The Enchanted
Chapter 16: All for one and one for all

The sun peeked through the blackout curtains and Jessie was curled up beside me. Today was going to be a big day, so I just let her sleep while I checked the laptop. There are only 2 words to describe what I found. Holy Fuck! Apparently our information campaign had taken on a life of its’ own. I had never seen this many “Breaking News” notices. They all listed the disappearance of the Enchanted, which the WSGF attributed to some sort of electronic device that they assumed had been destroyed when the island was razed.

There were huge headlines screaming “Scandal In the Whitehouse”, supported by copies of the memos we had released. There were time-lapse satellite pictures of the island, going from lush and beautiful to a flaming pit, to an arid wasteland to the beginnings of regrowth, all over a 24 hour period. The Island wasn’t going to go down without a fight. The headlines described a deadly place that didn’t allow anyone or anything near it. Yay Island!

There were interviews with all the pie-holes at the WSGF stating emphatically that all the e-mails and memos were manufactured and false, even though they had no real proof. It was so exciting to see them flailing. It was clear that not one news outlet believed a word. Each story was more salacious, more vicious.

There were tons of stories speculating about where we had gone. There were those that insisted we had been blown up in the WSGF attack on the Island, the response to which was mixed – which I sort of expected. They’d spent so much time vilifying us there would always be fringe groups who believed us to be the equivalent of the anti-christ, but many were appalled at what they called the “genocide” of a whole race of people, even though there were only about 1,000 of us. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Find ɴøᴠel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

There were a few stories who came pretty close to the truth, saying we had teleported to another location. They assumed the use of some electronic device, which was the story the WSGF was propogating. I was glad they assumed that because we didn’t need one more thing to make people think we were any more freakish than they already did. There didn’t seem to be any mention of where they thought we might be, so that was a relief.

There also wasn’t any mention of a “movie” being filmed about the Enchanted. This was also good news. I was afraid if any of the locals started talking it could raise curiousity, which we didn’t need until we had a plan.

My favorite story was the one that accompanied the memo that laid out the plan for reining in the Enchanted. Including the elimination of the leadership if it was deemed necessary. It outlined the opinion of the analysts that we were going to de exactly as we did and request “reservation” like status for the island and a self-governance similar to that of the American Indian tribes of the past. It outlined, in detail, why the WSGF could never allow this to happen, specifically because it would weaken them as an organization, and that even though they were in fact totally peaceful, no danger to anyone, innocuous even, and highly intelligent, if this group was seen as benevolent or even harmless enough to be allowed any level of independence then there was a concern that the WSGF would be seen to become irrelevant. It was deemed necessary to demonize us, to make us appear to be dangerous, radical, and show the world that they would need continued protection from us.

And best of all it detailed the need to flat-out lie to the leaders of the world about what danger we presented. It showed a copy of a memo that was sent to a long list of world-leaders talking about the fact that while The Enchanted had not yet taken any aggressive steps that it was only a matter of time and that a pre-emptive strike was needed to maintain the security of all the world’s nations. The memo had been “approved” by over 20 world leaders, by signature. It was going to be an excellent tool in knowing who was going to be taken out first. Whether literal or figurative, they were all going down!

There was a quote from the President of the US indicating that he knew nothing about it, and that the memo had been signed by the secretary of defense, and that he would not have authorized this kind of strike without much more information, and that he had asked the SOD to hand in his resignation for his actions. I didn’t totally buy it, but at least it sounded possible. I know plausible deniability is a huge part of politics, but I found myself wanting to believe it. My dad had liked him when he was just a senator, thought he was a decent man, so I guess that stuck with me. I moved him to the bottom of the list in my head until I could learn more.

But a plan did start to come together in my head. I knew I’d have to talk it over with Eric first, and I had no doubt he’d have something valuable to add, but for now the plan was to aim for the heart of the WSGF. Turned out to be the head of the most powerful scientific governing body in the known history of mankind was the nephew of a nobody politician that had been appointed to the position with no scientific background at all. The little son of a bitch was an accountant. A fucking number cruncher who understood excactly less than zero about anything scientific or the principals that should govern scientific study. Target #1!

There were already calls all over the internet for his resignation. That wasn’t good enough for me. I did a little research. He was unmarried, no kids. Perfect. Minimize the theoretical collateral damage. I tried to find a home address with no luck. I would need Eric for this one. And I knew, honestly, that most of this would have to wait until after Hope’s arrival. There was no way I was going to put her at risk. Besides, I knew at that point that I wouldn’t be waiting too much longer. As impatient as I might have been to get on with my plans, she was even more impatient to join the world. I could feel it. She was making short work of this gestation thing. I had a feeling she was working at top speed to make her presence much more physical than it was already. I wasn’t going to give it more than another week. I could feel the agreement with that sentiment. She wanted to make an impact. I had no idea what it was going to be, but I had a feeling it would leave anything I could do in the dust. And I knew deep down that there was no desire for retribution in my little girl. That was gonna be my job

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