“Jesus, Nathan,” his father exclaimed as he followed him into the study, his protection detail closing the doors behind them. “I see you’re still just blurting out whatever is on your mind.”
“They don’t care what’s on my mind.”
“Oh yes they do. They care about every word, every syllable, every action. Hell, they’re even analyzing your body language these days. Anything they can take and twist into something that will swing votes their way.”
“It never seemed to matter much before.” Nathan loosened his tie and took a seat on the sofa.
“You were fifteen during the last campaign. Nobody cared what you thought at that age,” he pointed out as he paced around the room. “Besides, I was only running for the senate back then, not the presidency of the most influential nation on the planet. Hell, the last three North American presidents have been selected to serve as the leader of the United Earth Republic. Someone has to lead this world safely into the next century. If I can win this election, then I’m almost certain to be sitting in Geneva within a year. Then I can really do something to help keep us safe.”
Suddenly, the memory of his anonymous sexual encounter in a room down the hall no longer seemed a pleasant distraction. I really should’ve gotten her name.
Nathan immediately felt the need to defend himself. “Since when did you have aspirations to the presidency? I thought you always said that the real governing was done at the congressional level?”
“I’ve said a lot of things over my lifetime, son. Not all of them have been entirely accurate.”
This came as a surprise to Nathan, not ever remembering his father to admit a mistake so easily.
“But things have changed drastically since we learned about the state of the core systems. The Jung are a real threat, and the population in general doesn’t take it seriously because the enemy is over twenty light years away!” The senator stopped pacing and sat against his desk, facing his son. “We’ve advanced so quickly over the last hundred years, that people aren’t ready to think in terms of light years. It’s still an impossibly distant place to them.”
“But if you do see the Jung as a threat, then why are you so against expanding the Fleet? I would’ve thought that you of all people would support us? Hell, you were all for getting us into space when you were my age.”
“As I said, things have changed,” his father repeated. As usual, Nathan was being short-sighted. It was a failing that his father had recognized in his son at an early age. It wasn’t that he couldn’t see the big picture, he just never bothered.
“What’s changed?” Nathan begged. “What has changed so much that it would cause you to do a complete turnaround in such a short time?”
His father took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he rose from his perch and strolled over to stare out the window again. His son was right, the change in his position on the buildup of the Earth Defense Fleet had completely changed over the last four years. And it had caused a tremendous rift to develop between them. The irony of it was that deep down inside, he knew that his true position had never changed. It was only his public position that he had been forced to change. He only wished that he could find a way to make his son understand without exposing the truth. “It’s complicated,” he finally resigned.
Nathan wanted to press, but he knew that ‘it’s complicated’ meant that his father either didn’t want, or couldn’t talk about it further.
“I have no delusions that you and I are ever going to agree on this,” his father admitted. “Just do me a favor, will you son? No more public shots across my bow until after the election?”
As if on cue, his mother entered the room to end the dispute. “There you are,” she said to her husband as she entered. She suddenly noticed Nathan sitting on the sofa. “Oh, Nathan honey, I didn’t see you.” She kissed her husband on the cheek, noticing the tension in the room. “Am I interrupting?” she asked, knowing full well that she was. Over the last few years, she had developed an uncanny knack of entering the room at just the right moment to break the two of them apart. It seemed impossible, but somehow Nathan was sure that she did it on purpose, and for just that reason.
“Don’t worry, sir,” Nathan assured his father as he rose to leave. “I’ll behave.”
“Nathan,” his mother scolded at his attitude.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. I report for duty on the Reliant tomorrow morning. And she’s scheduled to be underway in a few days for border patrol out in the Oort Cloud.” Nathan kissed his mother’s cheek and gave her a polite hug so as not to mess up her outfit, in case there were more pictures to be taken. “After today the press won’t have access to me for at least a few years. That should get you safely through the election,” he promised his father as he reached out to shake his hand. “Good Luck, sir,” Nathan announced in a show of good faith. The strange thing was, he actually meant it this time.
“Thank you, son.” His father took Nathan’s hand, placing his other hand on Nathan’s shoulder. Despite their differences, the senator dearly loved his youngest child, and was prouder of him than Nathan would ever know. And though he hid it well, the news of his son’s impending departure on a relatively dangerous patrol both shocked and worried him deeply. “Smooth sailing, Ensign.”
Now Nathan too was shocked. For it was the first time his father had called him by his rank. It felt as if he had finally accepted Nathan’s decision to enlist, despite his father’s repeated objections. “I’ll try to keep in touch,” he promised as he turned to leave.
“Yes, please do,” the senator mumbled, more to himself than anyone else in the room.
For a good minute after Nathan had left, the senator and his wife said nothing.
“You have to do something, Dayton,” his wife finally insisted. “You can’t let him go out there. We might never see him again.” There was genuine fear in her voice.
“I’ll try, honey,” the senator promised as he put his arms around her. “I’ll try.”
Nathan stood at the edge of the driveway, waiting for the car that would take him to the airport to catch the next shuttle back to the academy. The party was still in full swing, with the orchestra playing even more lively than before. He could’ve stayed longer, maybe even got lucky again. But after his father’s big announcement, he preferred to lay low until he could get back to safe ground.
He had grown up in a politically active family, and he had tired of it years ago. And that had been one of the reasons he joined the fleet. For it would get him about as far away from all of this as humanly possible.
There had been few options that had appealed to him. His degree in pre-plague history could have landed him a decent career as professor, if he had continued on for his doctorate. But then he still would’ve been subject to the constant scrutiny that resulted from his father’s public service. And he simply couldn’t imagine dealing with that for the rest of his life.
His sisters all had their own careers, and later had all married and started popping out kids in an effort to build the Earth’s population back up to true industrial levels. But he had grown tired of school, tired of family, and certainly tired of politics. And if he had hung around much longer, that’s probably where he too would have ended up.
The fact was, he had needed a change, and a drastic one at that. Military service had never even been a consideration in the past. But the idea of joining the fleet and living out in space, only making it back to Earth every few years? Well that was enticing enough that one slightly drunk night with his buddies was all it had taken to get him to sign ten years of his life away. Even if it had meant another four years of school before getting off the planet.
But the Academy had gone by quickly, and it had been far more interesting than college had ever been. The physical and combat training had been fun as well. Nathan had never considered himself to be athletic, but had discovered he was far more adept at such activities than he would have thought possible. He never considered himself a ‘super-soldier’, but he could hold his own with most of his class.