“No,” the President said carefully.
“The gar gyi dbang phyug ma isn’t the worst of the Great Old Ones,” Janea said with a sigh. “There are only seven mentioned in the Tibetan texts, but there are references to there being many others. The Gar is one of the few who had real worshippers. Most of the rest didn’t seem to care one way or the other and were as mercurial and deadly as weather. They didn’t even seem to destroy for the joy of destruction, as many demons do. They just didn’t seem, in general, to notice humans.”
“How were they defeated?” the Senate Minority Leader asked.
“The gods,” Janea said, carefully. “Humans apparently…” She paused and looked at Barb.
“I can handle the E word,” Barb said with a smile.
“Humans apparently evolved with the Great Old Ones just being part of their world,” Janea said. “At some point they managed to get the gods to intercede. There was a big battle that was so far back it’s not even in most religious texts, and the gods won. Then they took the humans as their worshippers, and you get Odin and Zeus and all the rest eventually. The battle with the Titans might be a reference to the battles with the Old Ones.”
“So…why can’t the old gods intercede?” the Speaker asked. “That would…actually be a lot more palatable.”
“You want me to try to penetrate divine politics?” Janea asked. “I thought you were going nuts about there even being a God? Answer is, I dunno. I do know that they are not as powerful as the White God by a lot of orders of magnitude. They’re still there. Many, as those the Asatru worship, side with the White God. Mostly. Don’t ask me about Loki; it depends on the day. Others side with the infernal. But for whatever reason, they aren’t intervening. I couldn’t even get Freya to give me enough power to battle a Child. She was just hands off. I was nearly taken by a Hunter, one of her most powerful priestesses taken to be defiled, and she didn’t intervene. That tells me that they are held. At a guess, because of this test of the White God.”
“So God is hanging us out to dry?” the Senate Majority Leader asked. “Great!”
“No, He is testing us,” Barb said. “This is part of the test. Can you, the leaders of this great nation, get your heads around there being a One True God and can you lead your people in His direction or will we continue to… What was that book a while back? Will we continue to slouch towards Gomorrah? Can you lead or can you only run in front of wherever the band is headed? Because this is but a minor test. Much greater tests are coming. I think what God is saying, getting it down to a bumper-sticker, is ‘Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.’”
“The problem being that this is a democracy, Barbara,” the Speaker said, as if speaking to a child. “And in a democracy, that is under rule of law, we have to follow the laws. And the law says, no interaction between church and state.”
“Don’t argue with me, sweetheart,” Barbara said, smiling broadly and then pointing at the roof. “Argue with Him if you’d like. I do.”
“Is this unconstitutional?” the President asked.
“Yes!” the Speaker and the Majority Leader both snapped.
“I was asking the Chief Justice,” the President said.
“There are numerous precedents,” the Chief Justice said. “Presidents have often asked for national prayers. After 9/11, for example. But given the current makeup of the Court, if they were all brought in on the decision and prior decisions related to Special Circumstance, it would come down to…ideological position. Which means, probably, a five-four vote in favor. The problem being, we don’t have time to debate. Which brings in the other precedent, which is ‘the Constitution is a document, not a suicide pact.’ I won’t get into the debate about the meaning of ‘respecting an establishment of religion.’ We simply don’t have time.”
“If you do this you are going to be out of office so fast it will make your head swim,” the Speaker said. “I’ll enter the impeachment documents the next day.”
“That’s a chance I’ll have to take,” the President said. “Mrs. Everette, I understand that you do not have any recollection of your…message.”
“No, Mr. President,” Barb said. “I’ve seen the recording, though.”
“Do you have any thoughts on the nature of the prayer?” the President asked.
“Oh, good…You’re not asking a soccer mom to write your prayer for you?” the Majority Leader said.
“Do you mean, do you have to say ‘Dear Lord God of all the Christians of this land, please destroy the Gar for me’?”
“More or less,” the President said.
“No,” Barb replied. “It can be ecumenical as you’d like. But it’s going to have to be somewhat specific. ‘Dear Higher Power, we’d sure like you to like us’ won’t cut it. If you’d like, I can work something up and then you can debate this while we are running away.”
“Mrs. Everette, I don’t know if this is a divine message or not,” the President said. “But the Lord seems to work through intermediaries. You are, as I understand it, the most powerful member of the Special Circumstances network. Is that right, Germaine?”
“Very close,” Augustus said. “And for this, undoubtedly the most powerful.”
“I doubt that God will choose to work through me,” the President said, somewhat ruefully. “As such, when the prayer is given, I would like you to be available in the area of the Beast.”
“Yes, Mr. President,” Barb said. “I’ll be there.”
“And, yes, send me a rough draft,” the President said. “Break this down.”
“This is Mary McCrory with CNN live from the vicinity of Goin, Tennessee. Overnight, the rumor has spread that the events in Tennessee are anything but a major methane buildup. What is going on is unclear but the area has been sealed off from entry. Our news crew has managed to slip through the cordon to a position very close to the small town that is near the center of the restricted area…”
“Mary,” the anchor said, breathlessly. “Can you see what might be happening?”
“Not exactly,” the reporter said, ducking through trees. “We’ve seen military vehicles moving out of the area all night, as if they are in full retreat. But what they are retreating from is unclear. We’re trying to get to the top of a hill where we can get a better view.”
“According to our legal correspondent, it’s a clear violation of the Constitution to prevent the free movement of citizens for anything other than a natural disaster,” the anchor said. “Were you molested by the military in approaching the area?”
“Well, the military is stopping anyone from coming in. We managed to evade several roadblocks. But this area is particularly well patrolled so we’ve had to go on foot for the last few miles.”
“The main guess is that there’s been an alien landing,” the anchor said. “Can you confirm that?”
“We may be able to in just a moment,” the reporter said excitedly. “The trees are opening up ahead and…”
She suddenly began screaming and the picture from the camera wobbled erratically. For just a moment it showed a swath of destruction in the distant valley and then panned towards the head of the swath. There was a brief glimpse of something and then the picture blanked out.
As the voice feed from the camera crew cut off, the anchor was left sitting with her mouth open.
“ We’re having some difficulties with our reporting team in Tennessee,” she said after a moment of her mouth opening and closing soundlessly. “ We are now taking you to our legal analyst, Rebecca Shelby, for a look at the legal ramifications of forced resettlement and denying access to the area on the part of citizens. Rebecca?”