XXXI

“Mr. Speaker, the Vice President of the United States.”

The people stood and applauded as I entered the House Chamber for the joint-session of Congress. I shook the hands of the people along my way–mostly friends of Jason. I knew a few of them, but when I reached the bottom of the aisle, the presence of three people surprised me.

“Thomas, it’s good to see you. Vice President now, I see,” said Chris Mischo.

“I was under the impression, Chris that you as well as Stephen and Thomas here were guilty of treason and that if any one of you set foot in the United States again you would be arrested, put on trial, and executed,” I responded.

Thomas LaPointe explained, “Well, Jason arranged for us to have diplomatic immunity in the District of Columbia. Pretty nice of him, don’t you think.”

“Yes, well, as you know, I have a speech to get to.”

“Of course,” finished Steve as I walked up to speak.

When I reached the podium after shaking the gentlemen’s hands, the Speaker of the House pounded his gavel calling the joint-session to order. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the United States of America, please accept my own heartfelt welcome and that of the President who was unable to deliver this speech due to illness. I was quite honored by his invitation to deliver his State of the Union, especially one of such significance. We have fought long and hard against the subversive forces in our very midst and we have prevailed and have become better for the wear.

“Ten years ago, when this whole ordeal began, I saw in the United States a dying nation. This death not so much brought on by external forces (although they did exist) but by the malignant disease called complacency. We had become satisfied with what we were and there was no reason to change. The status quo was the rule of thumb. We accepted it, but that was the problem. For one thing, it was too difficult in most people’s minds to change anything, so of course they weren’t going to try. Those who did try, were called radicals or insane and were not to be trusted; this