“Oh no; not that - it is a State Department problem.”“There are all kinds of international agreements that cover embassies. One of those agreeme...ts says that an official of the government must be present at all times to carry out business of the guest country. If all officials of the guest country are removed and no official representative is present then the embassy must be closed,” the President replied.“The Ambassador and his assistant are landing in Reagan National in hours. There is no. Lisa was instantly beside me as we confronted three surprised men and two women. Their eyes were as big as half dollars. They were all sitting on the floor with what looked like detonators in a jar and some of that horrible explosive shaped into balls. I said, "Don't move or twitch or I will shoot you. That is a promise. Don't move any part of your body."The Station Chief came through the door with a deputy and a guy with an ATF hat. I said, "Pull each one of these people out of here carefully. Before us, the waters we had named Lake Numi returned to their usual dark glossy sheen under the moonline.Entirely absent of any culture, our family had formed its own rituals, starting with the anniversary of Longshot’s launch, retrieved from the scrambled ship’s logs. Following the calendar of a planet trillions of kilometers behind us that none of us knew or remembered, we celebrated Launch Day here every year.Mother didn’t know her birthday, so we’d made it coincident with Launch Day. Since. I don't know if they know it, but I do. "I ... You raised me, you cared for me. You will always be my father."No one says anything til the perky little waitress asks if we need anything else."Another round." Uncle Charles says."No." Dad says quickly, "Just the check, thanks." George..." Charles."They exchange a look and Uncle Charles gets up. "John." He says and walks off. Dad pays the bill. We all hit the head before getting in the car for the two hours back home.When we finally get to their.