President Nebraska Omaha

Chapter Seven

Nebraska Omaha is delivering yet another speech.
“My fellow citizens, I come to you today to present the most important initiative since the beginning of the republic. An initiative that will define my presidency for generations to come, transform the nation like it has never been transformed before and impact the whole world in a startling way.”
He pauses. Although he is speaking to the cameras, the small group of people assembled in the room start to look at each other as the pause lengthens to fifteen then twenty seconds.
He begins again.
“We must prepare the country for the return of the dinosaurs.”
He pauses for a much shorter period of time.
“I know what you’re thinking. Is it really possible? How can we accomplish this?
This is something we’ve wanted all of our lives.”
He looks toward one of the other cameras. “Let me assure you. The dinosaurs will return whether we do anything or not. My leadership is intended to prepare the country, the lands, the waters, the environment for their arrival, so it can sustain them.”
“You’ve seen the documentaries. I know I have, and millions of other people have flocked to the theatres or viewed them on television. If you haven’t seen them, you’ve certainly heard about them.”
“The documentaries explain one way that the dinosaurs have returned. I am directing my administration to contact the producers to see if any DNA still exists from the filming of those documentaries, or if any new DNA can be extracted from the bodies of the slain dinosaurs.”
“I will then direct our best scientists to work on cloning whatever species can be developed in that manner. However, there are other avenues to be pursued in this quest. Besides the mosquitoes you saw in the documentaries, my advisers tell me that fleas, ticks, leeches, bats- especially vampire bats- and fish known as suckers, also extract blood in their feeding.”
“I am also directing our anthropologists and paleontologists to scour the fossil record for such finds to examine whether any DNA for the dinosaur era can be retrieved.”
He turns toward another camera. “You see; we have thought this initiative out very carefully.”
Then turning towards the first camera again, he continues, “However finding DNA to clone the dinosaurs is not the only method for bringing about their return. We know from other documentaries, and many research papers published in the technical journals, that a lot of the dinosaurs fled underground.”
“Caves and tunnels have not been successful in releasing them from their underground prisons. The most likely reason is that the caves and tunnels do not penetrate far enough underground. The only phenomenon that reaches the depth at which the dinosaurs exists today are earthquakes and volcanoes. For all we know, some dinosaurs may have been disgorged during volcanic eruptions in the past, or followed a serpentine trail to the surface after earthquakes. Man never paid any attention to this effect and the dinosaurs may have perished because the environment was too inhospitable or returned beneath the surface again because food was too scarce.”
“I am forming a task force to investigate both of these alternatives for reestablishing the magnificent giants to the topside of the earth again. That is another reason we need to care for the earth today- to ensure it can support the dinosaurs, both in food and habitat.”
Unscheduled, he walks from behind the podium and heads into the small audience. The cameramen scramble to follow him and switch to hand held cameras.
“And let’s not forget about the comet. There have been many theories, unproven, so far, that a comet wiped out the dinosaurs when it crashed into the earth. Since two thirds of the earth’s surface is covered in water, it most likely landed in water- if it landed at all- and fizzled out. A few dinosaurs swimming in the water might have been affected, along with those living on the shore, who could have been crushed by a tidal wave.”
“Another theory, an alternative theory that has gained a lot of acceptance, is that the comet passed close to the earth, it’s tail actually enveloping the earth, and swept away the dinosaurs.”
“Imagine it. The dinosaurs have been traveling through the universe in the tail of a comet for all these years, waiting to be returned to the place of their birth.”
“Of course, it’s probably too much to hope that when the comet returns, it will be on the exact same trajectory as before and just drop off the dinosaurs right where they began the journey. For one thing, we aren’t ready. I sure hope they don’t show up during rush hour in downtown Manhattan,” as he smiles, and the audience breaks into laughter.
“That is another facet of this initiative that we need to prepare for. I am proposing legislation to build missiles that can intercept the comet, and land on it. We need to be able to collect any specimens that we find or thaw out any that may be frozen. At a minimum it is a location to secure DNA and other materials from the dinosaurs.”
“We don’t know where the comet is on its path through space at this time. We need to build additional telescopes to identify it as soon as it enters our solar system again. More importantly, we have to have a full range of missiles ready to launch, depending how far we have to travel to intercept the comet. We don’t want to miss this opportunity, just because it came no closer than Jupiter. We don’t want the comet colonizing Jupiter with all of our dinosaurs, do we?”
Some in the audience shook their heads no.
“Finally, and this may be the option with the highest probability of success, we have to examine, explore, X-ray and infrared photograph all the glaciers and polar ice caps. Almost certainly there are frozen dinosaur somewhere under all that ice.”
“We know the Russians have found several whole wooly mammoths frozen in the ice of Siberia. I have already contacted our friends in Russia to see if our scientists could work with their scientists in using thawing technology to try and revive them from their present state, or use cloning techniques to create new versions of the frozen mammoths.”
“Now don’t confuse wooly mammoths with dinosaurs; they are not related; but it validates the idea that other animals could be captured, whole and intact, under thousands of feet of ice.”
“If you think about how much ice there is in the glaciers, and the Antarctic ice cap in particular, that has never been explored, the odds are very much in our favor that we would find good specimens. We already have some technology that can map out the ice fields that currently exist, but we need to invent new apparatus that could do a more thorough job, at greater depths and probably from space. I am also asking our scientists to draft a proposal as to what is required.”
Omaha leans against a pole in the small conference room and lets the camera zoom in for a close up.
“My fellow citizens, this is an exciting project, one that will take years to see through to completion, but just think of the end result. Real live dinosaurs wandering the earth again that you don’t have to read about, don’t have to go to the movies to see, don’t need to turn on the television. Right there out in the fields as you drive your car, or maybe look out the kitchen window as you drink your morning coffee. My aim is to make this a reality.”
He pauses again.
“I hope I can count on your support. Thank you.”
The audience stands and applauds in response to the sign flashing in the room. All three cameras pan through the faces. With the director switching from one amazed face, to one with tears in her eyes, to a young boy with his mouth open.
Omaha heads out to review his performance with his advisers again. They congratulate him on a flawless presentation, but he is pensive about the finish. He explains his reservations to the most trusted adviser about the frozen ice fields and the daunting challenge ahead of the scientists.
“If only we could find a way to make the earth warm up,” he confides.