Day in and day out, the same questions and the same answers. Robert scowled his way through the days, ignoring every request outside of work.
Aside from Skylar's daily interview, which he watched through a two way mirror, Robert spent his time stewing in his office.
He had written his report, deciding Skylar was dangerous, for they could assume human shape, or supposedly almost anything. But still, there was no approval from Washington to change tactics.
The damned alien was being treated like a VIP; their daily needs met, a selection of classic literature for entertainment provided, and even a visitor- the human they copied to fit in. Robert had watched carefully, even checked the footage frame by frame later to ensure the human girl left and the alien remained.
Finally, the long awaited phone call came.
"Robert speaking." His most professional voice, his demeanor calm despite the outage of having to wait so long.
"Mr. Schular,” Robert straightened in his chair despite knowing the man in the other end couldn't hear him, “I would like more detail on your reasoning for this request."
"Commander in Chief," Robert looked down at the transcripts he had practically memorized on his desk. "Mostly I believe the alien is lying."
"About anything in particular?"
"Everything." Robert growled before clearing his throat. "Their planet and their people can't be dying, because there has been, nor is there any urgency to their actions, sir."
"But you haven't caught them in a lie, or changing their story yet, correct?"
"Correct." Robert said.
"Well, I'm not-"
"If we do not get the truth from this impostor Earth will be blindsided in an attack!"
"But you have no proof the alien is lying!" The President cleared his throat. "And without that proof I am hesitant to give permission for anything which might be seen as an act of aggression towards their people."
"But-"
"Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir." Robert grumbled.
"I didn't hear that."
"Yes sir!"
"Good. Call me if you have proof." The line went dead.
Robert sighed. "Stupid. He'll be the one looking stupid when we are fighting off an alien invasion of impostors!" He crumpled one of the transcripts of Skylar's interviews. "He'll look so stupid no amount of bribes, speeches, or the perfect gerrymander will put him back in the white house!"
“You want proof?” Robert muttered. After a deep breath, he smoothed out the transcript pages and started writing on the blank back side. “I’ll give you proof. I won’t need to threaten a hair on that impostor’s head.” While the transcripts were all identical, and sparse at that, Robert knew exactly what to do.
“I’ll give you urgency all right. Enough to make you sing like a canary.” He smirked at his list.
Young male
Young female
Cameras
Lights
Bucket
Water
Chair
Chains
Agents
Special effects team
He pushed the intercom button on his phone. “Gloria, call in Agent Giovanni, it’s time for action.”
Word count: 494
