Alien Education

by Gini Koch

  “Works for me. Let’s gather up all her parts. I think we need to get her next door so they can see what’s going on inside. She’s in pretty good shape despite all that’s happened.”

  Jeff took Manfred’s phone and made some calls. Then he had Manfred zip off with Len and Kyle in tow. They returned driving two large bulldozers. Chose not to ask where those had come from—gates could move big things as well as small ones.

  While Len and Kyle started scooping up Lizzie-Bot remains, agents from Dulce assisted by tossing in Bots and Bot parts. Meanwhile, Manfred gathered the Kitty-Bot’s remains.

  “Be sure we keep them somewhere extremely secured,” I told him. “Not just the Kitty-Bot but all of them, on the off chance this was an even more bizarre and baroque plan than normal and they’re all just playing possum until we’re not paying attention.”

  “I’ll make sure it happens,” Manfred said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” any agents nearby who’d heard me confirmed, most of them in unison. Yes, so much better than the robotic version.

  Manfred and a couple other agents who were helping him carry the Kitty-Bot’s parts zipped off as Christopher joined us. “I understand you had a casualty.” He tossed Jeff a new phone.

  Jeff caught it and grinned. “Thanks.”

  “Oh, we can’t have our President be without the means to be contacted. You and Kitty would just spend the entire time having sex.”

  “You don’t know us.”

  Christopher snorted at me. “Right. The flyboys are doing the same with the remains at the other side of the school and around the Science Center.” He indicated the bulldozers.

  “Did we open a John Deere dealership or something?”

  He managed a chuckle. “No, we just made an arrangement with that dealership in Arizona that we could borrow their rigs as needed. We pay them well for the last-minute rentals.”

  “That’s the way to get another win out of good ol’ Operation Defection Election. So, now what?”

  “Now,” Jeff said, “we get those who are locked up for their own safety, verify that no one in the school is hurt or panicked, and ensure that the press isn’t going to crucify us over this.”

  “You can stop worrying about anyone in the school reacting,” Oliver said. “Manfred and I checked the entire complex. We couldn’t find proof that anyone had noticed what was happening.”

  “How could they miss the explosions? Mossy and I heard them from over here.”

  “You two were outside at the time,” White said. “The building is extremely soundproofed. Our kind of soundproofing. And the shields were up.”

  “So is the Science Center and their shields were up, too and everyone felt and heard those missiles.”

  “Well, the school campus is so large that there are no classes or personnel in the section where we were yet,” Oliver explained. “And the shockwaves would have a challenge carrying as far as they’d need to, especially with the shielding up.”

  “It’s why we had Jeff do his presentation there,” Raj said. “That way we wouldn’t interfere with any classes or students.”

  “The shield went down due to the missile strikes.”

  “The shielding on that portion, yes,” Raj said. “We have separate shielding for each section within each side. It’s a fail-safe. The shielding only came down where the missiles hit. The rest of the shielding held.”

  Looked at Christopher. “I think we want to verify that this rosy belief is still true.”

  He nodded and zipped off. For Christopher’s speed level he was gone quite a while—five full minutes. We spent them forming a plan for the press, which was basically Jeff sharing that they couldn’t report on this due to it being a matter of national security and then confiscating all film and digital cards.

  We were discussing what to do with the remains of the busses and whether or not we wanted to try to see if we could salvage enough to determine what they’d been using that had caused our missiles to bounce back when Christopher returned. He had Gower, Lizzie, Wasim, Naveed, Jenkins, and Dion in tow.

  “I’m amazed, but Raj is right. Things in this section that took the strikes are shaken up but there’s no one in it, not even maintenance, and the only security are those guarding the emergency exit doors, and none of them were in the section when the attack started, so they only noticed once William had them go there. Well, no one but the people you guys locked up for their own protection.”

  “We wanted out once Uncle Christopher checked on us,” Lizzie said. “I wanted to kill all these things, but you guys totes already took care of it.” She sounded angry, disappointed, and relieved, all in one, and still seemed shaken, not that I could blame her.

  Put my arm around her and hugged her. She hugged me back. “No problem, you just saved us the trip to go get you guys and make sure you’re okay.”

  “And I insisted,” Gower said. “Pontifex ruling and all that.”

  Christopher shrugged. “No reason to leave you guys there anymore, so why do it? Otherwise, no one else seems to have noticed anything. A few students spotted the missile that blew up in the desert, but since the Turleens were seen going after it and then coming back seemingly unscathed and in full force, it was presumed to be a training exercise.”

  “Wow. Who’s in charge of the school? Because they’re amazingly trusting. Or amazingly calm in the face of seeing missiles fly by.”

  “Troidl,” Jeff replied.

  “Who?”

  “She’s one of the top Themnir and was in charge of education on their planet,” Christopher said, giving me a nice shot of Patented Glare #5. “As in, she ran education for every school on their planet from preschool up to advanced degrees, as we’d understand it, and they aren’t what you’d call automatons. So, we have the individual with the most experience running a large educational system as the principal of the Intergalactic School.” He shot me a look I was familiar with. Not a glare, but one I’d gotten from a lot of people during my Centaurion career.

  “I was supposed to already know this fact, wasn’t I?”

  “You were,” Jeff said. “But you’ve had other things to deal with. Speaking of which, Adam, Kristie, let’s get your camera crew and the rest of the press and make sure they aren’t doing things we don’t want.”

  Adam nodded. “Our cameraman especially.”

  “We have his equipment and all press are with Field agents,” Oliver said soothingly. “Don’t worry, he’s controlled right now.”

  “Yeah, I checked on them,” Christopher said. “All seems well. They have food and drinks, and it honestly seemed kind of like they’d turned it into a party. The press are getting really good face time with the dignitaries and vice versa. Seems like it’s working out.”

  “Speaking of, we need to get out of here as soon as we can so, you know, we can get ready for Marcia’s fundraiser party tonight.”

  “Good point,” Jeff said. He looked at Raj.

  Who shrugged. “We can take the press back to the White House with us. As for the other dignitaries, we can invite them to the fundraiser. They may see it as an honor.”

  “They will,” Jenkins said. “But I think we might want to stress that there could be, ah, action.”

  “It’s a fundraiser at a senator’s home,” Raj pointed out.

  “Kitty’s going to be there,” Christopher countered.

  “Oh, yes, good point.”

  “Thanks for the support, guys. So who’s betting on it actually going smoothly, show of hands?” No hands raised. “Haters. Likely accurate and all, but still.”

  “I cannot speak for those who are currently off doing other tasks,” Gadhavi said, “but my impression is that nothing goes smoothly for any of you. I look forward to the party. It should prove entertaining.”

  “Or deadly,” Christopher said.

  Gadhavi shrugg
ed. “What is life without a little risk?”

  Gower laughed. “Or, as we call it, routine.”

  CHAPTER 58

  SURE ENOUGH, press and dignitaries were handled easily. Everyone was happy to move their impromptu party over to the White House and then to the Kramer’s party. Let Vance know he needed to advise Marcia that she was getting a lot of foreign dignitaries attending. At least the day would go well for one person. Hopefully.

  The little damage the school took was fixed before we left, and the shields were reported regenerated and back up. The Turleens allowed the other aerial support aliens to take to the once-again friendly skies, and everyone went back onto patrol.

  The bus remains were gated over to Home Base so they’d have the fun of figuring out if there was anything salvageable. All Bot remains were confirmed secure, and the reverse engineering team was enjoying Christmas in September because these Bots were in pretty good shape. Apparently being trampled to “death” left the Bots in better condition than they normally arrived in.

  Lizzie was still furious, but I felt anger in this situation was wise, so didn’t do a lot to try to calm her down.

  The person who was focused on the calming her down part was Wasim. He seemed to be doing a reasonable job of it, too. She, in turn, was doing her best to reassure him that every day wasn’t like these past two. Wasn’t sure if he believed her—Naveed’s expression said that he certainly didn’t—but Wasim insisted that he wasn’t ready to run home to Bahrain, so chose to look at that as one for the win column.

  Christopher, all of our team who’d been outside, and Team Tough Guys joined us for the return, and Lizzie was definitely glad to see Siler, who kept his arm around her once they were together. He also spent quality time shooting the Keep Your Paws Off My Daughter look at Wasim. After all we’d been though so far, it was kind of refreshingly normal.

  Took five minutes and met Troidl. I was still having issues telling one Themnir from the other, but Troidl seemed competent. As it turned out, she had noticed what was going on, had verified that nothing was happening near any of the children and that the shields were up, and had been on the line with one of William’s team the entire time, in case she had to evacuate. She was quite clear that evacuation on the first day wasn’t what anyone wanted, but she’d been ready to do it if necessary. She also felt that the evacuation plan was sound, but agreed that security needed to be assigned on a permanent, 24/7 basis on all the emergency exit doors.

  Felt tremendously better, gave Troidl a hug, which was getting less icky the more Themnir I hugged, and we took off.

  The security system worked pretty much as it had coming in. We handed over our badges, verified we were still who we said we were, verified that those without badges were who they said they were, went through the metal detector again, and then it was straight on through the Nausea Machines.

  Had refused to take my earbuds out all this time just in case Algar had any more hints or warnings for me. He hadn’t, but I chose to go through the gate alone, in part because I needed to be the example for Lizzie right now. Turned my iPod on and, since “Mambo No. 5” was still up, mamboed my way through the gate. Was possibly the best gate transfer of my life.

  Took out my earbuds and put them and my phone into my purse as my team joined us at the Secret Service Offices. Wondered if we were going to need to make this area larger, since we seemed to be using it a lot for personnel transfers. A problem for Algar and another day, though.

  Amazingly enough, we’d gotten home at the same time as the kids who were still at Sidwell and their escorts. Timing was everything. Not that I could see the kids, not with all the people who were currently in here, but I could hear them, and they sounded like they’d had a good day.

  The Secret Service escorted all the visiting dignitaries and press out of here and across the Center Hall into the Diplomatic Reception Room, where they now became Antoinette’s problem. Jenkins, Oliver, and Dion went with them, some for the party atmosphere, some to keep an eye on their brethren, though Mrs. Maurer did give Bellie back to Oliver first, and in a way where the bird didn’t see Jeff and Jeff didn’t see the bird. Mrs. Maurer had earned herself a raise.

  “Mommy, Daddy, we had the best time!” Jamie shouted when she could finally see us. “Miss Lisa is so much fun and Louise is so smart!”

  Louise, who was holding Jamie’s hand, blushed. “The kids were great. They didn’t want to stop school after lunchtime, so we didn’t. Missus Paster says that if we’re all in agreement and amenable to it, we can have Early-Starters Kindergarten go for a full day.”

  “The Embassy kids are all used to being at school for hours, and they like it, so I’m good with it.”

  “I checked with the other parents already, including the ones with kids in the class that aren’t ours,” Louise said. “They all said what you did. So I’ll advise Missus Paster of the change. I think it alters the school’s fees, though.”

  “Whatever it is, it’s not a problem,” Jeff said as he picked Jamie up. “Now, let’s all go upstairs and you can tell us all about your day and then we’ll have an early dinner together before Mommy and I have to go to a grown-up party.”

  “Can’t I go too?” Jamie asked. The other kids echoed her request with enthusiasm.

  “No,” I said firmly. “You’ll need to be in bed so you can get a good night’s sleep for school tomorrow. All of you.”

  “Wasim and I are going,” Lizzie said. “But I agree that the younger kids need to stay home.” We all looked at her. “What? We’re going. Wasim is a prince. We’re both enrolled in the school you’re fundraising for. The Kramer kids will be there. Why not us?”

  “She has a point,” Vance said. “But no one younger than Lizzie.” This earned disappointed noises from the little kids that all the adults chose to ignore. “Louise should attend, though, if at all possible.”

  “I can, but I don’t have anything to wear. It’s supposed to be black tie.”

  Groaned. “Another bit of information I didn’t have. Can’t wait.”

  “We’ll handle it,” Jeff said.

  “Great, then let’s get the last bit of the afternoon rolling. Anyone who wants to nap, take it. And I mean that seriously, for little kids, big kids, and adults. If you feel even kind of tired or are crashing from all that’s gone on, nap. We need everyone fresh and alert.”

  Louise nodded. “I could use a nap, honestly.”

  “If Louise is napping, then we should, too,” Jamie said cheerfully. She looked at Lizzie. “What do you think?” Nice to know that Lizzie was still Jamie’s go-to for older girl worship.

  “I think that’s a great idea, honestly,” Lizzie said. “As long as we get woken up for dinner.” Assurances were given that no one would be ditched. “Cool, then Louise, do you need to crash in my room?”

  “I don’t want to be a bother,” Louise said, looking as if she had no idea what the proper response to Lizzie’s suggestion really was.

  “That’s a good idea, so why don’t you plan to stay with us at the White House or the Embassy, at least for tonight?” Jeff suggested. “And, if you want, you could just stay during the school year. If you wanted.” Said very casually, but I knew how much he missed being around his nieces and nephews. Wondered what Louise was going to say and noted her siblings paying close attention.

  “The Embassy has room,” Christopher added. Yeah, he missed the kids, too. “You could just move in. If you wanted to.”

  Louise looked surprised and pleased. “You’re sure? My parents suggested it but I wasn’t sure if it would be okay or not.”

  Noted that everyone was looking at me, either surreptitiously or obviously. “Yes, I think that would be great. All the now-former Embassy Daycare kids go to Miss Denise first and then gate over here. So that way, you can help wrangle over there and then come over here and ensure the kids are ready and prepped for school in th
e mornings. As in, welcome to more work.”

  Louise hugged me. “Thank you, Aunt Kitty!”

  Hugged her back while noting that I’d earned a lot more Aunt honorifics from the Valentino kids than I had in the past. Hoped this was TCC’s influence, not them trying to shine me on while secretly working with their older sister against us. Chose to believe that Serene’s intel was correct and did my best not to worry about it.

  Vance called Akiko and shared that we had more women who were going to need to be dressed for an event. Akiko now staffed A-Cs who enjoyed the exciting world of fashion so that she could accommodate our ridiculous timeframes. She seemed okay with it, so there was that.

  We broke up, everyone scattering to their various locations in order to get ready in whatever ways they wanted for tonight. Adam was allowed to go home with a Secret Service and Field team guard, but we kept the Kristie-Bot with us. Like Adam, the rest of the Good Day USA! crew were heading home for a change of clothes because they’d planned to follow me all day anyway and, after the day with me they’d had, their producer refused to even consider passing on the fundraiser.

  The Kristie-Bot was fine with sticking around, though, because Jürgen Cologne was still on premises and also going to the fundraiser. Somehow, in her mind, he was her date. Chose to let Cologne fight that battle on his own.

  Gadhavi was bunking over at Blair House, since Wasim had our only available guest bedroom taken. Gadhavi didn’t seem to mind or be offended, which was nice. He was assigned his own set of Secret Service and a Field team as well before he headed off to rest and freshen up and, presumably, high-five someone along the way.

  Security of all kinds were told to follow in Gadhavi’s footsteps and go rest, eat, and dress for the party. No one argued. Heard Joseph and Rob telling Evalyne and Phoebe about our afternoon. They were making it sound far cooler than I felt it had been, but at least they sounded cheerful.

  The other parents took their kids off for naps and such before they all came back again later, either to go with us to the fundraiser or to be with Nadine, who was going to be babysitting everyone at the White House, since Denise was required to hit the fundraiser, too.