"I'll do what I can," Bill said with a nod towards Hyo. "I golf with the House Banking Committee Chairman. I'll whisper sweet nothings into his ear the next time we're on the links."

Bill suddenly remembered that he hadn't golfed since... well, since he was informed about the alien crisis. As much fun as it was for him, who had the time any more?

"But back to Russia," he said with a glance towards the veep. "Madam Vice President, you raise some good points. Sweden is willing to share their communications with us and have given us snippets once things have been translated. So far it's basic questions about our planet and people, how old we are and if we're carbon-based. Shannon Volgel is our ambassador over there and she's been instructed to treat the Swedes with kid gloves. They're responding well to that, less so with Russia's more forceful approach. They're already wary and I'm afraid if we go along with the Kremlin, they may cut us both off and control the conversation entirely. Things get messy when that happens."