by Gini Koch
“I’m not an idiot and I’m not exactly inexperienced in battle, or training.” I got a shot of Patented Glare #3 all to myself.
“Yeah, I know. See how you like it when your friends and family insult the skills? Excuse me, I just want another moment to revel in this total Got You Back moment.”
“Whatever,” Christopher muttered.
“Kitty’s right,” Chuckie said. “About both the impressiveness and the fact that you’re usually the head jerk insulting her at any given time. Save the wit retaliation effort, however, because we still have this situation to deal with. What do we do about Sandy here? Power from the rest of us or not, Mahin can’t hold this forever and we can’t all afford to be drained into unconsciousness, either.”
“Paul, what do you think we should do?”
Gower stared at me for a moment. “You really want my opinion?”
“Would I have asked otherwise?”
“I suppose not. I think we should stop treating Sandy as our enemy. Differing views and rules don’t mean beings are evil, just different from us. And it’s powerful enough to have destroyed us all already . . . and hasn’t.”
“So, you’d like to try diplomacy?”
“If you’re willing.” Gower’s lips quirked. “Interstellar diplomacy is your specialty, you know.”
“Supposedly.”
“Sandy panicked,” Jeff said. “When you threatened its people. It wasn’t feeling aggressive until then.”
“Yeah, that ‘I shall name you’ thing really is their Achilles’ heel, isn’t it?”
“Make a decision,” Tim said. “Mahin and the rest of us can’t hang on with this much longer.”
“I have to either contract the ball, and therefore destroy the contents, or release it,” Mahin said through gritted teeth. “I have enough left to destroy, if you want me to, Kitty.”
Took a deep breath and really hoped Gower was correct and I was doing the right thing. “No. Mahin . . . let Sandy go.”
CHAPTER 37
THE SAND BALL DISAPPEARED. Mahin and the three men with her all visibly wilted. Tito trotted over and gave the four of them adrenaline shots. We were all going to be the most jittery people on the planet for a while. Hoped we were still going to have a while.
Sandy reformed quickly. Rahmi and Rhee moved into fighting stances, battle staffs at the ready, but Sandy did nothing aggressive toward them or anyone else.
The sand was still shifting in that totally icky manner, but he looked far more formed—definitely male, definitely humanoid. “Why did you release me?” he asked, sounding confused but not angry. “I did not ask for release.”
“Not out loud, no.”
“Your actions weren’t harmful,” Gower added. “Threatening, yes, which is why Kitty charged. But you didn’t hurt us when we were inside you.”
“And therefore, we didn’t want to hurt you in return.”
“We call it mercy,” Chuckie added. “It’s a concept you’ll find throughout our history. Not used nearly enough, but still, one of our better qualities.”
“Yes . . .” Sandy said. “And those showing mercy are not always . . . rewarded.”
“No,” Gower agreed. “Not always. We prefer to look on the positive side of life, however. We understand why you’re here. You have a job to do. We just don’t want you to harm our world. And taking ACE away will harm us.”
“But our laws must be obeyed,” Sandy said.
No time like the present to try what Gower wanted, which was to talk, versus fight, our way out of this. “Why?”
Sandy stared at me. “What do you mean?”
“I mean ‘why?’ As in, what makes your laws so wonderful that they apply to everything, everywhere? I ask because it seems to me that, sometimes, interfering is the right thing to do. You know, like Paul interfering and coming with me, Christopher interfering and pulling us out of you, and my interfering with Mahin and telling her to let you go.”
“They are . . . our laws.”
“Laws, yours, yes, got it. Only, here’s the thing. In our world, when we realize that we have a law that is no longer relevant—like not being able to give a moose an alcoholic beverage if you’re in Alaska—we either ignore it, change it, or repeal it.”
“What do moose have to do with this?” Sandy asked.
“I’d like to point out that even visiting superconsciousnesses don’t get the Kittyisms,” Christopher said. Clearly he was still smarting from my getting him back. Good.
“Everyone’s a critic and I take back that ‘military genius’ compliment I gave you only a few short minutes ago. Anyway, Sandy, what I’m trying to say is that laws are, many times, meant to be broken.”
“Usually by you,” Tim said.
“I heard that.”
“Why are you all so . . . calm?” Sandy asked. “This is a dangerous situation. You have challenged, we have accepted, the time of conflict is here. Yet you all . . . joke?”
We looked at each other, then back at Sandy. “We’re not calm,” I explained. “We’ve all just become really good at panicking with style. Oh, and stop with the ‘we’ bit, Sandy. Once you go ‘I’ you never go back.”
“It’s not allowed.”
“Really? Well you said ‘I’ earlier. More than once, so it wasn’t a slip of the supertongue. Does that mean you’ve broken the laws, too? And you like your name, to the point where you demanded I think of you as Sandy, not as anything else. To me, that says you have formed a more solidified persona, an individualized identity if you will.”
“You don’t have to leave Earth right away,” Chuckie said casually, as if it was just a thought, no big deal kind of thing. “Not if you don’t want to. We’ve already offered ACE safe haven. You could certainly have the same arrangement.”
“Why would you do that?” Sandy asked.
“Good for us, good for you,” Chuckie said.
“You wouldn’t have to stay here, either, you know, if you didn’t want to. ACE isn’t required to stay here by us. He stays because he wants to.”
“But too much dependence makes lesser creatures weak.”
Interesting. So they really thought they were doing the right thing. And Algar’s people thought they were doing the right thing, too. What this meant I wasn’t sure, but I suspected that the bottom line was that no one, not even the hugely powerful, really knew, and everyone was just doing the best they could.
“Yes,” Sandy said. “That is true.”
“What is?” Jeff asked. “We didn’t say anything.”
Sandy pointed to me. “She did. And . . . I understand what you mean, and what you are comparing.”
Managed not to tell the powerful superconsciousness we were carefully negotiating with to shut up, but it took effort.
I will not tell them, Sandy said in my mind. Speaking to me in the same way ACE did. Or rather, the way ACE had, before he’d been funneled into Jamie. I understand the need for . . . discretion.
Good to know. So, this has been, at least up until now, a lot less horrible than it could have been. Why is that?
I am not here to punish anyone on Earth for anything, not even for giving ACE a name. Or . . . giving me a name. You are the one who named . . . Lilith, are you not?
Wow, that little battle made your radars? Nice to be right. I hoped.
You would be surprised. Though, possibly not. But yes, we all know of the battle. You and ACE defeated Lilith and the woman she resided in, in part because you named . . . her.
Look, I don’t really ‘get’ the naming thing, why it, to you guys at least, makes you weaker. But to us, it makes you more tangible, more real.
That is the danger. For us, it is the danger.
Oh. You know, I didn’t do it to hurt you. Or ACE. Though I did do it to beat Lilith.
I believe you have a saying, all is fair in love and war.
Yes, we do.
We understand that. I . . . understand that.
So, what happens now?
&n
bsp; Now . . . does your friend, the brilliant one you are so proud of, does he speak for everyone?
He speaks for those of us who matter. I sincerely hoped.
Hope. That is a very human thing.
Right, ACE could read my deeper thoughts. Of course Sandy could, too. Is that bad?
No. It is . . . endearing.
Ah. Do you feel the passage of time as we do?
No. For us time moves more slowly and more quickly at the same time. I cannot explain it to you, your minds cannot grasp the concept, and that is not an insult. This was purposefully left out of your creation and kept out of your evolution. It is a . . . dangerous concept for younger races.
Do you see everyone, like ACE does?
Yes. It was why I entered all of you when I first arrived. I have observed you all in the time I have been here. For you, it only seems as though it has been hours. For me? It has been millions of your lifetimes, while still happening in those same hours you comprehend.
The form influenced the thing and observation created affinity. Sandy had been here, observing like ACE had. But for a much shorter time. However, I’d given it a name, a name it didn’t like, but a name, nonetheless. And it had taken a form, a humanoid form. And then it had spent time, more time than I could comprehend, observing things with names and similar forms. And then I’d given it another name, a name it liked. A name it wanted to hold onto.
Why did you have a change of heart so much faster than ACE?
ACE was created. I was . . . formed.
Born? Or created out of the cosmos?
We are all made of stars. But as you would understand it, yes, I was born. ACE was, therefore, more controlled. ACE had to fight against programming. I am reacting to indoctrination, to training. But I was born with free will.
Ah, the old free will thing. It’s a biggie out there in the superpowered cosmos, isn’t it?
It is a, as you say, biggie right here, too.
You see ACE as a lesser being to you, don’t you?
Before, yes. Now? No. Now I understand the dilemma ACE has faced all this time.
What dilemma is that?
The dilemma of loving those you want to protect. It makes the desire to interfere infinitely stronger.
Parents go through that. I want to protect Jamie from everything, and so does Jeff. But we can’t.
Even ACE cannot. But I now understand why the deal was struck for ACE to return to your daughter instead of . . . Paul.
Paul is used to sharing headspace, you know. Wondered if Gower had also gone into Sandy in order to show the superconsciousness that his head was a safe haven. Probably.
Ah. And now you make the offer you know I will find hardest to resist. I understand why ACE calls you his leader.
You can’t take on a real human form, can you? That’s why you’re utilizing the elements around you wherever you’re ‘landing.’
Correct. None of us can attain solid forms such as yours. Unless we co-join. Some have done that in the past. They corrupted and were hailed as gods. Some were good. Some were not. All interfered.
ACE was careful about the interference. And neither ACE nor Paul has declared themselves a god. Jamie won’t either.
You cannot say that for Jamie. Not yet. However, if ACE will do with her as he did with Paul, then you should not need to fear. And, I agree about Paul. I have looked into his heart and mind and he is a good person.
Yes, he is. And ACE will protect Jamie, and himself. So, some of that ‘become a god’ thing will be dependent upon what you and your people do, you know.
I know. And I . . . will consider your offer made on Paul’s behalf.
He’ll make it himself if you need or want him to.
No. Not just now. He sounded slightly evasive.
Ah, you and Paul were talking about this while we were inside you, weren’t you?
We may have been, yes. However, I must take the time to think about the ramifications, because once that decision is made, it cannot be rescinded.
So, speaking of which, what happens now?
Now, I will allow you, and ACE, to continue on without my interference.
Wow. Thank you.
You say that as if it were not a foregone conclusion.
Sandy, dude, I take nothing for granted.
Yes. It is one of your greatest strengths. That, your almost suicidal bravery, and your ability to trust those that the evidence says you should not.
Is that a clue of some kind? Or just a backhanded compliment?
I suppose you will find out. I will . . . see you later, Kitty.
Later as in soonish in our terms, or later as in a long time from now?
Both.
Why are you leaving?
Because I have much to consider. And you have much to deal with. Soon. In your terms. Very soon, and very much.
Oh good. Or, as we call it, routine.
CHAPTER 38
YES. I understand why ACE wants to interfere. The urge is overwhelming.
Oh, give in to it and give me a little hint.
You are wasting great time, worry, and effort on a foregone conclusion.
Wow. That’s your idea of a hint? Was one of your kind the Sphinx or something in a previous millennium?
Possibly so.
And with that, Sandy dissipated in front of us. The sand blew away, but this time, there was no tornado or backward dark film phenomenon. So either Sandy didn’t need to do that and it had all been for show—always a real possibility—or his idea of “gone” was actually doing more Earth Walkabout.
Had the distinct impression that, in addition to other things, Sandy had discovered a sense of humor. Hoped that was a good thing, though that hint of his was a lot more like what Algar liked to pass off as help than anything else.
“What the hell?” Jeff asked. “It says it understands us and then leaves?”
Realized that Sandy had done what Algar normally did—moved me out of time to have a conversation. But it was something ACE had never done.
Whether that was good, bad, or indifferent, it didn’t matter right now, though. I knew a “you’re about to be attacked” hint when I heard one.
“We’re about to be attacked.”
“By what?” Christopher asked.
“By whom?” Chuckie added.
“By something or someone we’ve spent a lot of time, worry, and effort on, when whatever they or it are is a foregone conclusion. I think.”
Chuckie cocked his head at me. “Repeat the clue exactly.”
Shrugged. “Okay. ‘You are wasting great time, worry, and effort on a foregone conclusion.’ That was it. Oh, and that we’ll have much to deal with, in our terms, very soon. Which I’m pretty damned sure means we’re about to be attacked. So, um, battle stations. And all that.”
“You told us not to bring in military,” Reader pointed out. “So we have nothing to battle with.”
“We are here,” Rahmi said, sounding offended.
“And we have our battle staffs,” Rhee added, sounding just as offended.
“I meant the rest of us,” Reader said quickly. “We need to get some better weapons than we have on us.”
“Too late,” Tim said, as he pointed northwest, toward the mountains, nearish to where the exploded bunker had been. There was a road that went through the mountains, and something was coming down it. Something that was stirring up a lot of dust.
A-C eyesight was better than human, but that something was still far away and small. We all squinted. “I can’t tell what that is,” Jeff said. Everyone else agreed that they couldn’t, either.
“Should we investigate up close?” Rahmi asked, now sounding eager. For the princesses, this probably hadn’t been a very exciting mission so far.
However, I didn’t like separating when we had no idea of what was going on. “No, not yet.”
The princesses sighed, but moved forward and faced the oncoming whatever it was, clearly in order to be the first line of defense.
“I wish we had binoculars. I’d like to have a clear idea of what’s heading toward us, as opposed to sending someone from the team to scout.”
“I could do it, but whatever, hang on,” Christopher said. He zipped off.
“Seriously, baby, why not let the girls take a look?” Jeff said. “They’re as fast as we are, and what could hurt them?”
“Oh, fine. Rahmi, Rhee, stay together, don’t engage, just zip there, observe fast, and come back to report.”
The princesses shot Jeff a look of gratitude and raced off. They returned before Christopher.
“There is a herd of animals running toward us,” Rahmi said, sounding like this was, once again, not the excitement she’d been hoping for. “We don’t know what kind.”
“Big animals?” Gower asked.
“About the size of Duke,” Rhee said. Duke was my parents’ Labrador who was, like the rest of their dogs and cats, living with us in the Embassy. “They have tusks and what look like quills.”
Christopher returned, binoculars for all in hand. “I have Home Base on alert, just in case whatever’s coming is dangerous.”
“Looks dangerous,” Tim said. “Though I’m not sure if this is an attack or the filming of a show from the Discovery Channel.”
Sure enough, the binoculars provided proof that there were a ton of animals all stampeding down and out of the mountains. Lots and lots of animals. As near as I could tell, all the same kind.
“Are those . . . wild pigs?” Jeff asked.
“No. They’re not pigs. I’m pretty sure they’re javelinas, or peccaries if you’re not from Arizona.”
“Distant cousins to pigs, in that sense, and hippos,” Chuckie said. “They’re native to the Southwest, and other parts of the country, too.”
“Wasn’t Natural Studies great? God, I miss college—nothing crazy ever happened there.”
“You and I remember college very differently,” Chuckie said.
“Everyone’s a critic.”
“Glad I put Home Base on alert,” Christopher said. “Those hava-things look nasty.”