Alien vs. Alien

by Gini Koch

  “We’re going to show a united front, Mister White, and do the one thing I think the bad guys aren’t expecting.”

  “What’s that?” Oliver asked.

  “We’re going to use their weapons against them.”

  Yi

  CHAPTER 75

  “HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO THAT?” Naomi asked.

  “Great question! You and Abigail are going to be doing a lot of it, so glad you’re eager and all that.”

  Reader had once said that Naomi and Abigail could probably move solar systems if they took Surcenthumain. It was a joke that was likely more true than funny. Chuckie hadn’t liked this, and the incident was what had allowed Christopher to get fooled into becoming a Surcenthumain junkie.

  I wasn’t sure that I wanted to toss drugs at anyone, but I was sure that the Gower girls had a tonnage of untapped power and potential. Chuckie wouldn’t have spent as much time working with them if that weren’t the case.

  “I’m almost afraid to ask,” Abigail said.

  “Good, because I need you to call Tim while I call James. We need them corralling, not destroying, all the supersoldiers and superbeings and whatever else they may be fighting. And then, once the evil monsters are corralled, we need to find where they call home. Pronto.”

  “Gotcha.” Abigail pulled out her phone while I pulled out mine. We both stepped away from the others, the better to have fun conversations without interruption.

  The phone went to voicemail three times before Reader picked up. “Girlfriend, this had better be life or death important.”

  “It is. Beyond that, really. Are you okay?” I was watching the screens, and no one on our side looked okay, but I figured it was better I didn’t let Reader know that.

  “I’d be better if I wasn’t talking to you while trying to get what appears to be an in-control superbeing down. Not that I don’t have a lot of options, because we’re not dealing with just one. Of course.”

  They were dealing with twenty, easily, and that was if I was counting correctly, which was hard to do, what with all the explosions.

  “Of course. But you can’t kill them. We don’t want them destroyed or even damaged.”

  “What?”

  “Pay close attention. We’re about to be invaded by a huge alien armada that’s driving an unreal number of parasites in front of it. Chuckie figured out the controls on the supersoldiers we confiscated at the end of Operation Assassination. We need to do the same with these.”

  “Wow, is that all?”

  “No. We also need to figure out where they came from.”

  “First a daddy and a mommy parasite fall in love and then—”

  “Nice to see you’re keeping firm hold of your sense of humor. I’m serious.”

  “Seriously crazy.”

  “Which is right in line with Chuckie’s orders.”

  “You’ve found Reynolds and Jeff?” He sounded relieved.

  “No. We’ve found Chuckie’s failsafe. And, apparently, that failsafe is me.”

  Reader was quiet for a long moment. “Okay. Jeff always listened to you when he was the Head of Field. I’m willing to do the same. If we can.”

  “Pull every agent away from the International One World Festival. What the bad guys wanted to have happen already has. Split them—send half to Paraguay, half to you in France. I don’t care what you have to do, but we need to keep these things alive and get them under our control somehow. And we don’t have a lot of time to do it in. So use every international favor we have to make it happen.”

  “Why did they attack now if we’re supposed to capture them?”

  This should have been a hard question for me to answer. It wasn’t. Clarity crackled through my brain like lighting. Marling had essentially told us what was coming, after all. Compared to what else is out there, these are your friends. I’d thought he’d meant the androids were a worse threat than the supersoldiers. Clearly, he’d meant what was on our solar horizon.

  “They want us to destroy the only things that have a fighting chance against the invaders.”

  Reader sighed. “Let’s say you’re right. Let’s say we can capture, contain, and control all the superbeings and supersoldiers. They’re not enough to fight an armada.”

  “We’ll find the androids, too.”

  “How, Kitty? I mean, seriously, how? Your mother and Reynolds have been searching for these things for months or more. They have nothing.”

  “They have nothing they’ve told us about. Because they have to be really careful. If they accuse the wrong person without a ton of proof, their careers are destroyed.”

  He was quiet again. “You have a career you’re willing to destroy.”

  “Got it in one.”

  “If this goes wrong, Kitty, all the A-Cs will have to go back to Alpha Four.”

  “James, if this goes wrong, we’re all dead or worse. I’ll risk that the worst thing that can happen will be an extended visit with the distant relatives.”

  “Speaking of whom, why aren’t they helping us?”

  “It’s the start of World War Two. We’re England. They’re the United States.”

  “It worries me that I understand exactly what’s going on based on that explanation.”

  “I like to think it’s because we’re so in tune with each other.”

  “Whatever spin works, girlfriend.” He cleared his throat. “This is the real test, isn’t it? If Tim and I can handle things. If any of us can, without Jeff or Reynolds.”

  Reader rarely indulged in self-doubt. And even though I’d had that exact same thought, this wasn’t the time for him to take that particular plunge.

  “Every time is a test, James. Every time one of these freaking fugly monsters, insane politicians, or demented evil geniuses decides to go for their version of the gold is a test. And we pass those tests. Every time.”

  “We’re going to take casualties on this one. I can guarantee it.”

  I knew he could because I’d just seen that jet go down. And that might be where his self-doubt was coming from. But I didn’t want Reader to know we were watching any more than I wanted him to doubt himself. Knowing might affect him negatively in some way. Frankly, having to talk about someone in his command who’d just died might affect him. So I pretended.

  “You mean if we haven’t already? Yeah, I’m sure we are. I just want to do everything in our power to ensure the casualties happen to their side, not ours.”

  “We’ve been lucky. Luck doesn’t last.”

  “Per our enemies and the C.I.A., I exhibit extreme random tendencies.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means I’m your Lady Luck.”

  “You always have been, girlfriend. And you always will be. You still my girl?”

  “Always have been and always will be.”

  “Then everything’s still right with my world. We’ll make it happen, Kitty. Or die trying.”

  Yi

  CHAPTER 76

  WE HUNG UP AND I REJOINED THE OTHERS. Jamie’s Poof jumped onto my shoulder, rubbed and purred, then disappeared. Hoped it was heading back to Jamie.

  Bruno, job done for the moment, went back to his nest in Omega Red’s crap and went right back to sleep. Bruno was clearly an A-C animal and fully on board with the A-C idea of napping anywhere and anytime the opportunity presented itself.

  Bellie, being an Earth animal, wasn’t cooperating in that way. However, she and Oliver had obviously bonded, because she was happily snuggling with him and staying mercifully quiet. I’d been given to understand parrots were one-person birds. Clearly Bellie didn’t go in for that sort of nonsense and was of the opinion that she wanted a sugar daddy to nuzzle at all times, regardless of where her cage resided. Worked for me.

  The people weren’t napping, which was nice. Abigail gave me the thumbs up, so I assumed this meant Tim was clear on his part of our current Plan O’ Fun. The hackers were hacking, everyone else was looking stressed and concerned, and Tito
was holding a box. I looked in it. It was filled with printouts.

  “Are you trying to take over the job of doing the light reading?”

  “No. We need to get these in for analysis. And it has to be fast analysis. Due to what’s going on, the person who takes these to the Dome needs to be someone Paul, Christopher, and Serene will listen to. Came down to me or Richard. I’m less necessary.”

  “Hardly. You’re our medic and chief butt-kicker.”

  Tito grinned. “Thanks. But we’re not fighting here, Kitty. And I can get back fast if you need me. We need the information, and you need the A-Cs here focused on something other than analysis.”

  He was right, and I knew better than to argue. “Tell Christopher he’s the acting Chief Ambassador right now, because I’m abdicating.”

  “Not a good time for jokes,” Abigail said.

  “I’m not joking. Jeff’s disappeared, so he’s abdicating, too, or whatever the proper term is for an ambassador who’s been kidnapped and so can’t make any decisions. I’m about to make a call, and when I do, I’m going to get some high-level information. When I get that, I’m going to commit political suicide. Ergo, I’m not the Ambassador any more and am not speaking for American Centaurion in any way.”

  White nodded. “That makes sense. I’m not convinced anyone will believe it, however. At least, not anyone who matters.”

  Oliver coughed. “I can make one call and get this story onto the front page of the World Weekly News. I realize that’s not the same thing as the Washington Post, but it’s still a legitimate news outlet, in that sense, and if it’s followed up by an official announcement from other sources, it will indeed be believed.”

  “And if you’re right, then you don’t have to resign in reality,” Armstrong added.

  “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged. “Your mother and Mister Reynolds have been trying to find out how far and deep various connections run. Gaultier, Marling, Yates, Al Dejahl . . . to name only four. These people were connected at the highest levels. Therefore, the P.T.C.U. and the ETD have to be politically careful. You’re distancing yourself so you don’t have to be careful at all. However, if you can prove their suspicions correct, then you’re a hero.”

  “Or she’s dead,” Mona said. “Political intrigue is fraught with danger.”

  “Everything is fraught with danger right now. I’m not doing the math—how long do we have until the alien armada shows up close enough for people to know or them to hit us?”

  “We have no idea how long-range their weapons are,” Franklin said. “But the estimate is that they’ll hit the outskirts of our solar system by late tomorrow.”

  “Wow, that’s going to bring new meaning to the term Blue Monday, isn’t it? Okay, do we need to call for a floater gate? It’s a long walk back to Colonel Franklin’s office.”

  Hacker International all looked a little shifty suddenly. Franklin noted it, too. “Gentlemen, what are you trying to hide?”

  They didn’t seem to want to share. “Guys, seriously, now isn’t the time to hide anything. Now’s the time to come through like heroes. Or, you know, I can just kick you until you talk, which is always nice for working out my stress issues.”

  Stryker sighed. “Fine, fine. Keep your feet away from my groin and shins. Chuck had a gate installed here. So he could come and go without anyone at Andrews or the C.I.A. knowing about it.”

  “Classic Chuckie. But how did he do that?”

  White cleared his throat. “Under the circumstances, once you moved to the Diplomatic Corps, Charles requested a variety of additional security measures, which Paul approved. I’d assume this gate was one of them.”

  “Why weren’t we told about this, though?”

  White shrugged. “Need to know, and we didn’t.”

  “Right,” Stryker said. “So, if you can see it and make it work, go for it.”

  “You can’t see it or make it work?”

  “You’ve known him how long and you somehow think Chuck trusted us with that information?” Stryker shook his head, obviously dismayed with my naïve nature.

  I decided not to spend the time going for a battle of the witty put-downs. Instead, I did what the A-Cs with us were doing—I looked for the gate. Well, all the A-Cs other than Jennifer, who was clearly engrossed in helping Ravi. She seemed intently engrossed, meaning that she was probably giving in to the Dazzler Weakness—brains. Which spelled potentially lucky times for Ravi.

  However, we needed to get the gate found and calibrated. Which wasn’t as easy as it sounded. “I don’t see it anywhere in the room,” Naomi said.

  “I looked behind all the pizza boxes and other crap, too,” Abigail added.

  “Seriously, why aren’t we going for the obvious? Dudes, where’s the bathroom?”

  Henry led us to a door behind a bank of large servers. He opened the door. We all stepped back. “Wow. Does the cleaning lady like never come here?”

  Henry gave me a dirty look. “It’s fine for our delicate needs.”

  “I’m refraining from comment. So I don’t have to breathe. Jeremy, you’re low man on the totem pole. Find the gate.”

  The Gower girls, White, and I

  backed away. Jeremy shot me a look that said he’d liked me just fine up until now, then stuck his head into the room. He pulled it out fast. “If it’s in there, it’s really hidden well.”

  Henry closed the door. “Sorry. Feel free to clean it to your personal requirements.”

  “Dude, that would require a self-contained nuke.” I looked around. “Where does Chuckie appear from, when he drops in via Gate Express?”

  “No idea,” Henry said. “He sneaks up on us.”

  We left the bathroom area. “Yuri, when Chuckie sneaks up on you guys, do you hear him coming from one area more than any other?”

  Omega Red seemed to give this consideration. At least, he cocked his head to the right, instead of to the left, which I chose to believe meant he’d stopped thinking about one thing to concentrate on my question.

  “I’m not positive. But I believe he comes from the side nearest the bathroom.”

  We trooped back to the area. A pseudo wall/hallway was created by the servers, separating the bathroom area from the rest of Hacker Central. But Jeremy said the gate wasn’t in the bathroom.

  My brain chose to remind me that NASA Base had apparently had a server box that had contained a dead body instead of computer equipment. “Open the server boxes.”

  “No!” Stryker shouted. “Don’t do it!”

  Yi

  CHAPTER 77

  WE ALL FROZE. “Um, why not, Eddy?”

  “You’ll damage everything, including what we’re working on.”

  We all relaxed somewhat. “Fine. Thanks for the total freak-out—we hadn’t had one of those in, what, a minute, minute and a half? Besides, one of these things is not like the others.” I listened at each one. They all hummed as though they had computer stuff going on inside them. I touched them. All felt warm or hot, depending.

  I noted something—this room wasn’t freezing cold. “Eddy, how are the big servers kept from overheating? This room doesn’t feel like a meat locker.”

  “Individual cooling units directly above and below the servers.”

  “Jeremy, you’re tall. See which server top doesn’t seem ice cold.”

  He checked the top of each server. “All seem cold, all have air conditioning ducts directly over them, and all ducts are blowing cold air.

  I sighed to myself. Someone was going to have to check out the floor level. I knew who that someone was going to end up being. Always the way.

  I got down on my hands and knees and carefully put a hand under each server. Naturally, it wasn’t until I reached the server closest to the wall that it didn’t feel cold. “I may have it. Let’s open this sucker up.”

  “Kitty, if you’re wrong, you slow us down or worse,” Stryker said. In a normal tone this time. How refreshing.

  “Eddy
, if I’m right, I speed us up a lot.” I stood up. There was a panel back here. Hit it with my hand, then jumped back. Hey, the last time I’d done that, a dead body had fallen onto me.

  This time, however and thankfully, nothing fell out. The back panel did pop open, though, silently. The door had equipment attached to it, but it was obviously there to make noise and warmth, because the server was empty inside. Well, empty if you were looking with human eyes. “I’ve found the gate.”

  White calibrated while Tito and his big box of papers joined us. “What do you want me to tell everyone?” he asked as White stepped out of the server box and indicated it was ready to go.

  “The truth. Make sure they’re focused on figuring out how to control the superbeings, supersoldiers, and androids. Beyond that, I’m open to suggestions.”

  He nodded. “We’ll manage, Kitty. We had just as much bad going on when I joined up, and we handled it. We’ll do it again.”

  “God, I love your optimism.”

  Tito grinned. “One of us has to look on the bright side.”

  “Will you check on Jamie and make sure she’s okay? Not missing me or Jeff too much? Not worried? That’s she’s been fed and changed and—”

  “Kitty,” Tito interrupted me gently. “She’s fine. Your father’s there, Amy’s there, Alfred and Lucinda are there, right?” I nodded. “Plus the rest of the Embassy staff. She’s in good hands. But I promise I’ll make a hundred percent sure she’s fine.”

  “Thanks, Tito.”

  “No problem. She’s my patient, remember. That means I have to watch out for her, too.” He stepped through the gate. The slow fade was still icky to watch.

  “Christopher confirms Tito’s there,” Naomi said. “Glad our phones still work.”

  “Oh, they’ll knock them out soon enough. They know how dependent we are on telecommunications.”

  “Well, let’s hope they don’t do that before we find what you’re looking for,” Henry said.