366: Chapter 366 A Tweet That Was Flooded

Twelve hours later.

Washington time, 7:00 AM.

The President sat in a chair in the The White House Rose Garden, giving an exclusive interview to CNN.

He was wearing a new suit today—dark blue, with a USA flag pin on his lapel.

His mental state was so good that it didn't look like he had only slept for four hours.

The CNN host asked: "Mr. President, at this historic moment, what are you feeling?"

The President pondered for two seconds.

"Responsibility," he said. "A huge responsibility. When this interstellar civilization chose Earth from some corner of the Universe, and chose the USA—they are actually placing the future of the entire human civilization into my hands."

"This is the most important choice humanity has faced since Columbus discovered the New World."

"And this time, I—as the President of the USA—will ensure we make the right choice."

The host nodded, putting on a "deeply moved" expression.

"Mr. President, what do you think this contact will bring to the ordinary citizens of the USA?"

"Technology," the President said. "Revolutionary technology. Think about it—this civilization can build a 600-meter-long spaceship, can hover silently in the air, can deceive our most advanced radar System. If we can get even one percent of their technology from them—"

"Cancer, Alzheimer's, ALS—these stubborn diseases that have tortured humanity for centuries will be ended in the hands of our generation."

"Clean, cheap, and endless energy will flow into every household in this country."

"And those rivals who are still chasing us using the methods of the last century... like Daxia, they will remain in the last century forever."

The host smiled in cooperation.

The interview continued.

Meanwhile.

The Pentagon, Secretary of Defense's office.

The Secretary of Defense sat behind his desk.

There were seven documents spread out on the table.

On the cover of each document was the logo of a different institution—MIT Materials Science Laboratory, Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Naval Research Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Seven documents.

Seven top-tier global Materials science institutions.

Seven independently conducted spectral analyses.

Seven pointing to the same conclusion.

The Secretary of Defense opened the top document and read it for the seventh time.

"Preliminary spectral analysis of the hull material of the unidentified flying object over Washington shows that the surface reflection spectral characteristics have a 98.7% match with the Daxia mecha that stole the Statue of Liberty. In terms of Materials science statistics, the probability that the two samples come from the same alloy formula is over 99.9%."

His aide stood across from the desk, silent.

He waited for about two minutes.

The Secretary of Defense looked up.

"This report," he said, "who else has seen it?"

"Only you, sir. The analysis reports from the seven institutions were sent directly to you through an encrypted channel. As per your previous instructions, I have not informed anyone else."

"Good."

The Secretary of Defense closed the seven documents, stacked them together, and put them into the safe.

"However, sir—" the aide hesitated, "this matter must be reported to the President."

The Secretary of Defense did not answer immediately.

He looked out the window.

Looking out from the Secretary of Defense's office window, one could see the skyline of Washington, D.C.

The spire of the Washington Monument shimmered in the morning sun.

Above the monument—

That ship was still there.

It had been hovering for three hours without any movement.

The Secretary of Defense watched for a long time.

"Report it," he finally said, "do you know the consequences?"

"What do you mean?"

The aide was stunned for a moment.

"Sir—"

"I know what you want to say," the Secretary of Defense interrupted him, "but right now, no one can bear the true conclusion of this report."

"The President just posted a record-breaking tweet two hours ago. Twenty million people around the world are retweeting that tweet. Our approval rating has gone up by 24 percentage points. Our stock market opened up 800 points today."

"If we tell the President now—sorry sir, that is not an alien spaceship, that thing might be from Daxia."

The Secretary of Defense shook his head.

"No."

The aide was silent for a few seconds.

"So this matter will never be told to the President?"

"Not never," the Secretary of Defense said, "wait until the right time."

"When is the right time?"

"When I come up with a way to tell him the truth while also letting him save Face."

The aide nodded, but the expression on his Face was complex.

He picked up the "re-interpreted" report and walked out of the office.

Leaving the Secretary of Defense alone in the office.

...

Washington time, 10:47 AM.

The Pentagon, E-Ring, third floor, that large conference room.

The theme of today's meeting was—preparation plan for receiving an alien civilization.

There were more attendees than any previous meeting.

The Department of State sent five people.

NASA sent three chief scientists.

The RAND Corporation, the Brookings Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations—each sent two researchers.

The The White House Chief of Staff's office sent a liaison.

The conference room was full.

The Secretary of State sat at the head of the table—the President did not come today, as he was continuing to accept interviews from various media on the The White House lawn, showing the demeanor of "a leader of a country chosen by an alien civilization."

The Secretary of State presided over the meeting.

"Everyone," he said, "the purpose of today's meeting is only one, and that is to formulate a detailed reception plan. The President has clearly stated that this contact will be led by the USA. So, everyone here needs to solve three core problems—"

He held up three fingers.

"First, reception specifications."

"Second, the bottom line for technology transfer negotiations."

"Third, how to coordinate with our global allies to ensure they do not interfere with this contact."

A chorus of responses echoed in the conference room.

The Secretary of State nodded: "Good, let's start with the first item."

For the next hour and a half, the atmosphere in the conference room was very pragmatic.

Everyone treated this as a real diplomatic contact to discuss.

NASA's chief scientist suggested preparing a gift of an "Overview of Human Civilization"—containing physical parameters of Earth, the history of life evolution, samples of major human languages, and major artistic achievements. They called it the "New Golden Record."

The Department of State representative suggested forming a 50-person "First Contact Team"—including linguists, mathematicians, physicists, biologists, theologians, and anthropologists.

The researcher from the Council on Foreign Relations proposed a "Post-Contact Global Order Reconstruction Plan"—the core argument is: Since the USA was chosen by an alien civilization, the USA should take this opportunity to redefine the international order of the 21st century.

This plan excited everyone in the conference room.

The Secretary of State nodded: "This direction is very good. The strategic significance of our contact this time is not just to establish contact with an alien civilization—more importantly, it is to re-establish the absolute leadership position of the USA on this planet."

"In the past twenty years, our relative strength has declined. Daxia is catching up to us. Russia is challenging us. Even India thinks it can sit on equal footing with us."

"But today—"

He smiled.

"—The alien civilization told the whole world with their actions: Only the USA is worthy of talking to a Universe civilization."