Alien vs. Alien (26 page)

CHAPTER 45

I
WANTED TO FREEZE,
but instead I spun around. And let out the breath I’d been holding.

“What the hell are you doing, Missus Chief?” Buchanan asked.

“Malcolm, are you part A-C?”

“Not that I know of. Why?”

“You have an amazing ability to sneak up on me.”

He shook his head. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Um, where I need to go. But you can come, too.”

“Oh. Great. Floater gate transfer?”

“Wow. Can you see the gate? I mean, I used to be able to see the gate, before, but only like a kind of faint shimmering.”

“I didn’t need to see it. Since you came inside, the number of people in the second floor study continued to increase and not all of the new arrivals came in through the front door. Mister White and Senator Armstrong went to the American Centaurion Embassy, but no one else has exited this building via conventional means. And now I’m in here, and the only people left inside this entire place are you and Baby Chief. It doesn’t take genius to figure out that you’ve been using floaters for some reason. Are you worried about another attack?”

“Yes, but not from the Club Fifty-One lunatics this time. At least, I don’t think so. Tell you the reason once we get to our next stop.”

He sighed, took Jamie from me and held her in one arm as he put his other arm around me and headed us toward the gate. “You don’t make this job easy.”

“As near as I can tell, it’s easy for you.” I steeled myself. And hoped Jeff wasn’t paying attention to me at this precise time.

Buchanan did a variety of things similarly toeas Jeff, and this was merely one of them. Whether Jeff would perceive this as being better or worse than Buchanan catching me I couldn’t guess. I didn’t really want Jeff and Buchanan to be forced to have the jealousy chat, in part because I didn’t think Jeff was going to cut Buchanan even half the slack he cut Chuckie, and said Chuckie slack was essentially nil.

However, we stepped through, and my worries about Jeff’s jealousy were wiped away by intense nausea. Buchanan’s arm tightened around me, which helped a little.

I’d heard the gates’ functioning explained as using a temporal warp filtered through black-hole technology or similar, allowing the fast, safe, movement of matter across a large physical space in a very short amount of perceived time.

That made as much sense to me as international politics, which so far had made almost no logical sense at all. Suffice to say that going through the gates felt like you were taking a very slow step while the world moved past you very, very quickly. I’d tried going through gates with my eyes open and my eyes closed. To date, the only way going through them had been even remotely pleasant was if Jeff was carrying me and I had my face buried in his neck.

Needless to say, since Jeff wasn’t here, I was nauseated by the time our feet hit the terra firma of the Dome’s interior.

Christopher was waiting for us and gave us a lovely shot of Patented Glare #2. “You took a while to get here.”

“Oh, my God, did Jeff ask you to cover the jealousy stuff if he wasn’t around? Malcolm got into the Romanian Embassy, God alone knows how, and found me and Jamie just before we were stepping through the gate.”

“Actually, I found them while the Ambassador was stalling going through,” Buchanan said as he let go of me and put Jamie in my arms. “I know how much she hates them—frankly, if I hadn’t come inside, she’d probably still be there, prepping for the trip.”

“You don’t know me.”

Christopher snorted, and Buchanan laughed. “Fine,” Christopher said. “I think I have things under control here.”

I took a good look around. The Dome looked as it always had—dull. It had gates everywhere you could imagine, some in differing sizes, meaning it was an airport metal detector enthusiasts’ dream location, but otherwise it didn’t scream “excitement.”

What it did scream right now, though, was crowded. In addition to being the main hub of all gate activity, the Dome was used for larger transfers, like limo fleets or big machinery. What it wasn’t used for, however, was housing. So while the Dome was quite large and rather spacious normally, right now it gave off even more of an airport feeling, complete with the accompanying noise and stress.

There were a lot more people here than I’d actually expected. Of course, interspecies marriage had been approved once Jeff and I had managed to get down the aisle without the world ending, though it had been a close call, both the generalized interspecies stuff and the specific world not ending. And I knew other A-Cs besides my friends had gotten married to humans. I just hadn’t actually paid attention to the number of couples who’d tied the knot in the past year and a half or so. I’d paid less attention to what number of those couples had a baby on the way.

Apparently, that number was “lots.”

The Dome was packed, and the Security A-Cs whose jobs were to hang out here didn’t look happy. At all.

“We have a slight logistics problem,” Christopher shared, winning the Stating the Obvious Award for this moment in time.

“You’re not kidding,” Buchanan said. “Are you sure this was a good idea?”

“It’s Kitty’s idea, so no, I’m not sure about it at all.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Christopher. It was actually your dad’s idea. Besides, it’s secure, and that’s what matters right now.”

“Security isn’t happy.” Christopher apparently wanted to ensure he won the Stating the Obvious Award at least once a minute.

“Yeah. I can see that.” I could. The Security A-Cs ran big, bigger than Jeff usually, and that was saying something. These were men who, if they’d been humans and, therefore, not all totally gorgeous, would be working as bouncers for the likes of Jay-Z and Beyoncé and keeping the less cool out of all the really great clubs. Or starring as the barbarian hordes in epic fantasy films. Basically, they were all huge. And clearly unhappy.

“They’re only doing this because Gladys told them to, and I’m here,” Christopher said. “Without my father, Jeff, Paul, or James around, though, they’re questioning what we’re doing and why.”

“Huh. I feel a revision of the plan coming on.”

“I can’t wait,” Christopher snarked.

“Actually, you can. Which is my plan revision.”

“What?”

“You’re staying here. They’re listening to you, because you used to be the Head of Imageering and so second in command. I’d imagine they’re still not so sure how much they love taking orders from James and Tim. But they were great with taking orders from you and Jeff. So you stay, and the situation remains under control.”

Christopher looked like he really wanted to argue.

“Your wife will be here. And your goddaughter. Who, let’s be clear, is the likely focus for kidnapping.”

Either my logic was overpowering or Christopher had done all the math I had and come up with the same answer: If we wanted to house civilians here, we needed someone who could shout the right commands at A-C speeds.

“Fine. But before we do this, are you absolutely sure this is necessary?”

“Happy to check.”

“With who?” Christopher asked.

“On what?” Buchanan asked.

“Oh, ye of little faith.” I handed Jamie to Christopher. “Entertain your goddaughter for a couple of minutes.”

I sat on the floor and closed my eyes. Hopefully I wasn’t going to disturb him at an inopportune time.

CHAPTER 46

A
CE, ARE YOU THERE?
I thought in my mind.

Yes, Kitty, ACE is here.

I know there’s a lot going on.

Because ACE did its best to stay out of our affairs and so avoid becoming either a crutch we ultimately couldn’t live without or an all-powerful despot, I didn’t call for help as often as I wanted to. ACE was willing to break and bend the rules when the situation was dire, but it wasn’t a good idea to push anyone all the time, and certainly not for things we could do ourselves. Since ACE resided in Gower, I was also careful to make contact only when it was necessary or I knew things were slow, because that way I didn’t risk disturbing ACE at an inopportune time for Gower. While ACE was incredibly powerful, even the strongest entity out there could lose focus at a bad time.

I’d also discovered ACE could be, if not injured, then depleted in a way that was as bad for a collective superconsciousness as getting a major smack down was for any human or A-C. And I knew from experience that entities like ACE could be, if not killed, then destroyed in such a way that they wouldn’t be “together” any more. So I did my best to word my conversations in such a way that they wouldn’t stress ACE out. I didn’t succeed all that often, but I did persevere.

Yes, Kitty. Much is going on.

Am I on the right track, feeling that all the things that have happened to me over the past couple of days are being done to distract me from the danger Chuckie’s in?

Yes. But Chuckie is not the only one in danger.

Yeah, I know. Are Jamie and the other hybrids I have at the Dome safe here?

In a way.
ACE sounded evasive. Great. Exact questions were always better.

Will having Christopher stay with them be a better choice than having him come with me?

Yes.

I pondered this. ACE usually preferred to give me longer answers, and often tossed out some helpful breadcrumbs, but only when I’d actually asked the right questions. ACE was a lot like my mom and Olga in that way.

Have I put the right people into hiding in the Dome? Am I missing anyone who should be here and be protected, or someone who should be coming along with me?

ACE was silent. Maybe It often,’d asked too many questions.

No, Kitty never asks too many questions.
Right. ACE could “hear” my deeper-level thoughts, too.
ACE enjoys speaking with Kitty. Kitty thinks right.

Sometimes you’re the only one who believes that, ACE.

Chuckie always believes in Kitty, just as Kitty always believes in Chuckie. James will never give up on Kitty, just as Kitty will never give up on James. Kitty saved ACE, and ACE will never forget that.

You save us all the time, too, ACE.

Does Kitty still feel ACE is . . . correct to do so?

I stopped myself from giving a knee-jerk “of course” reaction. ACE only asked questions like this when it saw a big moral quandary ahead. So, why would ACE be asking me that question, right now? I had no idea.

Gave it a shot anyway.
Well, if we put aside the fact that I like being alive and keeping all the people I love alive, I still believe you have every right to protect this world, and the people in it, ACE. This is your world. We’re yours, you’re ours.

Even though ACE is not like Kitty or Jeff or even Paul?

Yes. You’re a combination of every A-C talent, but you were sent here to watch over us.

But ACE has done much more than watch.

True enough. But you were right to do it.

Why?

I thought about it.
It’s like Jeff’s new bird, Bellie. You know about her, right?
I didn’t actually want to try to comprehend everything ACE knew, but I was fairly sure that if it had the slightest form of sentient thought, ACE knew about it.

Yes. Bellie belonged to Antony, who tried to destroy Kitty and Jeff and the others.

Yes. And my ‘uncle,’ Peter the Dingo Dog, sent her to me. But Jeff attached to her. Jeff loves her now, and Bellie loves Jeff.
As she liked to share constantly.
Jeff could have sent her to someone else, to a bird sanctuary, even had her put to sleep.

You mean killed.

Sometimes it’s killed, yeah. Sometimes you’re putting something you love out of its very real and painful misery.

If Jeff had sent Bellie away, it would have killed Bellie.

Then Jeff was right to keep her and take care of her, right?

Yes.

Well, it’s like that with you and us, ACE. Jeff is much more powerful than Bellie. He’s bigger, smarter, and, to her, probably very much like a god. But he takes care of her because she needs him to. And she repays that with her love.

Just as Kitty repays ACE.

Honestly, ACE, I don’t know that I could ever repay you for everything you’ve done for us. But I love you for all you do. And for all you don’t.

How can Kitty love ACE if ACE does not always do for Kitty?

You could have become this world’s worst nightmare. You could have answered all our prayers. And both would ultimately have been terrible outcomes for us. Destruction of the world is easy to understand. But the achievement of all our hopes and dreams would leave us nothing left to aspire to, no challenges to meet. And humans, and A-Cs, don’t do well with nothing to strive for.

Adversity helps humanity to achieve?

Yes.
I knew ACE knew this. So why were we having this conversation right now?
Um, ACE, are you not able to protect Jamie and the other hybrid babies?

ACE will guard the Dome.

The Dome. That seemed remarkably specific.
ACE, are you saying you’re only willing to guard the Dome and those in it, or are you saying that you’re going to have to use a lot of power to guard the Dome and those in it?

ACE is never unwilling to watch over.

Watching over probably counted as guarding. I took this nonanswer to mean that either ACE was being forced to guard only the Dome or that there was a lot of bad coming and ACE felt that he could only guard the Dome effectively. Neither option was really great. I was sort of sorry I’d asked.

ACE, are the supersoldiers going to be activated? And by that, I mean are they going to be attacking any time soon? Maybe at the International One World Festival, or somewhere else?

No. The supersoldiers are not prepared.

Oh. Good.

No. That is very bad.

It was?
Why is that, ACE? They’re destruction machines of the highest order. It took an incredible amount of power, teamwork and, frankly, luck to defeat the few we destroyed at the President’s Ball. One of them could probably take out the Dome without issue, let alone more of them.
Suddenly, the idea that ACE was going to focus on the Dome almost exclusively seemed wise, especially since my baby was going to be here.

Yes, the supersoldiers are machines. But there is thought inside the supersoldiers.

Fantastic.
So, they’re sentient? And do you mean all of them or just the ones we have under our control?

The few now under Chuckie’s control are not like the others.

Well, Marling had told us as much right before he’d effectively killed himself.
Do you mean the androids, like the one I fought yesterday? Or something else?

Yes.

Great, back to the one-word replies.
ACE, am I okay leaving Jamie here without me?

No.
The way he said it, though, made me think I had, yet again, phrased my question wrong.

ACE, will Jamie be safe if I leave her here with the others in the Dome?

Yes.

So, I was the one who wouldn’t be safe. Well, that was, pretty much, the story of my life since meeting the gang from Alpha Four.
I haven’t figured out what you want me to, have I?

Not yet,
ACE said politely.
But Kitty will. Kitty thinks right. Kitty should think about what Kitty and ACE have talked about.

Fantastic. Oh, well, I needed to race off and make sure Jeff and Chuckie, not to mention everyone else, were okay, at least for the time being.

ACE, one last question.

Of course, Kitty. Kitty can speak to ACE whenever Kitty wishes or needs to.

Thanks, ACE, I appreciate that. My last question is this—have I figured out what’s going on corr
ectly?

Kitty has determined things.

Huh. Rephrasing time.
Have I figured out what’s really going on—not just part of it, but all of it?

No.
The relief in ACE’s voice was plain. Nice to know that ACE’s issue had been that I hadn’t figured out the full Bad Guy Plan of the Moment.
But Kitty will. Kitty thinks right.

Thanks, ACE. You think right, too.

ACE thinks that ACE will protect Jamie and the others.

Thank you.

Or ACE will die trying.