32: Chapter 32 Closed-Door Meeting

5:17 PM.

The President sat behind the Resolute Desk in the white Oval Office.

His private phone lay before him. He had just hung up an encrypted call with the Pentagon, confirming that the backup air force one had entered New York airspace, four F-35s were procedurally breaking formation, and the escort mission would be handed over to two F-16s of the New York National Guard in thirty seconds.

He picked up the phone and began writing a tweet.

[Trump: Ambassador of Guga Planet, Mr. Chen Mu, has boarded air force one and is heading to the United Nations Headquarters in New York under my personal arrangement and excellent leadership.]

[Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, he will attend the United Nations General Assembly with representatives from countries around the world to discuss the future relationship between human civilization and Guga Planet civilization.]

[This is another major diplomatic breakthrough in human history, following last night's White House press conference. Only the President Trump administration could achieve such a breakthrough. I have said it before, no one understands interstellar diplomacy better than I do. May God bless the United States!]

Comments Section: President! I knew it! Only you could invite an alien ambassador to the United Nations! This is the greatest diplomatic victory in human history!

Chen Mu said Gugu Gaga, the President replied Gugu Gaga, and then both of them felt they had won.

"Under my personal arrangement and excellent leadership." It was clearly the alien himself who decided to go to the United Nations for a meeting, how did it become President Trump's credit? This is so President Trump.

Alien Ambassador: Takes air force one to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Me: Takes the subway to the company for the Monday morning meeting. We are not the same.

"Discuss the future relationship between human civilization and Guga Planet civilization." Note the wording. It is "future relationship," not "surrender terms," not "governance plan."

The President's Twitter team has finally learned to speak in Chen Mu's language. Tomorrow, we will know for the first time what kind of orders that fleet, still hovering at the edge of the Kuiper Belt, will ultimately receive.

Aliens going to the United Nations—I've written this script before, called "The Dark Tower," and the ending wasn't very good. I suggest upgrading United Nations security.

United Nations = Medieval Cathedral, Chen Mu going there = Coronation. The President is helping him lay out the red carpet. We have all been deceived.

From a procedural perspective: There is precedent for the United Nations General Assembly to invite non-member entities to speak, such as the Vatican. But a non-Earth entity is a first. The legal department is working overtime.

If Chen Mu speaks at the United Nations, does he recognize the "United Nations Charter"? If he does, how does the principle of sovereign equality apply to an interstellar civilization? If he doesn't, why is he going?

United Nations speech = countdown to an ultimatum. He will announce the start date of the rule there. My bunker still has space, DM me.

I have already learned Gugu Gaga. Guga-sama, my boss's house is here.

Do not trust him. Do not trust the President, do not trust the United Nations, do not trust anyone who tells you to "leave your fate to them to negotiate."

Guga Planet is not here to negotiate; they are here to rule. Chen Mu said it himself. The President's Twitter is just packaging the same fact. Tomorrow at the United Nations General Assembly, representatives from all over the world will sit there, discussing how to accept the rule. And we can only watch.

New York, along the East River in Manhattan, the United Nations Headquarters building.

The thirty-nine-story glass curtain wall shimmered with a pale green light in the afternoon sun.

In front of the building, one hundred and ninety-three national flags of member states snapped in the wind on one hundred and ninety-three flagpoles.

Combined, all the flags were like a complete history of human politics, bound into a volume made of fabric, dye, and every country's full imagination of itself.

The motorcade stopped at the building entrance, and Chen Mu and the others got out.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations was standing on the steps at the entrance of the building, wearing a dark blue suit and a light blue tie, his silver-gray hair slightly disheveled by the wind.

Seeing Chen Mu, he immediately walked down the steps and extended his hand: "Mr. Ambassador, welcome to the United Nations Headquarters."

Chen Mu shook his hand: "I am very happy to see you!"

This scene was captured by the reporters nearby.

"Your accommodation has been arranged, please follow me."

The Secretary-General of the United Nations turned and walked toward the building entrance, with Chen Mu and the others following behind him.

The glass curtain wall of the United Nations Headquarters opened automatically before them, as if signaling that a brand new era was about to descend.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations walked in the front. On the walls on both sides of the corridor hung portraits of past Secretaries-General of the United Nations, from Trygve Lie to António Guterres. The gazes in the oil paintings were directed outward, quietly watching them walk by.

Finally, the Secretary-General stopped in front of a dark brown wooden door. There was no signage on the door, only a very thin crack.

He pushed the door open and stepped aside.

The room was not large. A dark round table occupied the center, with six high-backed chairs placed around it. Four people were already sitting at the round table.

When the four people saw Chen Mu walk in, they all stopped what they were doing and stood up.

The Secretary-General walked to the round table and introduced: "Mr. Ambassador, these are the representatives of China, Russia, John, and France."

He tilted his head slightly toward Advisor Cole, "Now with Advisor Cole added, the representatives of the Permanent Five are all gathered in this room."

Chen Mu nodded and shook hands with the first representative from China who walked up.

The representative from China shook his hand and said: "Mr. Ambassador, I have heard much about you."

Then Chen Mu shook hands with the several representatives one by one and exchanged some polite pleasantries.

Finally, Chen Mu sat down in the empty high-backed chair, Advisor Cole sat down on his right, and the Permanent Five representatives sat back in their respective seats.

Chen Mu looked at the Secretary-General of the United Nations: "Isn't the United Nations General Assembly tomorrow? What does this mean?"

The representative from China smiled: "Mr. Ambassador, we on Blue Planet have a tradition: small matters have big meetings, big matters have small meetings, and for the biggest matters..."

He picked up the cup of hot tea, tilted the lid against the rim of the cup, and blew a breath toward the edge of the dark brown tea. A very fine ripple spread across the surface of the tea: "...we don't have meetings at all."

The Secretary-General walked between the round table and the door.

His gaze moved from the representative from China's face to Chen Mu's: "Mr. Ambassador, this is a United Nations tradition. Before the formal General Assembly begins, you and the Permanent Five will hold a closed-door meeting first."

"If this meeting goes well, it will help in reaching an agreement at tomorrow's United Nations General Assembly."

"Oh, I see." Chen Mu also picked up a cup of tea from the table: "Meaning that for things on Blue Planet, you five countries can basically make the decisions. Tomorrow's General Assembly is actually just a formality. Right?"

The Secretary-General nodded: "We will be right outside the door, call me anytime if you need anything!"

Then he took Maya and walked out of the room, and the door closed gently behind him.