Chapter Five: The Plan
Hadrian Westwood the conservative President of America for the last four years strode purposefully into his campaign headquarters. In the past few years he had dragged America into several unwanted wars in remote parts of the world for no great gain. The national economy was also struggling and President Westwood was trailing Callahan by thirteen points. When he entered the main office and was greeted by his main advisers Westwood was the only one in the room who remained upbeat.
“Have you seen the latest polls Mr President?” Hank Williams, the President’s campaign manager asked him.
Hank had always tried to put a positive spin on everything. He had been Campaign manager for five weeks now, that was longer than some of his three predecessors. Hank was a tall dark-haired man who had just turned forty. He wore the same navy suit every day or rather he had twelve suits that were the exact same colour.
“I sure have,” the President responded. “I’ve given the matter some thought. We need a new tack.”
“We’ve hired the best private investigators money can buy,” Hank replied. “We’ve dredged up everything we could find. We’ve thrown two of his past affairs into the public domain. We’ve found every incompetent decision he’s ever made and thrown it back in his face. Still he’s leading in the polls.”
“As I said Hank. It’s time for a new tack,” the President responded with a hint of irritation.
Almost as soon as he spoke, Hank regretted what he had said. In the past, pessimism was a weakness that normally a leader like President Westwood would not tolerate. It was a sackable offence in his book.
“Ok Mr President,” Jack Haggerty the chief of staff intervened. “What is your new plan of action?”
Jack Haggerty was the longest serving member of the President’s staff. He was in his middle fifties and had always survived because he was the type of guy that always agreed and complied with his bosses wishes.
“Changelings,” the President said firmly
“What do you mean?” the campaign manager asked in a bewildered manner.
“For years people… freaks if you will, have been maintaining that alien life forms, otherwise known as changelings exist. Previous Governments have tried to put a lid on it and play things down, whether there are videos on the internet that show these freaks or sightings of UFO’s. Previous Governments have tried to claim that they are just stunts, guys in costumes or genetic mutations of humans who represent one in a billion of the normal population. I say that we convince them that these alien life forms do exist. We convince them that there are far more of them in existence that was previously thought to be the case and we convince them that Governor Callahan is a changeling.”
“Will that work?” Jack Haggerty asked in an attempt to conceal his lack of faith in this new idea.
“We don’t have a choice,” the President declared bluntly. “We have to make it work”
“How? It’s easier said than done,” Hank commented.
President Westwood smiled openly. “I have a plan, Hank. It’s simple and clever. I thought of it myself. It will work as long as it is executed properly. It’s all about creating a shock and spreading fear. As long as we do it properly, people will buy into it. I’m sure of that.”
While Hank Williams, thought that this was an unorthodox plan, he had seen Westwood in the same indignant mood before. He could tell by the apparent increase in the politician’s blood pressure that he was not for turning. It was either sink or swim and quitting did not seem to be the most tempting of options. Quit now, and Hank Williams would be virtually unemployable.
Hank’s two other co-workers who were also present were afraid to say anything. Ted Chambers and Dick Vandercroft just nodded their approval. If they were to win the election, they would get a bonus and a boost to their reputation. As it happened, they were on a losing run and any improvement was a bonus. Ted, in particular had never made a single suggestion in front of Westwood. He had seen others have their suggestions torn to shreds in front of him. Ted, Dick and Hank were the last men standing.
President Westwood over the next hour proceeded to inform his campaign staff of how he would enact his plan. They listened and considered his argument but each of them knew that if the President had a plan, there was no stopping him from pursuing it no matter how unorthodox it was.
Hadrian Westwood walked down a long hall with green painted walls partially lit by lamp lights. To everyone else the Red party candidate was going through the motions of a landslide election defeat. Even his strongest supporters doubted he could recover from a thirteen point deficit. To Hadrian Westwood’s inner circle however this was the day that they planned to enact plan b. It had been planned for several weeks now. The President was confident that he could execute the plan without any problems.
At the end of the hall, on the right hand side was a doorway with two security men there. Behind him were two advisers and more security men. It was however what was in front of him that Hadrian Westwood was concerned with. He passed through the door and climbed a platform. In front of the platform were about one hundred and eighty party members. Even their cheers lacked fervour. President Westwood recalled how four years previously, this same venue had eight hundred supporters all cheering loudly so that he had to wait almost thirty seconds before he could talk. To make matters worse, this venue was located outside and there was drizzling rain. Behind the candidate were forty supporters, of different ages and backgrounds.
President Westwood stood in front of the microphone and spoke.
“My fellow Americans. I have been on this campaign trail for well over a year and in that time people have made many unsubstantiated accusations about me.
They said I was too old but every second day I manage to run five miles. I’m fitter than any of my opponents will ever be.
They said I was corrupt but not a shred of evidence has been found to support this.
They said I was too eager to go to war with other countries. The previous President was accused of being too soft. I’d rather be tough against our enemies than weak. I will fight tooth and nail to ensure that this country of ours is in charge of its own destiny well into the future.
There have been many things that I have been accused of. There has been much mud slung in my eye, but if ever somebody came to me with evidence of impropriety, I would think twice about using it. It is with a great deal of conflict and a heavy heart that I am presenting this tape to you. I do so, only because it is in the interests of this great country of ours that I do and not for my own good.”
With a gesture of his hand, a video started to play on the big screen behind him. It showed a younger Governor Calahan in a police interrogation room. There were two police officers present. One of the policemen was a young African American and the other was a middle-aged Caucasian with red hair and moustache.
“Ok Mr Calahan,” the middle-aged police officer, “this is a routine check. As you are already aware, my name is Detective Gilhooley and this is Detective Givens. We asked you in here because we’ve had a number of far-out complaints. Two neighbours said they saw strange things happening at your house. Their complaints are pretty crazy but we have to check them out anyway for procedure.
One of them said they saw a strange object in your back garden at 3am at night on the 19th of last month,” Detective Gilhooley continued. “They seemed to think that it was a UFO. Do you know what that could be?”
“A UFO?” the politician reacted incredulously. “You ask me down here about a UFO in my back garden? Don’t you think that if I had a UFO in my back garden this would be the first place I would come if indeed I made it this far. The aliens would probably zap me before I made it to my front lawn. Please tell me that you have something better than that. Maybe I turn into a werewolf at night and go around gobbling people up.”
Detective Givens a pen in his hand. On the desk in front of him was a notepad on which he doodled. He barely lifted his head as Mr Callahan spoke. Instead, he drew stars and the heads of teddy bears.
“Well, I did have another question,” a slightly embarrassed Detective Gilhooley responded. “Another of your neighbours said that she could see you through the kitchen window, changing shape.”
“What? Did I turn into a big bird? A dinosaur?” Governor Calahan wasn’t laughing and seemed instead to be very annoyed and a trifle arrogant. His initial complexion at the start of the interview was pale but now he was almost bright red. His eyes had gone from being relatively calm and passive, to what the Police Detectives interpreted as hateful.
“Well what she said exactly was a green alien creature, like nothing she had ever seen,” Detective Gilhooley said hesitantly
“A green alien creature? Do I look like an alien creature. Does it make sense that in my entire lifetime nobody has ever said that to me and you take it seriously? Really? How dumb are you? Don’t you have anything better to be doing, like catching actual criminals rather than listening to demented old ladies?”
Mr Callahan lifted the glass of water in front of him but didn’t drink from it. Instead, he slammed it down on the table, causing some of it to spell. His gaze didn’t shift from Detective Gilhooley however.
“Well, she said it was like nothing else she had ever seen,” the Police Dectective responded as Detective Givens kept his counsel. “She did say it had arms, though she couldn’t make out the legs because it was through window.”
“Are you serious? Is there a camera rolling here? Am I on TV?” With each question the politician appeared to be getting angrier and angrier. It was a side of Governor Callahan that few people on the campaign had seen. He was normally a reserved and confident individual. “This is what you waste taxpayers money doing? These don’t seem like routine questions to me.”
“There’s no need to get upset, Mr Calahan,” Detective Givens interrupted as he raised his head from his notepad.
“Do you know who my Father is? Do you want to spend the rest of your lives as bums on the street? Do you know what I can do to you with one little phone call?” As he said this Mr Calahan appeared to become more and more angry to such an extent that he changed into an alien life form, with green skin, blue eyes and long fingernails. This transformation lasted three seconds before Calahan changed back to his original form.
“If you mess with me,” he said, regaining his composure, “I will destroy all of your lives. No one messes with the Calahans. No one. Now I want a copy of that tape. Nothing leaves this room. Nothing. If you want to stay in your homes, you’ll give me that tape.”
It was evident that both police officers were intimidated by what they had seen. Neither of them spoke for the remaining six seconds of the tape.
After the tape stopped it reverted to a still picture of the green creature. The images of Governor Calahan drew gasps of horror from the audience. Everything was going exactly to plan, the President thought to himself.
“The revelations don’t stop there fellow citizens. A few weeks later both of the police officers you see in this video were killed. You can draw your own conclusions. Whether or not Governor Calahan was involved in their deaths you still have to ask yourselves some serious questions as voters. Do you want this man, if you can call him a man, running our great nation?” the President asked. “I told you that I would not engage in petty squabbling with any of my opponents but this goes far beyond anything that is normal. Governor Calahan isn’t one of us. He is one of them. I can’t tell anyone how to vote, the voters have to make up their own minds. For my part I believe action has to be taken. I have already initiated steps to set up an elite taskforce to investigate this matter and any others that may be out there.”
The audience were visibly stunned by what they had just seen.
“These are worrying times but we will cleanse this great nation of ours from all the evil that resides within it. We will prevail. God bless America.
It was then that President Westwood heard the enthusiasm of the crowd return. They may have been small in number but the leader sensed that he was on the road back to where he had been four years earlier. He would no longer give speeches to half empty conference halls or listen to half-hearted cheers. Voters would be united behind him again. The White House would be his once more.
Elliot Tomkins had found it difficult to restrain his enthusiasm for the past two days. On Thursday Evening both his parents had informed him that they were planning to visit Dowells Water Park. The Water Park was twenty miles away and most of his classmates seemed to like it there. The young adolescent wasn’t too fond of water ever since his Uncle Dilbert had thrown him into the sea for a prank when Elliot was just three. It wasn’t that the water park itself was Elliot’s favorite place in the world, because it wasn’t. Elliot looked forward to Saturday because it meant a lot to him that both his parents were going and they were gradually getting closer and becoming more like a normal family. There was little else in the world that could please the teenager more in this world.
The young adolescent climbed out of bed at 8am. Normally he would be reluctant to leave his bed before 10am on Saturday but this was no ordinary Saturday. As soon as his Mother called him, he sprung to his feet immediately. The teenager had packed from the night before. He even had his sandwiches made.
On the way to the water park, Elliot asked his parents a number of questions. It was a relatively long journey and both his parents were polite with their answers. Elliot even asked his Father about his time spent in the institution.
“Well son,” Jake responded to a particular question, “I don’t think I was right to believe that I saw aliens. Aliens don’t exist. Changelings don’t exist or at least if they do, there are only a select few. I guess that’s how everyone else sees it so if its good enough for everybody else then that’s good enough for me.”
Although Jake didn’t look at Charlotte, it seemed to Elliot as if his Father was very much aware of her presence and her opinion on the subject. Elliot had been hoping for an answer that was more forthright. Like many children, he wanted his Dad to be the hero, the one who always did the right thing and imparted vast wisdom and knowledge.
“Do you really think Dad, that you imagined what you saw.” Elliot asked again out of curiosity.
“Son I really wish I did. It could have been the glass of wine I had before dinner. Sometimes I guess the mind can play tricks on you. I guess it’s a chapter of my life that I’m glad to put behind me. Right now, I have a beautiful wife, a roof over my head and you. What more could a guy ask for?”
An hour later, Elliot was in his swimming togs, standing at the top of a water slide. He felt nervous. He did not want to go through with it. He felt obligated, because his parents were also in their swimming clothes, to go through with it. He was afraid something would go wrong, like an injury or finding himself submerged in water and finding it difficult to resurface. He knew his parents would do everything they could to help him but he just did not want to go through with it.
The attendant at the top of the waterslide said, “go on son,” for the third time. It was a this point that his father placed his hand on his shoulder and said, “look Elliot, if you don’t want to do it there are plenty of things for you to do. It’s a massive water park and this is your day.”
The adolescent felt as if a weight had lifted off his shoulders. “Thanks, Dad,” he responded as he gave Jake a hug. It was a brief hug, because Elliot was conscious that he might be mocked by some of the other boys who stood in line.
As it turned out there were six different rides that Elliot felt he would enjoy. None of them entailed being turned upside down and inside out on a rollercoaster, or descending at rapid speed from a great height but they were enjoyable.
The young adolescent had never seen his mother smile or enjoy herself so much. Even though Elliot was disappointed to be going home at the end of the day, he had a warm glow within him that no drug could provide. He was proud to feel part of a complete family again.
Later that evening Elliot was watching his favourite TV programme about a teenage special agent when it was interrupted by an ad break. The camera focused on an army General with grey hair, a grey moustache and a dour complexion.
“Good evening fellow patriots,” he said with the warmth of a rattle snake, “my name is General Jeffrey S Conrad. As you may be aware following on from President Westwood’s revelations several weeks ago about changelings living amongst us, a special investigations unit has been set up. The initial findings of this investigation unit are worrying. It would appear that our President’s worst fears have been proved correct. These changelings have infiltrated society and form a substantial portion of our population. As a result of this, I have been charged with the objective of setting up a task force to weed out these changelings and bring them into custody where they will be dealt with appropriately.
Rest assured, I will weed out all changelings living amongst us. It will take time, but with the support of President Westwood no stone will be left unturned.
Part of my responsibility is to co-ordinate an elite group of highly trained marines which I like to call Reapers. The President has given this elite force special powers to do whatever is necessary. If you are a changeling they will be coming for you. If you are not a changeling you are in safe hands. God bless America.”
Elliot was puzzled. He thought his Father was supposed to have been taken away for ten years because he thought that changelings existed. Now a General was admitting that the changelings were among us. Only politicians could resort to this type of reasoning.
Half an hour later Elliot was sitting at the Dinner table with his two parents. The same advertisement appeared on the television once more. Before it was finished Charlotte turned off the TV.
“Mom, do you think that the changelings are dangerous?” Elliot asked.
“I don’t think they even exist,” Charlotte replied dismissively. “Its Government propaganda to ensure that one side gets into power over the other. They can round up whoever they want without anyone interfering. Anyone who interferes will be called a changeling. That’s how it works. So long as you don’t get any strange ideas like your Dad, you will be ok.”
Charlotte was clearly hoping for this to be the end of the matter so that they could put everything behind them and move on with their lives.
Jake didn’t say anything apart from look ashamed.
“How do you think they identify one changeling from another?” Elliot asked after a few seconds.
“I told you it’s a scam.”
“But what about Governor Callahan?” the young adolescent responded.
“It’s special effects. Camera tricks just like you see in the movies. Now eat your dinner”
Elliot didn’t want the conversation to end there. He had a million questions racing around in his head, most of which he wanted answered.
“What do you think Dad?” the inquisitive adolescent asked turning to his father
Jake didn’t want to say anything. He was afraid that Charlotte would talk him down. He saw the video of Governor Callahan and it was exactly like he remembered over a decade previously. Deep down he believed that Changelings were amongst us but as long as they concealed their identity there was no way of telling one changeling from another. How many were out there was anybody’s guess.
“You better eat your greens son, or your Mother and I won’t be happy,” he responded before picking up a forkful of vegetables