but the armed soldiers and bodyguards.

When they let go, Zormna bowed to him and lifted her palm open. <<This is our way of greeting,>> she said, demonstrating again. Jeff still watched the crowd, standing vigilantly behind her.

"What is Jeff doing?" one of Brian's classmates said in half a whisper.

"Well, Zormna's his girlfriend..." one boy leaned over, explaining loudly.

"Zormna is not his girlfriend." Brian peevishly shook his head.

"He's her bodyguard," Darren said matter-of-factly.

They all looked at him.

"Well, he is," Darren shrugged and said more humbly than he ever did. "I've told you guys this a thousand times."

Nodding, Jonathan laughed. "Which is why he was always watching her."

Brian also nodded. "And why they always went everywhere together."

"And why he kicked the butt of every guy that said anything nasty about her," Darren added.

Lots of heads turned to look at him again.

"The TV! Look!" a girl exclaimed. 

They all turned back and stared. On the screen they saw Zormna turn around and open the bag Jeff was holding. She reached deep inside. Those people standing around them watched her carefully. By this time Agent James Sicamore was standing at the forefront of the group with the President and Vice President. They all watched her as she rummaged around the bag and pulled out a red apple.

"That's an apple," Jonathan said.

A girl nearby patted him on the head. "Nice observation. Do you know any other vegetables?"

"Fruit," Brian replied, raising his finger.

She flushed and pulled back.

On the TV screen Zormna held the apple up. There was a faint grin on her face. Those that knew her well shook their heads and wondered what she was up to.

<<Trust. No doubt it is an issue between your people and mine. You don't trust us. And we...>> Zormna looked around, <<have not given you sufficient proof for your trust.>> She bowed again to the President. He looked a degree touched but said nothing. <<I am deeply sorry we did not stop the P.M. invasion before it happened. That was my fault.>>

The students in the room gasped again, this time with surprise.

<<It was my responsibility to keep criminals from coming to your planet, but I was occupied with other things. And those working in my place were not properly prepared for the fight - a mistake I regret and one I hope to rectify.>> She then offered the apple. <<Trust. I am asking you to trust me.>> Zormna held the apple to the President. She sighed as she saw him hesitate. She then looked directly at Agent Sicamore.

<<A friend of mine once told me a story about a girl who was seduced into eating poison within an apple.>> Zormna turned the apple over in her hands. <<I was not familiar with such deception. I was...>> she smiled. <<...naïve. It is not a part of our culture to disguise our hostilities.>> She then bit into the apple and chewed. <<The old woman in the story bit into the apple and then handed the apple to the girl.>> She stared hard at Agent Sicamore now, who flushed bright red. She then handed the apple to Agent Sicamore, or tried to. <<Would you take my apple? Will you accept our offer of peace?>>

Sicamore turned even redder. He felt all the eyes on him.

Zormna relaxed her gaze, shook her head, and handed the apple back to her guard behind her. Jeff took it, nodded, thanked her, and started to eat it in front of everybody. Everyone half expected Jeff to drop dead there, but he continued to munch and wipe the corners of his mouth.

<<Juicy,>> he said with a wide grin and a piece of apple in his cheek.

The FBI agent averted his eyes to the grass. Zormna turned around and stuck her hand in bag again, drawing out another apple. Handing to the President this time, she said simply, <<Trust. I once knew a man who refused to eat an egg salad sandwich and went hungry because he was incapable of trust.>> She cast Agent Sicamore one more glance. <<I certainly hope you are not like that.>>

The President lifted the apple to his lips, smelled it, and drew in brave breath. He took a bite.

Again, everyone expected him to drop dead - but he didn't. The apple was just as juicy as Jeff's. The American president smiled at the young Arrassian queen with a blush on his cheeks. She was smiling and bowing again to him.

<<Thank you for your trust,>> Zormna said. Then she turned around and completely opened the bag they were carrying.

Still, the crowd watched with fearful shame, expecting her pull out a gun or a bomb or something - anything hostile or violent, like a severed head. Instead, she extracted a plastic store bag that had the words Barker's Grocery on it, full of apples. Zormna grinned with that wicked twinkle in her eye and handed the entire bag to Agent Sicamore. <<These are for you and your pals.>>

They saw Jeff burst out laughing, handing the core of his apple to the FBI agent while licking his lips.

Brian shook his head and closed his eyes. "What a dork."

Jonathan laughed, agreeing.  

On the TV, Zormna turned back to the American President and Vice President and bowed. <<Hopefully we can begin afresh. My offers and promises still stand. Take me at my word. I will send ambassadors...>>

Jeff puffed up with a grin for a moment.

<<...And we will be accepting ambassadors within this next year. We have a degree of reconstruction to do before we can welcome guests.>> Zormna then turned toward Agent Sicamore. <<Oh, and, Mr. Sicamore, we want our box back. You know the one.>>

The FBI agent flushed again, still holding the bag of apples and the one apple core. They watched the two young Arrassians walk back up the steps to the opening of the ship. Jeff was grinning as he pulled on his helmet, watching Zormna's flank. The young Arrassian queen bowed once again and hopped up to the cockpit, flipping into her chair with a bit more flare than most expected. Jeff followed without showing off. He merely waved playfully. Zormna nodded militaristically, punching buttons inside the machine.

The steps folded up and in, and the front shield slid back in place. Again the crowd stared at the silver white spaceship. With no one but those two teenagers at the controls, everyone gaped as the ship rose nearly soundless off the ground. The TV camera followed the ship up. It panned back to show the crowd and the ship as the vehicle suddenly shot skyward. In three seconds it was gone.

<<The ship is gone. I repeat, the ship is gone.>> The voice of the news reporter returned.

Brian's class erupted like the crowd left behind on the White House lawn. They talked all at once, which was just as well since there really wasn't anything else to see on the TV except the embarrassed and bewildered FBI agent and the security agents helping the president back to the White House, possibly to analyze the apple he had partly eaten.

Mr. Dallas faced his class and sighed, shaking his head. "And to think he was in my class."