Alien vs. Alien (55 page)

“Only my girl.” Jeff put his arm around me. “You know there’s no way Imageering was able to hide all of this.”

“Or that the Field teams can alter memories enough,” Christopher added.

“We’re outed.” Jeff sighed. “Alexander, any chance we can all move back to Alpha Four?”

“Absolutely, if you wish it. We are prepared to evacuate our people, if it’s requested or necessary. And any humans who are in danger as well.”

“You’re the best, Alex. But I don’t know . . . maybe we won’t have to.”

“Love your optimism, baby. Why do you think we won’t be run off the Earth?”

I looked around. “Because the A-Cs being here is the only reason our allies came to help. Without the A-Cs, Earth would already be conquered.”

“Think that’s going to be a viewpoint the average person will buy?” Jeff asked.

“Depends on how it’s spun,” Chuckie replied. “I honestly have no guess. Could be the best thing to happen to the A-Cs, could be talked up as one huge Hollywood marketing ploy, could mean we’re all running for our lives.”

“Guess we’re going to find out.”

“Can’t wait,” Christopher said, sounding as though he actually could wait.

“We have friends in high places. And low ones. And far, far away ones. We’ll be okay.”

As I said this, the last Z’porrah ship was shoved through the Reptilians warp net. Three Feliniad ships swooped down and carefully and accurately hovered over each su뀀*perbeing. There wasn’t as much air blowback as a bunch of helicopters, but I could still feel the air moving.

However, being blown around a little bit was well worth the outcome, because when they finished, the superbeings were no more, sucked up into the Feliniad ships. And as soon as the superbeings were
gone, the supersoldiers and androids all went still.

“Who flipped their switches?”

“Ravi,” Chuckie said. “King Alexander, I’d like to formally request that you demand that the supersoldiers and androids be given into the custody of Alpha Four and removed from Earth.”

“Why?” I asked before Alexander could reply. “They held off the Z’porrah until the cavalry arrived.”

“Because if we can control them, so can someone else,” Jeff replied. “They aren’t benign. They were all programmed to destroy. We were lucky this time. I don’t want to bet that we’ll be lucky again.”

“We will make that demand,” Alexander said. “And then we will have them all destroyed. Charles, I assume you would like to bear witness to their destruction?”

“Yes, thank you. We need to catalog who the androids were impersonating before they’re disposed of, but otherwise, the sooner we can remove these creatures the better.”

“If one megalomaniac can think these things up, another one can as well.”

“Which is why I don’t want to leave any parts around for the next wave of evil geniuses to find,” Chuckie said. “Reader and Crawford know where the bases in Paris and Paraguay are. We’ll be razing those in the next few days.”

“No argument, I’m with you. Why risk a
Terminator
scenario? Especially since we just had
War of the Worlds
. And then some.”

Chuckie sighed. “True enough. Ravi doesn’t think we found all of the androids, by the way, just the ones in the U.S.”

Before anyone could reply, ask questions, or fret about our android situation, the hatch of the Z’porrah ship opened, and a beam of light came from it.

CHAPTER 103

W
E ALL BRACED FOR ANOTHER ATTACK,
but there was none. Apparently the beam of light thing was how the Z’porrah got in and out of their ships every time, even if they were only traveling about three feet.

The six of us zipped down the stairs and over to the flying saucer. We were joined by a lot of Field agents. Reader and Tim were there as well. “Military’s on the way,” Reader said as we joined him.

“Why aren’t they here already?”

“Same reason we’re not looking forward to a nuclear winter—nothing would work.”

I leaned against Jeff.
ACE, are you there?

Yes, Kitty, ACE is here. And Alexander is wrong. ACE does not wish to leave.

I’m glad. Thank you for keeping us from destroying ourselves while trying to destroy the Z’porrah.

ACE does not like the Z’porrah.

Because they’re evil, or because what they do is evil?

The Z’porrah are not evil. But the Z’porrah are wrong.

About what?
Silence.
Do I need to know?

Kitty does not need to know right now. The machines will work again now. ACE cannot always interfere.

We understand. Thank you again for saving us.

ACE only did some. Others helped ACE.

Who?
ACE was quiet, but he didn’t feel distressed. Time to guess.
The Poofs?

To some extent. Control of the Power Cubes is important. The Poofs did well.

There had to be more. Thought about it.
Jamie and the rest of the hybrid babies?

Yes. ACE will not leave. ACE has many new penguins to care for, and these need ACE. ACE is happy to be needed.

And loved, ACE. Never forget that.

ACE does not.

ACE? How did Jamie get to us in time?

Jamie knew Kitty and Jeff and Christopher needed Jamie.
There was a bit of evasiveness in his tone.

Why did she come when she did?
No reply. Thought about it.
Did she come because I specifically mentioned her?

In a way.

Thought about it some more.
Were you keeping her in the Dome and safe?

ACE . . . did not want Jamie to go into danger until Jamie had to.

So, did you let her go or did she get away from you?

There was another long pause.
Even ACE can lose concentration.
He sounded embarrassed.

It happens, even to the most watchful of parents, ACE. And she really did save the day.

ACE is happy Jamie did well and that Kitty and Jeff and Christopher and all the others are still alive. ACE wishes ACE could have saved everyone. But ACE could not.

He sounded so sad, regretful, and tired I wanted to hug and hold him, but that wasn’t really something I could do, unless I found Gower and hugged him, and that wasn’t quite the same thing.

No, but ACE appreciates Kitty’s caring for ACE.

Were you hurt?

ACE would like . . . time to rest.

Are you able to rest? Is it over?

Yes. For now.

Well, that’s all we can hope for, isn’t it?

Yes. Kitty is wise. Kitty thinks right. ACE is always thankful for Kitty.

And I’m always thankful for you, ACE.

Felt ACE hug my mind, and then he was gone.

Reader was barking orders, telling each Field team to take control of one Z’porrah. Wasn’t sure how many Z’porrah there were, but hopefully we had enough A-Cs to handle it.

“Ambassadors Martini,” Armstrong’s voice boomed behind us. “There you are. Safe and sound, I see.”

Armstrong wasn’t alone. White was with him, which was nice, but a number of other people who looked vaguely familiar were with him, too—meaning they were probably politicians I’d met but hadn’t really interacted with—which wasn’t. Fabulous. On the plus side, Oliver was with him as well, looking as though all his dreams had come true at the exact moment he didn’t have a camera on him.

“Senator,” Jeff said a trifle suspiciously. “Good to see you.”

“Better to see you,” Armstrong said. “Excellent work on the experimental aircraft. American Centaurion truly does amazing work. Doesn’t it, Mister Reynolds?”

Chuckie stared at Armstrong for a good long few moments. I had a feeling that Chuckie’s answer was going to determine how hard the Powers That Be pressed for Centaurion to become the War Division. “These weren’t American Centaurion design,” he said finally. “These ships weren’t created in this 󀀅@solar system.”

“If you say so.” Armstrong’s smile didn’t falter. He and Chuckie were having a stare down. Good luck to Armstrong. I’d beaten him, and he was now trying to take on one of the only two people I couldn’t outstare.

“I do.” Chuckie sounded calm.

Jeff looked at his uncle. White nodded. “I do as well,” Jeff said.

Armstrong shrugged. “We can discuss it with the President.” Got the impression Chuckie had won but wasn’t sure what he’d won, exactly.

“I think that would be wise,” Chuckie agreed. “The heads of the C.I.A. and the P.T.C.U. should be involved as well.”

“Already safely back in the Oval Office. Homeland Security is there as well, along with a number of world leaders, most of whom were already in town for the Festival. They’re just waiting for you and the Ambassadors here to join them.” Armstrong’s smile went back to Cheerful Politician. “Some of your pets have been spotted. I believe several of our finer companies would like to breed them.”

“Not just no, but hell no,” Jeff said pleasantly.

“Or create plush toys based on them,” Armstrong said smoothly, without missing a beat.

“Maybe, but only if American Centaurion holds the patents as well as majority share in stock and profits,” Chuckie said just as smoothly.

I caught Oliver’s eye, and he came over. “MJO, what do you recommend?” I asked quietly.

“About Poof toys?”

“Don’t be coy.”

“Oh, but it’s such fun. Mister Reynolds will need support. I’d suggest your husband go with him, while you take your baby home to her Embassy physician, to ensure she’s safe and well.”

“Gotcha.” Wondered if my Embassy physician was home, at a hospital, or taking two of my friends to the morgue. Decided I had to focus on the here and now, not the worry in the pit of my stomach.

“We will accompany Our friend and kinsman,” Alexander said, and he was definitely using the Royal We. “We would like to meet your President and other world leaders.” It wasn’t a request or a suggestion—it was an order.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Armstrong said smoothly. “We appreciate your help with this matter.”

“We only came to help because some of Our people reside here,” Alexander said, speaking clearly and projecting his voice. “If they were not considered welcomed members of your society, We would not have chosen to lend Our support.”

Oliver chuckled. “Then again, perhaps Mister Reynolds has all the support he’ll need with your King along.”

Armstrong smiled as the people with him nodded their heads a little too emphatically. “Well put, Your Highness. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Military vehicles arrived, and the Field agents began loading the captured Z’porrah onto the trucks. Several Field teams entered their ship, returning quickly to declare it󀀅CH devoid of any more Little Big Birds.

“They’re off limits for experiments.” I hated them, but still. If we let them experiment on the Z’porrah, it was only a matter of time before the same was done on the A-Cs.

Alexander nodded. “Should We discover that these prisoners of war are being mistreated in any way We deem inappropriate—and We deem medical experiments to absolutely be inappropriate—We will take steps to ensure their safety.”

The politicians with Armstrong looked worried. Armstrong didn’t. He looked pleased. I’d spent most of this weekend with him, and I still wasn’t sure if we’d just given an enemy the keys to the city, or if we now had an even more powerful ally. Figured I’d better bet a little on both.

Alexander nodded to Reader, who made a call. One of the Alpha Four Battle Cruisers moved into position over us. “Step away from the saucer,” Reader shouted. “Everyone.”

We did as we were told. A beam came down from the Alpha Four ship and hit the Z’porrah saucer. The saucer lifted and was pulled up into the belly of the cruiser. Much faster than they did it in the movies. Maybe it was easier when you weren’t using models.

All the Alpha Centauri ships disappeared. “You’re staying?” I asked Alexander.

“Only for a short time. Our ships have moved off, past Earth satellites, so that the rest of this can be handled more . . . diplomatically.”

“Works for me. As long as they’re close by if we need them.”

“They are. And they’re all monitoring.”

Several black limos arrived, and Secret Service stepped out of them. The politicians were ushered inside.

“MJO, what’s your destination?”

“I’ve been told I can’t attend the summit meeting, so I’m going to drop off my stories.” He shook his head. “This could be the first time in the history of journalism that the kidnapping of an ambassadress and world war being averted is going to be on the back page, because we have such a better lead story.”

“Try not to explode from the awesome of it all.”

He grinned. “I’ll do my best.”

A gray limo pulled up, and Buchanan and Jeremy got out of it. “We’ll take our own car,” Jeff said. “Oliver, if you need a ride, we’ll drop you.”

“The lift is very much appreciated, Ambassador.”

“And if we forget to drop you and take you with us by accident, please be sure to take good notes and let me know immediately if someone’s handing us a line of crap.”

Oliver beamed. “Absolutely, Ambassador Martini.”

Jeff kissed me and Jamie. “Get home safely.”

“I’ll do my best. I’m not the one who got lost, I have to say yet again.”

Jeff grinned. “I’ll let you punish m
e for it later.”

“󀀅Can’t wait.” Truly. We still hadn’t had nearly enough sex to make up for being apart for a month, let alone to celebrate the world not ending again.

Jeff, White, Alexander, Oliver, and Chuckie got into our limo. Buchanan and Jeremy got back in. Decided to table how and why Jeremy had left his post at the Embassy for later. Presumably because he’d been requested. I assumed Jennifer was still back at the Embassy, attached to Ravi’s hip. I had no problem with this.

All the limos but one pulled away. The last one was still waiting for Armstrong.

He came over to me instead. “Ambassador Katt-Martini, it appears all’s well that ends well.”

“For right now, I guess. What’s the word on who was blackmailing us?”

“Your mother was finally able to authorize a search of all of Esteban’s holdings. A variety of pictures were found, each of them with a portion of the finished product visible, so to speak. Ample proof of his attempts to blackmail us.”

“Conveniently found or really found?”

“You’ll have to ask your mother about that. She can tell you now—your security clearance has been reinstated. At a higher level than before, too.”