Chapter 177: Chapter 176: And, We Have…

A bit more than two hours later, my family arrives. After hugging my parents and Sofi, I give Chinatsu and Ryu a hug and a kiss each, then tell them all, “Thanks for coming. I had no idea that they had planned to do this.”

After a brief conversation, everyone except for Mama is led to a waiting room while I’m immediately dragged off to see the stylist. As they are styling my hair, doing my nails and applying my makeup, Jenny and Anne come in, and I notice that Anne is holding a velvet bag. The stylist finally finishes with me. Glancing at my watch, I see that I have about an hour to get ready for the conference.

They join Mama as I lead all of us to my room, and Mama removes my dress from the garment bag. It’s one of the new dresses that she bought for me for interviews and the like. A royal blue, off the shoulder dress with short lace sleeves that connect at the bodice, and a fitted top with a flared skirt that falls to just above my knees.

Next, she brings out some ultra sheer nude stockings and then my 10 centimeter stiletto heel white pumps. For jewelry, she chose my blue diamond stud earrings and braided silver choker with a blue diamond pendant.

Undressing myself, I remove my bra and don the strapless one that Mama brought me. Yes, I know Jenny and Anne are in the room, but it’s not as if it matters, and I’m not body shy.

It doesn’t take long to get me dressed, and once we have, Jenny and Anne approach. Anne is holding a thin silver tiara, which has a large blue diamond in the center and half a dozen white diamonds on each side, and places it on my head.

They take a step back and curtsy, then Anne says, “You look beautiful, Your Highness.”

Blushing, I reply, “Thank you. Look, I realize that you have to do that in public since it’s a decorum thing, but you’re my friends, so in private, I’d prefer that you call me Sora.”

Anne smiles. “Get used to it, Sora. That is what people will be calling you until your coronation.”

“And, when will that be?”

“It’ll take some time to set it up, so we’re not exactly sure. There’s a lot that goes into planning a coronation.” She glances at the clock on the bedside table. “Well, shall we do this?”

I nod, and Jenny leads the way to the press room where the rest of my family joins us. I peek past the curtains to discover that it’s completely packed with reporters. Jenny and Anne wait with me as the White House press secretary takes the stage and walks up to the podium.

“Good afternoon.

“President Wilson has a statement to make, so without further delay, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.”

Jenny takes her place at the podium.

“Good afternoon, and welcome. I have a statement to make, and I will not be answering questions.

“The United States was founded on the principles of the greater good and liberty. With that in mind, and after much negotiation, the Earth Alliance, of which we are a treaty signatory, has signed a new treaty. That treaty is to create a unified government for the alliance.”

The room erupts as the reporters stand up from their seats and begin to shout out a flurry of questions. Jenny just stands there and says nothing until they figure out that she isn’t going to answer them. Finally, they quiet down and take their seats again.

“I can not stress enough that this new government will not be taking away the freedoms or rights of anyone. If anything, it will be freeing more people and giving them the same rights that the citizens of the United States hold so dear. I’d never accept a government that didn’t guarantee our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”

While Jenny is speaking, Anne tells me, “When you go out there to speak, smile and nod at everyone as you approach the podium. Take your time as well, since a queen is never in a hurry. Do you know what you’re going to say?” I shake my head. “I’m sorry, I know that we didn’t give you much warning, but it was a last minute decision to do this.”

I pat her arm. “Don’t worry, I’m kind of used to being thrown on the spot, so I’ll figure something out. I hope.”

I turn my attention back to what Jenny is saying. “…with that said, it’s my honor to introduce Her Highness, Sora Ueno.”

I walk out onto the stage to a sea of shocked faces. I smile and nod to everyone as I step onto the stage and slowly walk up to the podium.

“Welcome, and hello to all the peoples of the Earth Alliance, wherever they live, and whatever language they speak.

“This is a day in which I’m conflicted because it’s come about after serious thought, discussion and consideration of what is best for all the citizens of the Earth Alliance. Apparently, that is me taking up the mantle of being a queen. My thoughts are filled with the days ahead with all their challenges, along with all their opportunities.

“At such a time, it is a great help to know that there are multitudes of friends all around the world who are thinking of me and who wish me well. I am grateful, and I am deeply moved by all the support from all Earth Alliance members.

“As I speak to you, I’m 11,000 kilometers from the country where I was born, but I am certainly not 11,000 kilometers from home. Everywhere I have travelled, I’ve been met with great support and enthusiasm by people who made me feel as if I’m just as much at home there. Before I’m much older, I hope I shall be able to visit and talk to many of our citizens. I want to be the sovereign that inspires my citizens, but also one that solemnly swears an oath to God to protect your God given rights.

“Will you, the citizens of the Earth Alliance, allow me to speak for you as your monarch? As the guarantor of your rights? And, if needed, your protector? The world is changing, and changing quickly. Humanity is finally reaching out our hand to the stars. That is surely something to celebrate.

“Earth is our home, but we can also make new homes for ourselves, make new discoveries and take on new challenges as they present themselves to us. The challenges will be many, and they will be difficult, but if we stand together, I fully believe that there is nothing we can not accomplish. There is a saying that, ‘No man can stand alone,’ and that is a simple truth because we all depend on each other.

“I am sure that you see at least some of the difficulties that lay ahead of us. Those difficulties also come with great opportunities for us all. We have a new frontier to conquer, and that frontier is affording us almost limitless possibilities as we take our first steps into it.

“I’d like us, all of us, all the peoples of Earth and not only those of the Earth Alliance, to take the steps necessary for us to go forward together with unwavering faith, courage, and fortitude. Let us take the founding of our new commonwealth as it is intended. Not as a means to oppress and subjugate, but as a means of making all the peoples of Earth more prosperous, happier, and more free. I will fight to my last breath to make sure that happens.

“To accomplish that, we must give nothing less than the whole of ourselves. This is not saying that we want servants, we want free citizens that are inspired to help all of mankind take these tentative steps, not only into space, but into our new future.

“I swear before you that I shall devote my all to the welfare of my citizens. I may stumble and make mistakes as I am only human, and I do not have the strength to carry out these difficult tasks alone unless you join in them with me, as I now invite you to do. I believe that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.

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“Thank you.”

Reporters begin shouting for my attention, and I point to one that I’ve already met. “Ms. Mays.”

She stands and says, “Kathryn Mays, CNN. Mrs. Ue…”

Jenny steps in front and adamantly states, “You will address Her Highness properly, is that understood, everyone?”

She glares as she looks around the room then gestures to Ms. Mays.

Ms. Mays clears her throat. “I apologize, Your Highness. Does this mean that we’ll be living in a monarchy?”

“Yes and no. Queen Anne, who was instrumental in setting up the new government, explained that we will have a Constitutional Monarchy. We will have a Bill of Rights, a congress, a house of representatives, and me as your queen.”

A man in the back stands and asks, “Why a queen? Why not a president like the United States already has?”

Ignoring his rudeness, I reply, “You’ve seen the constant back and forth in your congress. Very little is ever agreed to, and even then, more often than not, it has to be resubmitted for change after change. That is simply not workable for something the size of the Earth Alliance.”

He nods and asks a follow up question. “I can understand that part, but why a queen?”

“Because I will have the power to force them to work together, or override any bills they pass if I believe they are detrimental. Frankly, I’ll have quite a bit of power.”

I point to another reporter. “Dale Jennings, GNN. Your Highness, can you explain what you mean by quite a bit of power?”

“Certainly. I mean that I’ll have virtually unlimited pow…”

The room erupts with shouts again and cuts me off. After a couple of minutes of them not settling down, I raise my voice and say, “Excuse me… Enough! Now, sit down, and be quiet!” They look shocked again, but they sit down. “We aren’t going to get anywhere if you keep acting like an unruly mob… As I was saying, I’ll have virtually unlimited power, but there is a provision that will allow congress to hold a vote of no confidence for a monarch and remove them.”

I point to another reporter. “Callie Spears, Fox. Your Highness, why would they invest so much power in one person? That seems like a recipe for abuse.”

“I’ll refer you to my first answer. Listen, anyone can abuse their power. It happens all the time, and they don’t have to be a sovereign to do it. The simple fact that I will hold a lot of power doesn’t mean that it’ll be abused. I meant what I said about dedicating myself to the welfare of my citizens and their rights. If you’ll give me the time, you’ll see that for yourselves.”

More reporters raise their hands, but Jenny steps forward again and says, “Her Highness has to leave, so that will be all the questions she can answer for today. My press secretary will be passing out the treaty we signed, so you can see for yourselves what’s in it. Further press conferences will be held going forward. Thank you.”

They all stand up, and we walk off the stage. Once we reach Anne in the wings, I say, “Well, that was just all kinds of fun. No wonder so many people don’t like American reporters.”

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

The last two weeks have gone well.

I’ve received a huge outpouring of support from people around the world. Of course, not everyone is happy to have a new government, and some have been rather threatening. Those issues are turned over to the newly formed Crown Police to investigate.

Anne sent George back to England and flew home with us. She’s been deep in discussion with Mama and Dad. I’ll give you a couple of guesses about what.

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

Things are going well at DTI, too.

Astrid Jorgenson gave us a briefing on the gravity generator. We already knew that she figured out how to redirect a plane of force or acceleration, but she’s refined it a bit more. Then she astounded us by announcing that she also figured out a way to use smaller versions of them situated along the hull of a ship as shield generators.

Basically, the system uses multiple polarized gravity generators whose output is phase-synchronized through a series of connected amplifiers. This allows for the shield to surround the ship at a distance of a meter. Heat dissipation on each generator is provided by a pair of high capacity laser cooling systems. In their small scale tests, and that is a relative term, they fired a variety of different laser and plasma weapons at them. It took between 35 and 110 shots, depending on the power of what they were hit with, to overload the shield generators due to heat buildup. Once they cooled down, they came back online, assuming that nothing in the generators fused or burnt out from the overheating. You can bet that I told Katsuo to give her whole team a large raise.

Metis informed me that the first few tethers will be connecting on the morning of the 18th. I had Yui send out a press release about it, and we did a short video, inviting everyone to join us to see it live. We’ve had a flood of requests from the media around the world to be able to attend as well.

Next: the ship to intercept 19274 is completed and going through integration tests. The 4 man crew has been holding regular press conferences and have stated their confidence in their training and the ship, the Cameron.

Once the tests were complete and the ship was pronounced ready for launch, I had my first event as royalty to christen the ship. Of course, Yui live streamed the event and later told me that we had almost 190 million viewers. Their launch has been scheduled for the morning of July 22nd, and I’ll be there to live stream it.

Captis has been busy capturing more asteroids to finish the elevator and parking them at L-3. After he returns with this last asteroid, he will be heading out to capture the orbital anchor, asteroid 12993, for the elevator over Texas.

Proteus, Maelstrom, and Mystic were checked out for any damage and then lifted off again for Jupiter. They are currently busily collecting He-3.

Enrico and Jason have made excellent progress on the QC device. Don’t ask me because I have no idea how they did it, but they reduced the power requirements to send transmissions from Earth to Jupiter from 3 gigawatts to less than 50 megawatts. We can live with that for the moment, but I still hope that we can reduce the power requirements even further. Happily, that means we have no problem talking with any of our ships now.

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