Camp Alien

by Gini Koch

  “That’s not me.”

  “Well, we know that now,” Jeff said. “But we didn’t know it then.”

  “So, someone sent this and you immediately did what they asked? What did they ask? And why didn’t anyone read the image? Christopher was around.”

  “The message was that they had killed Richard in order to impress upon the rest of you that they were serious,” Chuckie said. “We were told that you were out of the country via gate technology, and that the video had been blocked so that no empath or imageer could read it.”

  “Christopher and I couldn’t read it,” Jeff said. “Therefore, that seemed truthful.”

  Refrained from comment. Just barely. “When did you get this?”

  “You were kidnapped, and almost immediately the press was contacting us to ask where you were and saying that they’d been tipped that the First Lady had been kidnapped,” Reader said. “We activated Francine and had her and Jeff do a photo op outside.”

  “Then we got this,” Chuckie said, nodding toward the screen. “We were told that because we’d lied about your whereabouts you were going to pay for it.”

  Interesting, though not surprising. “What else did they want?”

  “The immediate release of Stephanie Valentino,” Reader said.

  “Who asked for the phones to be shut down?”

  This question caused the three of them to look really uncomfortable. “Your captors suggested it,” Jeff said finally. “But it made sense, since we thought it would protect us and you.”

  I was back to wondering if these guys, the three men I thought knew me and understood me best, actually knew me at all.

  “We couldn’t risk anyone who wasn’t cleared sharing that you were actually nowhere around,” Jeff added, sounding kind of desperate. “And we had to leave the line free for your kidnappers.”

  “Wow. Just . . . wow. I literally don’t know where to start. I mean, I see it, it looks like me. But since we just had a Kitty-Bot attack not two days ago, I’d have thought one of you would have suggested that this was faked.”

  “There’s more intel and data than we’ve shown you,” Chuckie said, also sounding and looking pretty stoic, though I knew that he was upset because I knew him so well. Hoped this wasn’t going to trigger a mood swing and migraine session and wondered if that was a side benefit that Stephanie and her team were hoping for.

  Of course, they could be hoping for Jeff to have an empathic collapse, too. Should have probably had all of my team get emotional blockers from Kendrick before we’d taken this particular meeting, but too late now.

  “We’re unbelievably sorry,” Reader said, not even trying to hide the fact that he was upset. “Does that help at all?”

  “Sort of.” Not really.

  Jeff closed his eyes. “No, it doesn’t.” He opened his eyes. “I’ve felt you truly terrified, and it was when Leventhal Reid had you in the desert and you were convinced you were going to die in a horrific manner. And, before you say it, you didn’t cry and beg. You fought, but you refused to let him make you helpless.”

  Chuckie jerked. “Oh. Oh, God, Kitty. I’m sorry. None of us were trying to make you into a victim, in our minds or in reality. We just . . .”

  “Panicked,” Reader finished.

  “That is why I’m upset,” I said quietly, for which I was quite proud of myself. “I didn’t cry and beg when the most terrifying man I’ve ever met had me. And I’m beyond hugely offended that the three of you, and Tim, all felt that I was crying and begging now. I’m not sure what male fantasy of me that video fulfilled for all of you, but if I’m honest, I’m more disappointed than angry.” Well, now, at least. “I thought you guys knew me. And the others. None of us have ever rolled over and begged.”

  Got up close to the screen and examined the image. “Play it again.” Raj hit the rewind and we watched me play helpless. Really and truly looked like me. “Huh. I didn’t think Stephanie had an android of me ready.”

  White joined me. “I believe that’s a Kitty-Bot. There are some slight differences around the eyes and hairline from the androids we’ve seen.”

  “Which begs so many questions, doesn’t it?” Stephanie had certainly had the android creation room for me ready, but that hadn’t indicated there was a Kitty-Droid ready to go. “I want to see everything, not just this impressive fake of me acting like I never have. All of it. Show us. Oh, and then, in case you’re interested, I’ll be happy to share all that we did while being kidnapped. You know, like rescue ourselves, rescue our missing teams, then go and rescue the other missing teams. That sort of thing. Things that the chick in this video would never even think of doing, let alone manage.”

  Raj hit another button and a different screen came to life. This one had a man’s voice sharing pretty much exactly what the guys had said—Richard was already dead, I and the others would be if his demands weren’t met, he wanted Stephanie released immediately, no contact with anyone regarding this, we couldn’t escape because there were tons of people pointing guns at us off-screen, and anyone searching meant immediate dismemberment that they’d get to watch.

  “So, where’s the scene of them taking a digit or a limb?”

  “How did you know?” Jeff asked, sounding strained. Worked to keep my hurt, anger, and disappointment in him and the others to a minimum. Doubted that having to give him adrenaline right now was going to be good for anyone. And the last place I wanted him was in isolation.

  “You ordered Len and Malcolm both not to search for me, which is hugely out of character for you, at least for the you I’m used to. So, let’s see it.”

  “It’s graphic,” Raj said.

  “It’s a freaking movie, gang. It’s not me. It’s not even a real person. Corn syrup with red dye number two is what the blood is, trust me.”

  Another screen leaped to life. Sure enough, there I was, losing all five fingers, then my hand, then the arm to the elbow. Slowly, done for the supreme effect of torture and gore, finished off with a hot poker to cauterize the wound. By the end of that, I was a shrieking, blubbering, incoherent mess. Interesting. Whoever had made this video had paid attention to Hollywood for sure, because I recognized some techniques.

  Turned away from the screen. “You know why Reid could hurt me?”

  The room was quiet. Serene broke the silence. “You weren’t enhanced.”

  “Bingo. I am enhanced now, but amazingly enough we’ve managed to keep that kind of hidden from most of our enemies. I’d like you all to note one very important thing—the Kitty-Bot there is not actually being contained. Because they didn’t have to do that, since she’s programmed for an Impressive Hollywood Death Scene. If that had really been me, I’d have kicked up the hyperspeed and handled things, guns or no guns.”

  “Do you recognize the voice in the recording?” Chuckie asked hopefully.

  “Nope. No idea who that is. He sounds old, though. Like older than my Papa Abe or Nono Dom old.”

  White jerked. “Play the message again, please.” Raj did. White listened intently.

  So did I. This time around, noted that the speaker was in love with a catchphrase. Wasn’t what the Mastermind had loved, but still, it was repeated a lot. Couldn’t argue—I had things I liked to say frequently, too. But it wasn’t one I’d heard any of our enemies say before, at least not repeatedly. Wondered if it was to throw us off, make us think he wasn’t whoever he actually was. But since no one seemed to have any idea of the speaker’s identity, probably not.

  “Missus Martini, I believe I remember what about the labs we visited today was so familiar. Just as this voice is familiar, but familiar in a way I don’t recognize. It’s the speech patterns that are familiar. However, I’m going to need Paul’s help to retrieve the memory. Or Abigail’s.”

  “I’ll do it, Uncle Richard,” Abigail said. “Just in case we’re still our own nation and all
that.” Was pretty sure she was joking, but Jeff, Chuckie, and Reader all winced.

  Gower sighed. “You realize that we need to put aside personal anger right now, don’t you?”

  She sniffed at all of them, her big brother in particular. “Almost everyone in this room who came in with us was on that helicarrier when you almost allowed it to be blown up. Kitty’s not blaming you, Paul, but I am—your job as our Supreme Pontifex is to try to solve issues like this.”

  “This was the peaceful solution.” Though Gower didn’t sound like he totally believed that himself.

  Abigail rolled her eyes. “I’m with Kitty—do you know her, or the rest of us, at all?”

  White sat down and Abigail stood behind him, her fingers gently on his temple. “This may take a while,” White said. “It’s a very old memory.”

  “Okay, while we wait, I want someone somewhere making dinner for us. We have a lot of people who haven’t had a normal meal in a long time and if they’re not at Dulce getting medical care and, therefore one assumes, decent food, they’re in here with me and, like me, would like a meal.” Had to figure that if I was hungry, everyone who’d been a prisoner in some way was starving, especially those held at Forest Haven. “Crap.”

  “What?” Chuckie asked.

  “We forgot to have anyone take over Stephanie’s Lair at Forest Haven. For some reason, those warheads aimed at us wiped that to-do out of my mind.”

  “We’ll handle it,” Chuckie said.

  Decided to let him have that one because the mistake of forgetfulness was mine. “If she’s out, she’s already gone back, taken what she might want, and left again. How long has she been out?”

  “Since we saw that,” Jeff nodded toward the dismemberment scene. “Look, I know you’re mad at us, and I get it. But I thought it was you. It sounded like you.”

  “No, it doesn’t. It sounds like my voice. But it doesn’t sound like me. Speech patterns matter. Cliff Goodman likes to say ‘part to play’ so much that his minions say it now, too. It’s part of how we figured out he was the Mastermind. The old dude threatening to kill the Hostage Kitty-Bot there has a figure of speech, too. He likes to say ‘imagine the possibilities’ as if he’s working for Mattel on their latest New Barbie launch. He said it at least five times in that one threatening message. That’s a heavy reliance on a phrase. But the Hostage Kitty-Bot said nothing like I would. Not one, single thing.”

  “Got it!” Abigail said. “Thanks for that, Kitty, that phrase triggered the memory enough for me to grab it.” She stopped looking triumphant and color drained from her face. “Oh dear.”

  CHAPTER 85

  “WELL, THAT GOT the room’s attention. What’s wrong, Abby?”

  “Uncle Richard knows who the speaker is. But . . . it seems impossible.”

  “I have it now,” White said. He, too, looked ashen. And shocked. “I also want to say that it’s not possible, but I’ve learned over the years that anything is possible, even people returning from the dead.”

  “Who just resurrected for you?”

  White sighed. “My father’s old adjunct.”

  “Wouldn’t he be dead by now?”

  “No, he was young.” White shook his head as if to clear it. “Let me start from the beginning. I was very young the last time I ever saw or heard him. He was young, too, though. Probably just in his early twenties, maybe even late teens.”

  “And he was your father’s adjunct?”

  “Yes, because he was incredibly talented in terms of science and math and creation. He wasn’t being groomed as my father’s replacement—I was. However, he was definitely helping my father lead our people farther into the sciences than we’d ever gone before. And he always said ‘imagine the possibilities’ when they were discussing science and, well, anything, really.”

  We all exchanged the Oh No look. “I’m going to hate this, aren’t I?” Jeff asked.

  “Probably.” White cleared his throat. “I was named for him.”

  “His name is Richard?” I wasn’t used to A-Cs utilizing names repeatedly. Humans seemed more into that.

  “No, Trevor. I was given his name as my middle name. After my mother was murdered, Lucinda and I spent quite a bit of time with him, both with my father and without. Trevor didn’t seem to mind when it was just we children with him, either. He always had something for us to amuse ourselves with and never did anything untoward. When my father remarried, we children visited him less frequently because our stepmother was there to care for us, and though Trevor still came over to our home, it wasn’t as often as it had been. But . . . I thought he was killed when my stepmother was murdered.”

  “If that’s him on the message, he wasn’t.”

  “Correct. But I remember . . . my father was so upset at losing another wife. But losing Trevor didn’t seem to upset him at all. That was when I realized that my father had been altered somehow.”

  “Let me just take the Megalomania Leap. Trevor didn’t die. Trevor took off for Earth. And your father knew about it.”

  “Why would he do that?” Christopher asked. “If he was so tight with our grandfather, why leave him alone?”

  Chuckie sat up straight. “To pave the way. You all had gate technology longer than you’ve been here.”

  “Much longer,” White agreed. “We created it so that we could easily travel to the other planets in the system without wasting resources. Gate use for on-planet reasons was a later refinement.”

  “Again, I learn something new every single day. So, I think Chuckie’s right—Trevor comes out here first. Like . . . like Alfred or Robin going to set up the Vacation Bat Cave for Batman.”

  “Makes sense,” Reader said. “You think he’s the one who found the underground tunnels?”

  Thought about Bizarro World. The Alfred there who was Jeff’s father here had been the only alien on Earth, and he’d definitely gone searching for a hiding place. And A-Cs were burrowers, so he’d looked underground. “Yes, I think we can go with that assumption. So, he gets things set up for Yates—things like a business that can take off as soon as Yates arrives.”

  “Why would they assume Yates would be exiled?” Abigail asked. “The Royal Family had already tried to kill him twice, right?”

  “Right, and they weren’t succeeding. A-Cs like efficiency, you know that. Let’s say that Yates and Trevor had insider information. I mean, it’s not like only Earth utilizes a spy network.”

  “There’s definitely one on Alpha Four,” Chuckie confirmed. “And per Leonidas, it’s been around for centuries.”

  White nodded. “Humans didn’t invent deceit, sadly.”

  “So, no one’s mentioned Trevor, ever.”

  “I haven’t thought of him in decades, really,” White said.

  “The memories were buried deeply,” Abigail confirmed.

  “Right, well, I didn’t actually mean you, Richard. I’ve spent a lot of time up close and personal with most of the Megalomaniac League, and no one’s ever said there was some adjunct guy hanging around doing the laundry.”

  “He wasn’t like that,” White said. “He was a creator, a tinkerer, if you will. He created the prototypes and then my father had our people work on them. Trevor is who likely came up with the idea for the ozone shield. I don’t believe he created the gates, but he certainly refined them. He favored open laboratories like the ones we were in—clean white walls and glass partitions with a great deal of space. He felt it allowed the creativity to flow without being obstructed and also allowed him to work on multiple projects at once.”

  “Leonardo,” Lizzie said.

  “Excuse me?” Jeff asked.

  “Leonardo da Vinci,” she explained for the Slow of Wit in the room, which I had to admit my husband and best guy friends were amongst right now. “He created, like, all this stuff, totes amazing things, especially for his day and age
. But he didn’t mean for them to be used for bad, even though a lot of them were. He just couldn’t stop creating, even when he tried.”

  “Does that sound like Trevor the Tinkerer?” I asked White.

  “It does. My father was quite proud of him. I’d venture to say that he considered him more like a son.” He looked down. “More like the son he wanted than I believe I ever was.”

  “And thank God for that, Richard. I think I can speak for every person on Earth when I say that we’re all thankful you’re nothing like your father ever was. But was Trevor an Apprentice or even a Mastermind himself?”

  “No,” White said slowly. “He never craved the limelight. He insisted that my father claim the credit for his inventions. I can just remember them arguing about it, with my father wanting him to have his rightful due. Trevor was uninterested in that. As Elizabeth just compared, he was more like Leonardo.”

  Managed not to make a Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle comment, but as with so many things this evening, it took effort. “So, we have the Tinkerer here. And I think we can safely say he’s still alive and well. For all we know he’s created an antiaging pill or chamber or something. God knows who he’s been assisting from the shadows all these years, but I’m willing to bet it was everyone against us.”

  “Maybe some for us,” Christopher said. “If he really cares more about the creation than anything else.”

  “Possibility noted. He’s definitely working with the great-granddaughter of his former benefactor, presumably happily and willingly. And, based on what triggered Richard’s walk down Memory Lane, he’s also helping out those working on the Strauss Initiative. Meaning he’s playing whatever game suits him. So, right now, I’d like us all to take a moment and think very hard and very honestly about Stephanie.”

  “Why?” Jeff asked. “And before you yell at me, I’m fully on the side of Stephanie’s not a good person anymore, based on this entire day. They clearly had this contingency plan in place for the next time she was captured. And it was just as clearly set up to literally torture me and anyone else who cares about you. I’m still having to process all of my and everyone else’s emotions from seeing that video, let alone the rest of the day, and there are no blocks in the world that can keep how angry you and the others were with us from me. I also appreciate very much that all of you are trying not to be mad at us now. Most of you are still upset, but I can feel you trying to not be, and I’m grateful.”