by Gini Koch
“Sounds good. I’ll coordinate through Vance if that plan needs to change in any way.”
“Gotcha. Oh, James, before I forget—any movement on the robotics logo conundrum?”
“Yes, since we have more to go on now. We’ve found what looks like a variety of initials all tied together. We’re still untangling it, but the assumption is that anyone who worked on it added their initials or logo design in. Titan Security and YatesCorp logos are there, for certain, which makes sense. But, as with the Gaultier logo, those are well hidden.”
“So it’s the usual suspects,” Tim said. “Nothing new, nothing exciting, either.”
“Look for something that indicates LaRue or Madeleine Cartwright. Or even Monica Strauss. One or all of them were involved with what Eugene got, I think.”
“I won’t ask where your guess is coming from, other than the obvious,” Reader said. “No idea if we can spot what LaRue’s signature would be.”
“Ask John.” Jerked. “Oh. You know what? Ask John to look at the whole thing. There’s a really good chance that whatever the writing is could be in the Anciannas alphabet.”
“Good idea.” Reader grinned. “See? This is yet another reason I wish we were rolling with you.”
Hugged him. “Me, too. But for right now, we can’t. So you do your thing and I’ll do mine and together we’ll save the world.”
“Just like always.”
“Or,” Tim added, “as we call it, routine.”
Gadhavi offered me his arm as we all chuckled. “Are you ready, Madam First Lady?”
“For whatever they throw at us, Mister Gadhavi the Honorable.”
He grinned. “You are the only person I know who doesn’t fear being their full self around me.”
Chuckie snorted. “That’s because she likes to live on the edge. The rest of us like living.” He nodded to Gadhavi. “Don’t hesitate to contact me or Angela immediately if you feel there’s real danger. You, more than many others, I trust to make an objective decision about your and Kitty’s welfare.”
Gadhavi smiled. “Despite what you just said, you, too, are also your full self around me. So you, too, must enjoy living on the edge.” He shook his head. “Clifford lied to me about all of you. It has been simple to prove. And because of his disloyalty and your help in stopping him, and all of your help, I promise you that you can all be yourselves around me. I am, as they say, now on your team, and teammates help each other and are allowed to be relaxed with each other.”
Managed not to shout Go Team Grizzly but it took a lot of effort. Instead I stepped forward, arm in arm with a grizzly bear who’d chosen to sheath his claws. And they said politics was boring.
CHAPTER 50
GADHAVI AND I joined the others without incident, which, for the past day and a half, was something of a miracle.
Wasim and Naveed both eyed Gadhavi, who gave Wasim an extremely formal bow. “Your Highness, it is an honor to accompany you and Queen Katherine.”
Wasim seemed shocked, but he lurched into Royal Action and bowed his head in return. “We appreciate your assistance.”
“Kids, you ready?” I asked the Valentinos before any more bowing or protocol could be perpetrated.
“Prepped and enthused,” Claire said.
Anthony shot a look at Lizzie. “You sure you don’t want me to help at the Intergalactic School, Aunt Kitty? Wasim might be a better choice to go back to Sidwell.”
“I’m sure,” I said firmly. Wasim was not going to be out of my sight. He’d been here less than two days and had already seen more action than he’d probably experienced in his entire lifetime.
“You’re always trying to get out of work,” Sidney said. “Not today, little man.”
“I’m not a little man anymore,” Anthony muttered.
“The youngest always gets the brunt of the teasing,” Gadhavi said. “But never fear. The youngest many times will use that and become the most powerful.”
Decided I’d table asking Gadhavi where he fell in his family’s birth order for a less stressful time. “Great. Where is our loyal press corps?”
“Already there,” Vance said. “We figured it would be better to let them go ahead and get set up. Plus, from what we’ve heard, it’s been extremely quiet and without incident over there, so it’s a good opportunity for some positive press.”
“Where’s Bellie?”
“In your offices, with Nancy, who is staying on-site with the rest of your team, most of whom never want to leave the White House complex again, just in case.”
“Good on Bellie’s location and the team’s decision to take a breather. You’re staying here, too.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I think I need someone here who can handle the negative press that’s likely frothing at our gates. Colette is great, but this is going to require a human with your kind of skills and you know it. Besides, you need to take care of that shiner you acquired.”
Vance sighed. “If you insist.” He brightened up. “But since you won’t be here, the White House should be quiet, so that’s nice.”
“Hater. Anyway, I’m seriously going to be looking to see if we should transfer the kids to the Intergalactic School. If this first day was any indication, we’re really not wanted at Sidwell.”
“Missus Paster contacted me about that,” Vance said. “She’s worried that you’ll want to pull all the kids and spent time stressing that Sidwell is normally not a hotbed of people rioting over baked goods. She definitely doesn’t want you to leave the school.”
“Give it a chance,” Wasim said quietly. “The first impression isn’t always the right one.”
“Did you like it there?”
He shrugged. “No more or less than I’ve liked any new school. No more or less than I liked my first hours here. But if I’d judged America on my first hours I would be running home to Bahrain the moment you weren’t looking.”
Gadhavi nodded. “The Prince speaks wisely. And I will guarantee his safety, as well as your ward’s. At either school.”
Chose not to question this, or point out that no one could guarantee that, head of G-Company or not. Instead, did one last look around. “Not that I mind that they’re likely taking a breather, but where’s my Secret Service and Field security teams?”
“Other than Manfred, still prepping to go over to Sidwell with the Valentinos,” Vance replied. “You’ll fall under Jeff’s protection details the moment you’re there, and Len and Kyle are there as well, so you should be fine. Manfred will be here momentarily to handle the Kitty wrangling.”
“And I’ll be along as well, Missus Martini,” White said.
“Sounds good.” Pulled my earbuds out, plugged them into my phone so I could get calls if need be, and put them in my ears. “Hey, the smartest guy in this room suggested trying music to make a gate transfer easier on my stomach,” I said to the “really?” looks I was getting. Wasim looked flattered. “This is my first opportunity to test if it works for me.”
Went to my music. Sure enough, there was a Listen Like Thieves playlist here, too. Hit play and was rewarded with “Ready For Action” by The Crystal Method. Tunes going, almost everyone here that needed to be, dressed for success. Slid my phone into my back pocket and I was good to go.
True to Vance’s promise, Manfred arrived now. He had a quick word with the Secret Service and Vance, then he stepped through the gate. I followed.
Wasim was on to something. While the trip was still nauseating, it wasn’t nearly as bad with music going. Hoped Algar would create a Gates Playlist for me, but didn’t count on it.
Stepped out not into a bathroom nor a broom closet nor a creepy basement. Managed not to faint from the shock. Looked like we were in a normal-sized, well-lit room that had only noncloaked gates in it. Reminded me a little bit of the Dome bu
t done in miniature, so to speak.
Len and Kyle were waiting for us. “We let you out of our sight for ten minutes and see what happens?” Kyle said with a grin.
“Hilarious. True, of course.”
“You okay, Kitty?” Len asked. “And Lizzie?” he added as she stepped through.
“Yeah, we are.”
“Totes okay.” Lizzie looked around. “Where are we?”
“This is the North American Gate Room,” Len said. “Each continent has its own room.”
“Bet Antarctica’s is the smallest.”
“No,” Kyle said. “We have an expectation of more alien races coming, many of which will need a frigid environment.”
“More learning. Goody.”
Naveed was the next to exit, then Wasim came through, earbuds in. Unlike me, he took them out and put them in his pocket. “Mister Gadhavi needed to take a call from Mister Reader. He and Mister White will be along shortly.”
“Gotcha. We’ll wait.”
“Why is Mister Gadhavi coming along?” Len asked.
“Because he wants to.” I mean, there was no other answer, really.
“I see.” Len and Kyle exchanged the “we’re screwed” look.
“He’s coming to protect Queen Katherine,” Wasim said.
Was about to ask Wasim why he was Queening me when I’d told him not to unless we weren’t alone. Then again, with Gadhavi around, technically it wasn’t “just family.” Well, until Gadhavi moved himself into the Embassy’s Zoo section to be closer to Kozlow and get to know Chernobog. The way things were going, I expected to be calling him Cousin Ali Baba within a month. Not that this was a bad thing, and so much better than calling him Enemy Mine.
Of course, Wasim might be trying to pass the boys a clue, the clue likely being “remind Gadhavi that Kitty has power, too.” In which case, Wasim was right on.
My music changed to “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” by the Pet Shop Boys, and Gadhavi stepped through the gate. Nice to know that Algar felt Gadhavi was helping us out for more than altruistic reasons.
“Is everything okay?” I asked Gadhavi as White came through the gate.
“Yes. Commander Reader needed me to smooth certain paths for his team. It’s done, and he asked that I tell you not to worry.”
“That admonition has never worked in the history of the world, but I’m sure something will come by to distract me and so make it seem like it worked.”
“Which is victory, in that sense,” Gadhavi said.
“Good point.” Turned to the boys. “So, where’s Jeff?”
“We have no idea,” Len said cheerfully as they headed for the door. “We haven’t seen him for hours.”
CHAPTER 51
“UM, EXCUSE ME?”
Kyle grinned as he opened the door. “We’re not here to protect Jeff, Kitty. That’s the Secret Service’s job. We’re here to handle you.”
“I resent that.”
“Don’t,” White said, as Manfred went out ahead of us. “The boys haven’t been here all that long.”
“They’re obviously yanking your chain, Kitty,” Lizzie said as she breezed past me and headed after Manfred, White following her.
“Everyone’s a critic.”
Gadhavi offered me his arm again. “I look forward to seeing this campus now that it’s completed.”
Took his arm. “Lead on, Macduff.”
All the gate rooms exited into a security setup very much like the one at the Dome. We were verified as being us, walked through an actual metal detector that detected many things in addition to metal, were given badges that identified us as guests, and handed a map. The A-Cs thought of everything.
Of course, this place was huge and not everyone had hyperspeed. Maps were a wise choice. The badges were color coded to identify whether the wearer was a student, teacher, faculty, parent or guardian, other family member, press, non-teaching or administrative staff, important dignitary, or security.
Len, Kyle, Manfred, and Naveed received red badges indicating they were security. The rest of us scored the dignitary color of purple. It was thrilling to have a different color on, even if it was just a small plastic rectangle, though my music changed to Shania Twain’s “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” so clearly Algar merely found this to be a waste of time. Hater.
The gate rooms were, keeping to the A-C’s burrowing roots, on the bottom floor of the underground section, meaning we had a lot of levels to get through. And all of them were packed. Apparently we’d arrived during break between class periods.
Of course, within fifty feet of leaving the gate room I was lost. Mazes were not my thing. Figured Chuckie had already memorized the layout from studying the architectural plans for five minutes, but for me, places like this were super mazes and I was super lost in them.
“We should have asked for a guide.”
“Oh,” Kyle said. “We thought you’d want to see everything first.”
“Isn’t that what a guide does? Takes you to the stuff you want to see and all that?”
White chuckled. “I know the layout, Missus Martini, never fear. And I know where Jeffrey is—but he did suggest you tour the school before you join up with him, Rajnish, and Paul.”
White took point and the rest of us stuck close to him. Fortunately, Gadhavi had been given the Hyperspeed Dramamine because the school was huge. We used the slow form of hyperspeed—which always sounded like an oxymoron but wasn’t—to get through it, but even the slower speed was hard on humans. Also fortunately, my three Middle Eastern men didn’t object to holding hands with others, though Gadhavi made sure he was holding my hand and Wasim made even surer that he was holding Lizzie’s.
I’d been intimately involved in the alien incursion we’d had less than three months ago, and I’d been around a lot of the new aliens now housing on Earth. However, I’d been with adults, and only a handful of them at any one time. There were a lot more than a handful here.
We zipped through spacious hallways that kept to the A-C theme of really nice hospital/austere luxury hotel with a lot of educational and One Galaxy Together! signs, posters, and artwork all over. There were potentially more of these than there were classrooms and auditoriums, and there were a tonnage of those.
Apparently One Galaxy Together! was the Intergalactic School’s theme, since there were IGS: OGT and IGS/1GT logos on every kid somewhere, whether on their clothing, school supplies, backpacks, or all of the above, on the students who were really going all out for school spirit. The A-Cs seemed to have missed the whole mascot idea somewhere along the line, but slogans worked almost as well. My music switched to “Be True To Your School” by the Beach Boys, forcing me to control the Inner Hyena. Apparently Algar was as amused by the rampant school spirit as I was.
These happy propaganda hallways were filled with young people who looked like humanoid giant slugs, minotaurs, and honeybees, tree-people, sloths, lemurs, cloud-like manta rays all wearing some weird pod necklace, neon turtles, butterfly-fish, rat-sized cockroaches, and more besides. Along with a lot of A-Cs and other “pass for human” aliens like the Vata and those from Alphas Five and Six, we had other Alpha Centauri inhabitants represented, so we had humanoid cats, dogs, lizards, and a wide variety of Mustelidae including otters, skunks, and ferrets. Many of them were wearing caps with IGS on them.
There were adult versions of all of these and then some. “This reminds me of every spaceport, space bar, or space town scene in any science fiction movie you’d care to name.”
“Isn’t it wonderful?” White asked. “Peace on Earth, goodwill toward everyone.”
“We have tentative peace that could end at any moment and, as you know, there are many with no goodwill toward anyone in this school, yourselves included,” Gadhavi pointed out.
“I know,” White said. “But this gives me hope. The futu
re looks much brighter than it has.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way.” Didn’t want to be the voice of doom, but I was far too used to things blowing up in our faces to let ten minutes at the shiny new school make me let my guard down.
“This place looks so cool,” Lizzie said wistfully.
Wasim didn’t reply—he was too busy looking around at everyone and everything. “Amazing.”
Heaved an internal sigh. I’d prefer them all to be here, too, where I knew we had A-C Security and Field agents every fifty feet. Of course, I’d also prefer to be here, full-time, rather than FLOTUSing around D.C. But duty called and not just for me and Jeff. Not for the first time I recognized the sacrifices families made for one person’s ambition. Of course, Jeff hadn’t wanted any of this, but that kind of made it worse—none of us truly wanted to be here, we just knew we needed to be and so did what we had to in order to protect and serve as many people as we could.
We reached ground level and stepped outside. It wasn’t even noon here, which was easy to see without consulting Mr. Watch because the sun wasn’t directly overhead. It was warm, much warmer than D.C., and I heaved a happy sigh.
“You like the heat?” Gadhavi asked.
“I’m a desert rat, so yeah, I do.”
He chuckled. “We truly have much in common.”
As my music changed to “Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay)” by *NSYNC, I was saved from having to give any reply to this by the arrival of some people who were actually Space Turtles—my favorite Turleens flew over and landed in front of us.
Turleens looked like a cross between turtles and Jiminy Cricket, with small shells on their backs that doubled as their space cocoons. They were about three feet high, came in green and yellow neon shades, and had two long fingers and one long opposable thumb at the end of their hands and two long toes on their feet. They weren’t as adorable as some of our alien friends, but they were definitely up there on the cuteness scale.