by Gini Koch
“I think it’s sexy, baby,” Jeff said with a grin. “When you do it,” he added quickly, losing the grin in the process. “Right now, it’s just uncomfortable and awkward.”
“Thank you so very much,” Francine said, as she shot me a long-suffering look. “I’m going to be heavily veiled and we aren’t going to be expected to kiss during the event, so you can stop treating me as if I’m the mistress you don’t want to have.”
“I don’t want a mistress,” Jeff said. “I also don’t think this plan is going to work in reality.”
“If it doesn’t, it’ll be because of you and the other men, Jeff,” Reader said. “Because I’m with Kitty—I think it’ll fool enough people for long enough, and we only need just long enough.”
Speaking of long enough, the real downside of immersion for me was that I hadn’t been able to search for the hidden gate in the Embassy, because Francine would have expected to come with me, and I had no legitimate way of getting rid of her.
Inspiration struck, however. “You know, why don’t I leave the room for a while? Maybe Jeff will chill out a bit if I’m not here, watching him ‘cheat’ on me with my permission.”
This earned me a dirty look from my husband. “Sure, go ahead, desert me,” he said, sarcasm knob only at about three on the scale. “Just don’t be gone too long.”
“Yeah, I might throw myself on your husband in a fit of mad passion,” Francine added. Her sarcasm knob had hit eleven on Day One, right after Jeff had acted like she had a disease for over an hour. Her knob was, by my calculation, currently turned to twenty and heading for twenty-five.
“You’d need to watch us have sex to do it just right, though,” I said as I headed out the door. My last view was of Jeff’s horrified, embarrassed expression and Francine and Reader laughing their heads off.
Had no good idea of where to go, so I headed up to our apartment. Jamie was at daycare and everyone else was off doing their prep for the event, so I was definitely alone.
Double-checked the whole apartment just in case, though. Then I went to the farthest room from the front door, which was one of the many large bedrooms we used for absolutely nothing.
Wasn’t sure why I wanted to be so far away, but I did and decided not question it. Either there was a reason or there wasn’t. Either way, I’d find out soon enough.
Cleared my throat. “Poofs and Peregrines, please assemble.”
Instantly had a lot of furred and feathered company. All twenty-four Peregrines and more Poofs than I could count were in the room with me. This was the first time in ages that I’d seen all the Alpha Four animals together outside of the daycare center. Hoped this meant that the kids were currently safe.
“Kitty would like a word.”
Bird heads bobbed, Poofs purred.
“Super. First off, show of paws and wings for who’s staying at the Embassy when we go to Michael and Fuzzball’s funeral.”
All female Peregrine wings and many Poof paws went up.
“Super. Who’s going with Jeff and the others to the funeral?”
More Poof paws—all Poofs attached to funeral attendees, plus a few extras—and about half of the male Peregrine wings. There were a variety of Peregrine squawks and Poof mews.
“Great. And yes, Kitty understands that you’ll be in stealth mode. Kitty also understands that she shouldn’t worry about her Poofs and Peregrines because you’re all rough, tough fighting machines. I know I can count on all of you to protect everyone who needs protecting. And now, who’s going into Gaultier with Kitty?”
No paws or wings went up.
“Really? Kitty finds this hard to believe.”
Bruno raised his wing, Harlie and Poofikins raised their paws.
“Just the three of you? What are the rest of your teams going to be doing?”
Bruno squawked and bobbed his head. Harlie mewed and jumped up and down.
“Huh. Not sure that I like that plan. What if there are Poof Traps at Titan or YatesCorp? What about Peregrine traps? We don’t know, and without someone with opposable thumbs along, that could be bad news.”
More squawking, head bobbing, mewing, and bouncing up and down.
“Don’t care. We’ve already lost Fuzzball. Kitty doesn’t want to lose any more Poofies or start in with losing Peregrines.”
They seemed touched by my concern but unconvinced otherwise. Okay, time to try a different approach.
“So, I might be okay with it, if I knew I could get to you all without a problem.”
Heads all tilted at me. It was a cuteness overload. Forced myself to soldier on without snuggling and skritchy-scratching each and every one of them.
“If Kitty could know where the hidden gate in the Embassy is, that would mean Kitty could get to you quickly.”
Got hit with a lot of totally innocent looks. It was like a sea of Animal Innocence in front of me. So, they all knew exactly what I was talking about. Contemplated why they hadn’t told anyone where this gate was. Figured my guess about it being a Z’porrah cube was probably right.
“Kitty promises not to tell anyone where the cube is hidden, or that you’re all using it as your animal gateway. But I think I need to be able to use it, too.” Decided to go for it. “Or else Kitty needs a cube of her own.”
The animals went into a huddle. Sure, it was a big, fluffy huddle, but a huddle nonetheless, complete with the Peregrines spreading their wings to essentially surround the Poofs. Off and on heads bobbed up or turned toward me. Clearly this was quite the big deal.
While the animals discussed whether or not they could or should tell me about what I was now thinking of as the Cube Gate, I considered where in the world it could actually be.
It couldn’t be something the Poofs or Peregrines kept on their persons. Sure, the Poofs were capable of ingesting and regurgitating things—they’d done that to get all the Z’porrah cubes at the end of Operation Invasion, after all. However, they were clearly using them, and potentially had been since they’d come to Earth.
One thing I hadn’t asked was how the Poofs got around on Alpha Four. They had hyperspeed and so did the Peregrines. But whether or not Poofs could be there one minute and across Alpha Four’s globe the next I’d never asked about.
For all I knew, no one here actually had the answer. The likelihood that Alfred had needed Harlie to zap across the world when he was young and on the home planet seemed slim. Before Jeff and I had gotten engaged, there had only been two Poofs left on Alpha Four, Harlie and Tenley, who was attached to Alexander’s mother, Victoria.
Since the Poofs were androgynous and only mated when a Royal Wedding was imminent, six Poofs had been created by Harlie and Tenley the moment Jeff gave me his family’s Unity Necklace. And those six, Fuzzball among them, had come to Earth with Harlie and the Alpha Centauri Planetary Council. One of them had gone back to Alpha Four with Alexander, of course, but that had still left us with six original Earth Poofs.
The Poof Population Explosion had happened here on Earth. So perhaps much of what our Poofs did they could do because the Z’porrah had riddled the interior of our planet with their amazing, glowing, power cubes.
That they’d shared the itel with the Peregrines was obvious, and presumably done because I’d told them all to get along and work together and they had.
However, my feeling about the hidden gate in the Embassy was that the former Diplomatic Corps, or at least one of them, had been using it. We knew Clarence Valentino had found the cube Terry had presumably snatched from Ronald Yates and left for Jeff and Christopher. And not to speak ill of the dead, but Clarence wasn’t an Idea Man. He was muscle.
So, he’d probably given that cube to the people he worked most closely with, the former heads of the Diplomatic Corps and Doreen’s late parents, Robert and Barbara Coleman. The Poofs had eaten them, with relish, during Operation Confusion. But when we’d taken over the Embassy it was as empty as a new home. Everything was gone.
We’d assumed the Diplomatic Cor
ps had sent all their crap to Alpha Four, where they’d planned to hide out and take over, but King Alexander and Councilor Leonidas had never found said crap. So either LaRue and Ronaldo had taken it with them into the far reaches of space—always possible—or the former Diplomatic Corps’ stuff was still hidden somewhere. Potentially with the Cube Gate. Or inside it.
I wanted access to that gate and not just because it would be nice to be right. I wanted access because Algar had told me it was vital, and I knew he hadn’t said that merely to be dramatic.
Contemplated what I could say. And realized I could say what I both wanted and needed to.
“Kitty knows about Algar.”
Had to say this—results were immediate.
CHAPTER 63
HAPPILY, FOR ONCE, they were the results I was hoping for.
All the animals turned to me, looks of shocked relief on their faces. Harlie mewed questioningly at me.
“He said I remind him of the first King of Alpha Four. And, yes, I know that Richard and Paul know about him. We can’t talk about him, though, he prevents it. I think he’s allowing me to talk about him with all of you because you don’t really talk to anyone else like you talk to Kitty, and Algar wants me to find that Cube Gate.”
Bruno did his head bob thing and scratched gently at the carpet.
“I’m not sure why he wants me to find the hidden gate, but if I have to guess, it’s because Algar wants Kitty to use the gate to get in and out of Gaultier safely. Or something along those lines.”
Lola, Bruno’s mate, and Poofikins started squawking and mewing. Was pretty sure they were telling Bruno and Harlie that I should be told where the hidden gate was.
I’d gotten really good at understanding what the animals were saying, or at least what they were trying to get across to me. However, that only worked when they actually wanted me to know what they were saying. When they didn’t, as now, it was much more guesswork than certain knowledge on my part.
The animals finally reached agreement. The Peregrines cooed at me in a lovely manner, then they disappeared. The Poofs all purred at me, which was also a lovely sound, then they took off, too. Bruno, Harlie, and Poofikins were all who remained.
Bruno flapped his wings at me, while doing the head bob thing.
“Okay.” Put my purse over my head. “Ready.”
Harlie and Poofikins jumped onto my shoulders. Bruno trotted out of this room and I followed.
He headed for the nursery, which made me more than a little worried. But we went through it and into the isolation chamber that was attached to the master bedroom.
It was really more of an isolation bedroom, complete with a king-size bed, two regular beds, and all the tubes and needles you could ask for. But considering that Jeff needed isolation regularly, it was nice to have it so close and safe. Jamie and I also needed isolation sometimes, and I was a lot less panicky with this room than the regular isolation chambers.
Everything in this room was very white. For whatever reason, white seemed to be the operative color of choice for an isolation bedroom. The isolation chambers weren’t this monochromatic, but Jeff never complained about this color scheme, or lack thereof, so I hadn’t worried about it.
The Colemans hadn’t had any A-C talents, but Terry had, and I knew this suite had been hers before she’d been infected by the Yates/Mephistopheles in-control superbeing and died. In fact, the memory she’d programmed Jeff to implant in me had shown her and the boys lying in the king bed in this isolation chamber. I just hadn’t realized that until we’d moved in here and I’d spent some time in this room with Jeff.
One of the many things I hadn’t paid much attention to until this very moment was the fact that the big bed was attached to the wall. I’d figured this was because it was an extra-large hospital bed and the isolation equipment was fragile.
However, Bruno jumped onto this bed and stared at the headboard. Oh, goody, a test. Nice to know even the animal kingdom wanted me to keep the skills sharp.
Looked at the headboard. It looked like a headboard. It appeared to be made of wood, painted white, shocker, with some inlaid wooden squares also painted white. There were five of these, all about five inches square, in a line across the headboard. A sixth, slightly larger, square was in the middle of the headboard, near the top. Not the most exciting of designs, but great if you were really into geometric shapes and straight angles.
Bruno looked at me over his shoulder, then turned back to the study of the headboard. Clearly I was slow to react.
Dawned on me that the squares in the headboard could be one side of a cube. The square up top in particular, since closer inspection showed that it wasn’t quite like the others.
“Huh. Algar said we’d been looking incorrectly. Everyone was searching for an actual gate, not a cube that’s hidden in plain sight. How does it work?”
Bruno flapped his wings on the bed. I took the hint and climbed up, Poofs still on my shoulders. I was on my knees in front of the main square. Bruno came over and squawked. Took the hint and picked him up. He was heavier than my cats but thankfully lighter than our smallest dog, Duchess.
Harlie mewed at me in an urgent manner.
“Okay. Does it matter if you’re all thinking of different places than me?”
Bruno cooed.
“Good to know. Touch is key, got it. You’re sure it won’t drop us onto, or worse, into someone or something?”
Got reassuring purrs and coos, along with some extra cautionary advice.
“And you’re positive we can get back?”
Mews and purrs confirmed that the Poofs and Peregrines had their Ways and I was good as long as I was with them or Bruno.
“Gotcha. Kitty’s ready for the wild ride. I hope.”
With that I reached out and touched the top square.
And again, results were immediate.
CHAPTER 64
I’D THOUGHT OF THE LAIR, where Jeff and I had lived during the first part of my tenure with Centaurion Division. And in the Lair I was. Unlike a gate transfer, there was no nausea. Cube travel was definitely the way to go.
We were in the living room, in front of the TV, facing the couch, which was exactly what I’d seen in my mind.
There was a glittery square right in front of me. Reached for it and therefore touched it, and was right back on the bed in the isolation chamber. “Wow.”
Touched the cube again and was right back in the Lair. “Cool.” Now that I was here, contemplated wandering around. However, there was a lot going on, and besides, someone was going to notice that I was here, instead of in the Embassy, and I didn’t want to explain the Cube Gate to random people at this precise time. Did wonder what Algar was up to, but now probably wasn’t the time to try to visit him. So I touched the floating square.
Only, this time, I’d been thinking about Algar. And that’s where I ended up. “Whoops.”
I was in the weird reclamation area again, right on the tank platform I’d been on before. The room looked even bigger than when I’d been here before, but I was too shocked to really examine too much. Algar looked surprised, so there was that.
Harlie and Poofikins purred loudly, jumped off my shoulders and onto Algar’s, and rubbed up against him like he was their long-lost bestie. Wasn’t so shocked that this was lost on me.
Algar recovered faster than me. “Well, I see you’ve found the gate and figured out how to use it.”
“Um, sort of.” Saw a pile of glittery things in the far corner of the room.
“Good. Carry on.” With that, he snapped his fingers and Bruno and I were back in the isolation room at the Embassy.
Put Bruno down on the bed. “Care to explain all that to me?”
Bruno shot me the “I’m An Innocent Birdie” look. Gave him my Death Glare in return. I won. Bruno flapped his wings, cooed, squawked, and did some serious head bobbing that could have qualified him for any major urban hip-hop competition.
“Ah.” Cleared my throat. “Har
lie, Poofikins, come to Kitty.” The Poofs appeared, both still purring happily. I sat down cross-legged on the bed. “I think it’s time we played the Guess Where I’m From game.”
The Poofs gave Bruno their own versions of the Death Glare. Bruno glared right back. Picked him up and put him in my lap. “Beings from this universe gotta stick together, kids.”
The Poofs looked sad, so I picked them up, too, and gave them a cuddle. “Kitty still loves her Poofies, you know that.” Received happy purrs. Put the Poofs on Bruno’s back, so I could look at them. “Okay, I expect some animal honesty. First off, while Bruno really is an Alpha Four animal, it appears that my Poofies are not, at least in terms of ancestry.”
The Poofs mewed. They sounded apologetic.
“Oh, I get it. Until Kitty knew about Algar, Kitty couldn’t know who brought the Poofies to this universe. But that’s where you’re from, isn’t it, the Black Hole Universe?”
The Poofs acknowledged that this was so.
Which explained a whole lot, especially things like how they went large and toothy and then back to small, how they got all over the place, probably how they’d found the Z’porrah’s power cubes, let alone ingested and regurgitated them without issue, and potentially more.
“Algar brought you with him when he left home, like Mom and Dad brought the cats and dogs here, right? Because you take your pets with you if you’re moving far, far away.”
Received more Poof purrs for confirmation.
I could see the rest of it. Algar had gotten himself in trouble, and he’d wandered the universe, being sure to keep ahead of the other Black Hole People who were searching for him. He found an out of the way place to hang out. And because he’d liked the first King of Alpha Four, he’d given him his Poofs as pets and protectors, so Algar could concentrate on taking out the trash and being sure he wasn’t discovered. And it gave the Poofs someone to belong to, just in case Algar was caught.
“You’re sort of helping with the whole free will issue, right?”
This question earned a lot of Poof mewling and jumping up and down in response.
