Hello, Mr. President (Begging for Favorites, Recommendations, and Rewards)

At 2:54 a.m., when urgent knocking came from outside his bedroom, United States President Richard Bruce Cheney was roused from a sweet dream, his temper flaring instantly.

Just as he was about to snap a few cold words of reprimand, the voice from outside abruptly drove all sleep from him. "Mr. President, two military bases on our homeland have been attacked. We've lost several nuclear warheads!"

After hurriedly splashing cold water on his face, Cheney soon met in his office with several top defense and intelligence officials, including Secretary of Defense Jon Voight, Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller.

"Useless! Every last one of you is useless! The Central Intelligence Agency gets more funding every year, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has never asked me for any less money. And now? Gentlemen, can anyone tell me why heavily guarded military bases on United States soil were attacked—and why two of them were hit at once?"

Cheney's fury was understandable. Ever since the end of World War II, the Americans had taken pride in their slogan of "keeping war off our soil," but during his term in office, it was about to become an empty promise.

A few years ago, a mere self-directed "9/11 incident" had been enough to make enraged Americans donate money if they had money and offer their lives if they did not, allowing the two wars to be fought according to the plans laid out by these politicians.

Never mind that the United States had yet to fully digest the benefits and consequences brought by those two wars. Now, for the first time since World War II, the United States homeland had suffered a carefully prepared military strike by hostile forces. Not only had two American military bases been destroyed, but four nuclear warheads had been seized.

If word of this got out, it would be a disaster. Not only would the United States be shaken, but likely the entire world as well.

At that thought, Cheney no longer bothered concealing his anger. His fingers tapped lightly against the desk as he spoke in an icy tone. "Are you trying to make me the first president in United States history to be impeached by the people?"

That was a truly cutting remark. Voight, Hayden, Mueller, and the others exchanged glances. In the end, Secretary of Defense Voight stepped forward and explained with an equally grim expression, "Mr. President, this is not as simple as you think. I've already communicated with the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We can be certain that no hostile nation's military force could infiltrate the United States and carry out sabotage!"

Cheney immediately flew into a rage. "Then are you telling me aliens have invaded?"

"I'm afraid that may truly be the case!"

Voight answered with a livid face.

"Absurd!" Cheney snorted. As president of the United States, how could he not have paid attention to the rumors surrounding Area 51? That was precisely why he knew it was merely a research base for the United States military's advanced aircraft. Its extraordinarily high classification level, combined with deliberate misdirection by certain people, had ultimately turned it into the world-famous alien research base.

Voight said nothing more. He took more than a dozen photographs from the document bag tucked under his arm and placed them before Cheney.

Cheney gave them a casual glance, only for his expression to change drastically. He quickly picked up the photographs and examined them several times before asking grimly, "Where did these pictures come from?"

"Some were taken from high altitude by military satellites. The attackers shown in these blurrier images are the ones who struck Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The last few, which are clearer, were taken by air force personnel at Lunfulan Base. We attempted to analyze the armor strength of these mechanical warriors, and it far exceeds every alloy currently still in the technical verification stage in the United States!"

Voight sighed. "So we believe these attackers may be aliens!"

"Aliens!" Cheney stood up irritably and paced back and forth for quite a while before looking at his subordinates and saying angrily, "Then what? Where exactly did these robots come from? Why did they attack the United States? What do they want with our nuclear warheads? Is another war about to begin? Most importantly, how am I supposed to answer the media and our citizens? Am I supposed to just say, 'Aliens attacked us'? Let me ask you first—do you believe that?"

The office fell completely silent!

After hesitating for a moment, Central Intelligence Agency Director Hayden broke the deadlock. "Mr. President, perhaps we are not entirely unfamiliar with these mechanical warriors. I only took over the Central Intelligence Agency last year. Because the archives at Central Intelligence Agency headquarters held too many sealed classified files, I only completed sorting through them recently. If I remember correctly, there is a research project concerning mechanical warriors stored in the Central Intelligence Agency archives. However, I do not have the authority to review that file. I would need joint authorization from you, Mr. President, and the Secretary of Defense before I could apply to access it..."

"There's such a project?"

Cheney froze. As Hayden spoke, some vague memories surfaced in his mind. He had the faint impression that he, too, had once seen a similar document.

But he was, after all, the president of the United States. The country was too powerful and had too many things that needed to be kept secret. Even as a president serving his second term, he still had not finished reading many of the classified presidential documents left behind by his predecessors.

Voight clearly knew the most. Seeing the president turn his gaze toward him, he could only answer truthfully, "Only a few classified files have been left in United States history that require joint authorization from the president and the Secretary of Defense before access can be requested. If a copy is also stored at Central Intelligence Agency headquarters, then what Director Hayden mentioned can only be Sector Seven!"

Sector Seven—an even more obscure term than Area 51, which was now famous across the world.

So after Voight finished speaking, Hayden and Mueller, the heads of the Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation, could only stare at each other in confusion.

Even Cheney, the president of the United States, wore an utterly baffled expression.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Voight could only shake his head with a bitter smile. "Don't look at me. Even I need presidential authorization to access that file. I only know this term because it appeared in the office records left behind by the first Secretary of Defense!"

"So, we can only see this file if we authorize each other?"

Cheney fell into thought.

"I'm afraid that is the only way, Mr. President!" Voight nodded.

"Very well!"

Cheney immediately rose and led his subordinates into the underground residence beneath the White House, built to withstand nuclear strikes and decapitation attacks.

They walked all the way to a room containing only a drawerless desk and a chair before stopping. After the United States completed its transition to electronic information systems, this room had been specially established for the president to review high-level classified documents.

Normally, no official other than the president was permitted to enter this room. But today was a special case, so Cheney temporarily cast the rule aside.

The group entered the room together, and Cheney took the seat in front of the computer without ceremony.

After the computer booted up and paused briefly, a password prompt appeared. Everyone tactfully turned away to avoid looking, and only then did Cheney enter the password.

After quickly logging into the operating interface, Cheney, who was not particularly skilled with computers, had to think through each step as he went. It took him more than ten minutes to locate the authorization file concerning Sector Seven that Voight had mentioned.

When Cheney opened it, an unusual interface automatically appeared on the screen, accompanied by a mechanical voice. "Reviewing this classified file requires authorization from the incumbent President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense. Proceed to the next step?"

He hurriedly clicked continue, and the interface changed again. "Capturing image. Visitor confirmed as incumbent President of the United States Richard Bruce Cheney. Please follow the prompt below to provide voice authorization!"

"In my capacity as President of the United States, I authorize the review of this file!"

"Authorization confirmed. Please switch to Secretary of Defense authorization within 60 seconds!"

Cheney had no choice but to stand and let Voight take the chair. After Voight followed the prompts and completed his own authorization, the interface suddenly vanished. At the same time, the telephone beside the computer—a device that looked exactly like an old landline from the 1990s—suddenly began to ring.

Cheney paused. Only when he saw everyone looking at him did he react, stepping forward to pick up the receiver.

At once, a gentle middle-aged man's voice came through the line. "This is Sector Seven. Hello, Mr. President..."

PS:

Considering the possibility of cross-dimensional censorship strikes, the author used Vice President Cheney in place of Little Bush.

Dear readers who enjoy this book, please do not be stingy with your support—clicks, recommendations, favorites, and rewards, I'll gladly take as much as you can give!