Текст книги "Alien in the Family"

Автор книги: Gini Koch

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 32 страниц)

CHAPTER 27

WE DID A FAST CHECK BEFORE we left the level. Moira was still sleeping the sleep of the very drugged, and we still had a lot of A-Cs on Security duty around her cell and the drainage pipe entrance. I made Martini and Christopher test the guards for being real A-Cs. None of them asked Martini about the Poof but I could tell they all wanted to. So could he.

“I hate my life, have I mentioned that?” he asked as the three of us went up in the elevator. He kept his arm around my shoulders, which I didn’t mind at all, though it did make me wonder if his no-more-jealousy resolve was going to disappear fast.

“Could be worse. You could be the one whose brains were bashed in.” I was relieved I could say this calmly and without wanting to cry. Knowing Reader was going to be okay was a huge relief. I tried to remember the thing I knew I’d forgotten about all that. Couldn’t. Decided we had more pressing matters. “Maybe we can get a straight answer out of the emissaries as to what’s going on with Moira and the rest of the Free.”

“Can’t wait,” Martini muttered.

We arrived at one of the science floors. The holding cell was easy to find: It was surrounded by A-Cs, all of them talking quietly to each other, so the hum was pretty loud. One of the older Dazzlers saw us coming, and her mouth dropped open. “Jeff, how did you get that?”

“Unwillingly.”

Her eyes were wide. “Do you know what it is?”

He didn’t answer, so I did. “We think it’s a Poof.”

She nodded. “Yes. Only the royal family and their closest retainers are allowed to have them. They’re very rare.”

Martini winced. “Oh. Good. You know we live in America. No royalty here.” She nodded, but she didn’t seem convinced. We kept on moving.

Reached the holding cell to see a dozen people in it. The cell was really one of their big fishbowl conference rooms, adapted for security issues. The main difference was it had an individual intercom system attached to it.

The prisoners were dressed in what I called Renaissance Faire Spiffy. They looked like something out of that time period but not quite accurate. Seeing the men in hose and long, loose-fitting fancy shirts was interesting. I didn’t think I’d ever want to see Martini in the garb, but he would fill the hose out a lot better than the examples before me. The women were going for a similar look, only with a little Grecian Formula thrown in. It was as if they’d taken a look at our historical dress and tried to imitate it, with limited success.

All of the prisoners were decent-looking. Interestingly enough to me most were not as good looking as our Earth A-Cs. “So, the looks, for the most part, resided with your race?”

“I suppose. Maybe you’re just jaded.” Christopher sounded amused.

Martini laughed. “She’s used to looking at me. All others fade away.”

“True.” I squeezed his waist. “However, I’ve seen a lot of A-Cs, male and female, and while these are all attractive, they are not drop-dead gorgeous. Your father is, but these, not so much.”

“I hate it when you mention that you think my dad’s hot,” Martini muttered.

“Jeff, you look exactly like him. If I think you’re hot, it stands to reason I think he’s hot. I am not lusting after your father. I’m just happy to know how hot you’re going to look as you get older.”

He hugged me. “That’s okay, then.”

White joined us. “Interesting. I see you’ve dressed, Miss Katt.”

“Yes, I decided to keep the outfit for when I have to convince you of something.”

“Good, anticipation is the key to any good relationship.”

“Mister White? Why are most of them not as hot looking as your people?”

“Bluntness is your specialty. No idea. They look normal to me.”

“They don’t look unnormal to me. But they don’t look like all of you, either.”

“Granddad wasn’t all that great, if you recall. Maybe we just have a concentration of hotness. Does it matter?” Martini was looking at the Poof again.

“Hopefully not.”

He hit the intercom button. “Hi, there. Who the hell are you and why are you here? And how soon are you leaving?”

The guy I recognized as having been in our room stepped forward. He was nursing a lovely black eye. “Your Majesty, we are here to begin the rites of passage for your intended.”

“Nice. I don’t plan to have her do them. Don’t plan on any of you sticking around. Don’t plan on going back to the world that exiled us. Rot in hell. Have a nice day.”

“Harlie has accepted you.”

“Harlie?”

I looked up at Martini’s shoulder. “Here, Harlie.” I put my hand up, the Poof purred and jumped into my palm. “Good little Poofy thing. Meet your new pet, Jeff.”

“You will refer to His Majesty as My Royal Lord at all times!” A woman’s voice rang out from the back of the holding cell. She stalked up to the window, and it didn’t take an empath to tell she was furious. “How dare you speak to him casually?”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” I was ready to lunge through the window. Test one—failed. Test one—pissing me off. Could not wait for test two.

White stepped up to the intercom. “Excuse me. Who are you, and why do you believe you have the right to give anyone on Earth orders?”

“We are the emissaries from the royal court. You, as an exile, have no right to speak to us.” She actually turned her back on White and walked to another part of the window.

“Five minutes, that’s all I ask. Me and my Glock. Trust me, Mom’s been teaching me how to shoot really, really fast.”

“Tempting as that is,” Martini said through clenched teeth, “I’ll be the one kicking their asses.”

“You’re the king, My Royal Lord.”

“Do not start.” He let go of me and went closer to the intercom. “You, come back here.”

She turned around and stalked over. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

“First off, I’m fascinated that you exiled my entire race here, you’re insulting my religious leader who also happens to be my uncle, and yet you’re somehow thinking I’m your king. Secondly, if you ever speak to anyone on Earth, particularly the Sovereign Pontifex, that way again, I’ll kill you with my bare hands. Oh, and I know how, believe me. Finally, I don’t know who you people think you are, but unless you start giving us some explanations, and quickly, I’m going to order you all put to death. Got it?”

She gave him a small, very self-satisfied smile. “You are so like your grandfather, Your Majesty.”

Martini lunged at the window. I thought he was going to break through. Christopher and I both grabbed him. “Jeff! Jeff! She means the other one! Not ours. Well, ours, but the other ours! The one who stayed on the home world!” Christopher was shouting, which he had to, because Martini’s growl was already at “enraged bear” and about to go to “lion takes over the veldt.”

“She means your father’s father, Jeff!” I was shouting too. We weren’t calming him. At all. Of course, in his mind, Bitch Leader had just compared Martini to Ronald Yates, aka Mephistopheles, aka the Supreme Fugly. The rage was understandable.

“Jeffrey, let it go.” White spoke softly.

Martini stopped, took a deep breath, and let me and Christopher pull him back. “Sorry.” He was shaking.

The emissaries looked shocked, other than the one I was calling Bitch Leader. She looked amused. “Your Majesty has a temper, I see.”

“Really. I mean it, Jeff. Let me in there. I’ll do Crane Opens a Can of Whupass, they’ll never know what hit them.”

“They can kill you.” Martini’s voice was low. He was staring at the emissaries, and I’d never seen so much anger in his expression before.

“Maybe. I want in.”

“I don’t want you hurt, so no.”

“Easy way or hard way, Jeff.”

“I don’t want you to shoot them. We don’t know what else they’re bringing.”

“You mean besides stress and high blood pressure problems?”

“Yeah.”

“I won’t shoot them. They won’t kill me. Let me in. Please.”

“Why?”

White nodded to one of the security guys, and the door opened. “Miss Katt.”

I detached from Martini and went in. Harlie went with me. “Dudes, nice to see you.” The door shut behind me. “Now, let’s cut the crap. You have no intention of approving me. I have no intention of passing your tests. So what is it you expect to get out of this whole ridiculous endeavor?”

Bitch Leader came over to me. She was a lot bigger. “You insignificant peasant! How dare you—”

“Blah, blah, blah. Heard it all before. I’m an American, you moron. We wrote the book on insignificant peasants making good. I’m also not an idiot. And I’m also not buying it.”

I walked through them. There were exactly two who fit the mold. The one with the shiner and another guy. I pointed to them. “You two are the only actual A-Cs here. So, what, are the rest of you shapeshifters from Planet of the Really Pissed Off Amazons, also known as The Free, or are you some other delegation combo? ’Cause you’re not all from the same place my aliens call home.”

They all looked at me in shock, Bitch Leader included. She recovered fastest. “How . . . how dare you insinuate—”

“Stow it. I’m a human. Want to know the biggest way our A-Cs differ from humans? They are drop-freaking-dead gorgeous. My little friend over there with the black eye, and this other guy here, they’re pretty hot. The rest of you? Um, well, you’re not barking, but you’re not going to win any prizes against Jeff, Christopher, or the rest of the A-C gang.”

“There is more to our culture than looks,” the guy with the black eye said.

“Oh, right.” I slammed my open palm onto Bitch Leader’s chest. “One heart.” I walked around the room and did the same thing. None of them tried to stop me. “Okay, we have eight with two hearts, two with one, and icky, two with three hearts. I don’t even want to know. However, that means you’re not all from A-C.”

I looked at the two with three hearts. They were both wearing really ugly matching necklaces. I pulled them off their necks and was faced with what looked like giant iguanas. Iguanas wearing stretchy body suits and standing on their hind legs, but still, iguanas. Giant iguanas that looked pissed off in the way only an iguana can.

“Jeff?”

“Yeah, baby.”

“I’m not screaming because they’re sentient. But I’d really love it if you would, you know, set phasers on full or something.”

“We do not kill except in battle,” Iguana Number One said to me.

“Right. Talking is good. Our iguanas don’t talk. As a rule.”

“We are not iguanas,” Iguana Number One said huffily. Iguana Number Two just glared at me.

“Right. Komodo dragons?”

“How dare you—” Bitch Leader was giving it a go again.

“SHUT UP!” I couldn’t do the Martini bellow, but I was pretty good. They all cowered. “Aww, it’s okay, Harlie.” The poor little Poof was cowering, too. “I’m not mad at you. Unless you’re going to turn into something horrible. Then we might have to agree that I cook you.” I patted it gently. Harlie purred and rubbed against my hand.

Bitch Leader lost it and lunged at me. As I jumped out of the way, Harlie leaped off my hand, gave a growl worthy of Martini, and turned into a much, much bigger Poof. A Poof with lots and lots of teeth. It had Bitch Leader in its jaws within moments. Then it turned to me and cocked its head. Its head was about double the size of its body. It looked like a fluffier bigheaded kitten with no ears or tail, only a kitten that could chomp a normal person in two with ease.

“Ummm . . . first off, is Harlie a boy or a girl?”

“They don’t have sex, per se,” the guy with the black eye said. “It’s going to kill her.”

“I know. I wanted to be able to say good boy or girl as soon as Harlie’s done.”

“We don’t want her dead.”

“I do.” I looked at him. “So, let’s get this clear. You all come clean, right now, or I have Harlie the Attack Poof eat you. I’ll bet Harlie’s hungry, aren’t you, Harlie?” I cooed this last line. The Poof purred at me. It was a really loud purr now that it was Martini-sized.

I felt something nudge my ankle and looked down. Sure enough, there were a few more Poofs down there. “Do they replicate in water or if they eat too much or something?”

“Uh, no,” Black Eye said. “They’re androgynous and can mate with any other Poof. They only mate when a royal marriage is imminent, however.”

“Sort of normal.” For a freak world, but that’s what I was living in, so, normal. I bent down and the other Poofs climbed into my hand and crawled up on my shoulders. “I count six more here. I guess that’s one for Christopher, one for Paul, one for Michael, one each for the Gower girls . . . and that leaves a spare. Who is the spare for?”

No one answered. “Okay, let me ask that another way. Someone tells me who the spare is for or I tell Harlie to enjoy its big, nasty snackage.”

Bitch Leader decided not to play chicken with me. “It’s for you.”

CHAPTER 28

“HMMM . . . INTERESTING. SO, let’s see if I can guess what’s going on, shall we? Oh, but before I do, Christopher, I really need Chuckie. In here, with me.”

“On it.”

“Why?” Martini asked.

“I like the help with the conspiracy theories.”

“And,” Chuckie said, “there are none better than me with that. What, Martini? I was in the back of the room.”

“Oh. Fine.” He didn’t seem all that fine with it. So much for that no more jealousy promise. “Not jealous, just worried,” he snapped.

“Right.” Chuckie came in. “Okay, Kitty, what have we here? I mean, other than giant iguanas?”

“We are not iguanas!”

“I think they’re Komodo dragons.”

“We are neither!”

“They’re giant lizards, Chuckie. We’ll leave it at that.”

The giant lizards both looked really angry. I picked up one of the spare Poofs and looked at the guy with the black eye. “What’s this one’s name?” The giant lizards calmed down instantly.

“So,” Chuckie said. “Back to the theories?”

“Sure. We have a delegation of twelve here. Two are clearly from Jeff’s home world. Two are obviously from the Giant Lizard world. I’m betting the other eight are from other planets in the A-C system.”

Chuckie wandered the group as I had. “Interesting rings,” he said to three of them. “Take them off and give them to me. Or we’ll insist on learning the rest of the Poofs’ names.”

They did, and the moment they were in his hand, they turned into what looked like walking jackals who were really into the Ancient Egyptian look. “Chuckie, meet the emissaries from the Dog Planet.”

One of them bared its teeth at me. One of the Poofs jumped off my shoulder and turned huge. It stayed in front of me, but the point was clear. The jackal stopped its growling.

“Jeff, I love these Poofs. They are like the greatest things ever!” All the Poofs started to purr, including the big ones.

“They seem to love you, too, baby. Hope that lasts.”

Chuckie gave everyone a very evil smile. “Okay, let’s make it easy. The rest of you, take off your image shifters, will you? We don’t have all night.”

No one budged. “Poofikins? Will you help Chuckie for me?” The Poof in front of me trotted next to Chuckie and bared its many teeth at the others in the room. A couple of bracelets came right off, and, voila, the Cat People were represented. They were wearing leather cat suits. I wondered if they were being ironic or really went with this look on a daily basis. “Wow, it’s a regular menagerie in here. Someone get Paul, please. And triple the guard on James.”

“Here, Kitty,” Gower’s voice came from the com. “Jeff already called for me.”

“Good. So, I see four of your planets represented. Who’s missing? Or, rather, who’s from what world? You’re from Alpha Four, right? And Moira and her whacked out girlfriend are from Beta Twelve?”

“Right on both. The Giant Lizards are from Beta Thirteen. We’d call them Reptilians here.”

“Wow, sounds like Giant Lizard to me.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a more polite word. To them.”

“If I decide we like them, I’ll worry about being polite.” The Giant Lizards still looked pissed. One of the other Poofs hopped down, turned big, and sat in front of me. “I love the Poofs. I want that on record. Poofs are the greatest things to hit the solar system. After the A-Cs, I mean.” Poof purring continued unabated. The two nearest my neck rubbed against me. It tickled, thankfully, not in an erotic way.

“Thanks, I’m touched.” Martini sighed. “So, back to why everyone’s here?”

“Not quite. Paul, the jackals from the Dog Planet and the walking felines? They are?”

“From Beta Fourteen and Fifteen, respectively, Canus Majorians and Feliniads.”

“Major Doggies and Cat People. Got it.”

Gower sighed. “The others are, I’d guess, from Alphas Five and Six.”

“Do the Alpha Fives and Sixes have one heart or two?”

“One.”

“Then one of our party of humanoids isn’t being honest. Poofies? I think we have a mean lady I will not like even more than I do not like Bitch Leader in Harlie’s mouth.” All the Poofs jumped down and turned big. “What do my Poofies like to eat best?” I asked Black Eye.

“Um . . . uh . . . meat.” He sounded worried. Good.

“Wow, how convenient!”

Chuckie laughed and patted the Poof near him. It purred at him. “These are great, I have to admit it.”

“Wonderful.” Martini was muttering, but not that quietly.

“Jeff, hush.”

“Fine, fine. They like Reynolds because you like him, right?”

“I hope so. Because I don’t like anyone in this room at the moment, other than Chuckie.” The Poofs, to a fluffy thing, started to growl, very softly. The one by Chuckie moved in front of him. “See? Poofs are wonderful.”

Black Eye swallowed. “Uh, please don’t let them eat us.”

“Give me a reason not to. Start with having the shapeshifting Amazonian bitch unmask.”

Shocked looks all around. Other than from one person, one of the humanoid women. She stood up straight, shimmered, and a taller, older version of Moira was standing there, complete with the spiky blonde hair and the Xena/Wonder Woman body suit and boots look. “I am not your enemy,” she said quietly.

“Right. Chuckie, get behind me. I’m serious, by the way.”

He did as requested. “This is an emasculating feeling.”

“She’ll emasculate you more than I ever would.”

“No,” the shapeshifter said, “I will not.”

“Met your sister, or mate, or whatever she is. Don’t believe you.”

She shook her head. “They are not here on my order.”

My order. “What’s your name?”

“It cannot be pronounced—”

“Oh, give it a rest! We know! We know! We’ve had A-Cs on Earth for decades. All humans working with them are really clear that we are just too damned slow to catch your fabulous languages. Let me mention that what humans are really good at is turning inferiority complexes into mass crusades of destruction. Now, before I tell my adorable Poofies to have a delish breakfast, stop, all of you, with the ‘we talk too fast for your pitiful ears’ crap and give me names that I can understand that you will also actually answer to. Or die. And I mean that literally.”

Poof growling went up a notch or two. I wondered if they required grooming or had nonmatting fur, and if they would be happy sleeping on their own pillows or in a nice big pet bed together.

“Baby? I don’t want them in our room, okay?”

“I do.”

“Think about it, for a minute, while the prisoners stop wetting themselves.”

I did. “Okay, when we’re sleeping, how about that?”

“Maybe. Folks, she’s not joking. She’s protective, tired, and upset. One of her best friends almost died today because of a shapeshifting lunatic, and I’m not in there to restrain her. She doesn’t follow orders. So do what she says. ’Cause I don’t care what happens to any of you.”

The shapeshifter nodded. “I apologize for my subject’s actions. I am Queen Renata of the Free Women. And we are here as emissaries for the Planetary Council, not as emissaries of Alpha Four.”

CHAPTER 29

CHUCKIE LEANED DOWN AND WHISPERED in my ear. “We have an elaborate ruse. But you knew that. Find out who has the most to gain.”

“Interesting. Paul?”

“Yes, Kitty.”

“I’d love to chat with ACE, please.”

Gower sighed. “Fine.” There was a pause. “Yes, Kitty, ACE is here.”

“ACE, are these the evil beings you said were heading for us?”

“No, Kitty.”

“Are they evil? As in, get them off our planet before they try to kill us all evil?”

“No, Kitty. They are very afraid.”

“Would they stop being afraid if Chuckie, the Poofies, and I left the room?”

“No, Kitty. They are afraid of what has happened and what might happen.”

I thought about it. “ACE, this is one of those you want to tell me but can’t times, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Kitty will figure it out without ACE’s help.” ACE sounded really confident.

“Um, okay, great. As always, thanks very much, you’re the best, no more questions and so forth.”

“Moira is waking up. Please have someone make Moira sleep again.” ACE sounded freaked out.

I heard Martini bark some orders. “ACE . . . where is Moira’s mate?”

“ACE is not sure, Kitty.”

“Is she in any of our strongholds or around our people in Sin City?”

“No. ACE is not sure where Moira’s mate is.” ACE still sounded frightened.

Chuckie whispered again. “Or figure out who has the most to lose. This is a power play, but it doesn’t make any sense yet.”

I gave this more thought and took a look at Queen Renata. “ACE . . . they’re off their planet because their net went haywire, didn’t it? Because the leader of the Free Women figured out how to play nicely with others. And some of the Free Women don’t want to play nicely with others, especially with male others. And the PPB net agreed with them. Is that about right?”

“Yes, Kitty.” ACE sounded relieved. “ACE knew Kitty would discover the truth. Kitty thinks right.”

“Yes,” Chuckie said out loud. “She does.” I heard Martini muttering under his breath.

“Yes, good. Okay, please have Paul correct me when I’m wrong on this, but otherwise, go back and relax. Or whatever it is you do in there.”

“Yes, Kitty.” There was another pause. “Well,” Gower said in his own voice, “that was fun.”

“So, Queen Renata, how long ago did your protective net start talking to people?”

“Several years ago.” She closed her eyes, and when she opened them there were tears there. “For so long we struggled, unable to understand why we were held away from the stars. We knew we could reach them and that we had in the past. We blamed our males, for their aggression.”

“But without them, you turned just as aggressive, didn’t you?”

“Yes. But we believed ourselves right.” She heaved a sigh. “As my mother gained the throne, she saw us for what we were: brutal people, bound only for vengeance. She knew this was not the right way. Through her leadership, we began to hate less and try to forgive more.”

“She sounds very wise. And strong.”

“She was.” Queen Renata looked around. “She sent a message to the other planets, asking them to help us, to forgive us, to teach us how to be less warlike and more peaceful. They sent us help, support. But they would not remove the net. My mother understood—centuries of danger are not removed in a few years.”

“What were the reactions?”

“Our people were divided. Over time, however, as the other planets sent gifts—helpful things that made our lives better—most came to my mother’s way of thinking.”

“But some didn’t.”

“It was the net.” Black Eye was speaking.

“Dude, you have a name?”

“Yes. Gregory.” He sounded peeved. “Can I go on?”

“Sure, just figured your parents named you something other than Black Eye or Wimpy.”

Chuckie laughed. So did Martini and Gower. Gregory didn’t look like he enjoyed the joke. “If I may?”

“Go for it, Greg.”

“Gregory.” Said through clenched teeth. Nice to have the proof—planetary thing, not just my A-Cs’ hang-up.

“Whatever.”

“The PPB net is sentient. It . . . became self-aware and started speaking to some of the planet’s inhabitants. I’m sure you can’t understand, but—”

“Um, Greg? I’m going to speak very slowly, and we’ll see if you understand. You know the net you folks on Alpha Four put around Earth?” He nodded, a shocked look on his face. “Well, I was just chatting with it. It’s in one of our people, while still being around our world, and it likes us. A lot. We like it, too. It’s not keeping us in any more. It’s doing it’s best to keep people like you out. If it let you through, consider yourselves lucky. We’re a team, our sentient superconsciousness and us. All alone out here together. We are all very tired of being treated like dirt and only paid attention to when you want something from us. Keep that in mind before you speak again.”

“In simpler terms,” Martini snarled, “if you talk down to any of us again, her in particular, you’re Poof Chow. Got it?” I was so proud—he’d come up with Poof Chow all on his own.

“Uh, yes. Apologies, Your Majesty.”

“And stop calling me that!”

“He really isn’t into the whole forced royalty thing, Greg. Maybe you should, you know, get on with your condescending explanation.”

“The net went nuts and thinks it’s God,” Bitch Leader snapped. “Can you have this thing let go of me?”

“Name, rank, planetary number?”

“Uma, head delegate from Alpha Six.”

“Okay. Harlie? Be a good Poofie and put icky Uma down, okay? No snack right now.” Harlie spat Uma onto the floor then trotted over. Clearly for pets and lovies. Which I gave it. In abundance. The purrs were loud. From all of the Poofs. “So, Uma, you were saying?”

“The net went crazy, started talking to the more militant on the planet. Considers itself God, tells them so.” She stood up and brushed herself off.

“Tells them to go kill all the men, right?”

“Yes.”

“So, you’re all here, why?”

“To crown the new king of Alpha Four.” She said it like it was obvious.

“But you’re not from Alpha Four.”

“We represent them,” Gregory said. I looked at him, and the rest of them. Yep, eyes were not looking at me, faces were turned away, the usual. On the humanoids, anyway. The Giant Lizards were pretty stone-faced, the Major Doggies looked smiley or snarley, depending, and the Cat People looked smug. I didn’t know yet if this was just how they looked naturally or how they happened to feel right now.

“So, for some reason, Alpha Four needs a king so badly that they’re willing to go across the galaxy to pull up the last person in a line—who happens to be from the religious sect they cold-bloodedly exiled with extreme prejudice—and in addition, they asked the entire solar system’s diplomatic corps to help out?”

“Yes.” Gregory was looking at me, but his eyes were shifting all over the place. Chuckie was laughing softly.

“And, somehow, the rulership of Alpha Four doesn’t care about the fact that if Jeff goes back, all the exiles go back, too?” They wouldn’t, but then, Martini wasn’t going in the first place. But it was a good question.

“Uh, yes. That’s fine. All is forgiven. Their work here is done.” I saw the Cat People’s expressions—they were as unimpressed with Gregory’s lying as I was.

“So, are the parasites still hitting the ozone shield?”

Gregory nodded. “Slowing down, but yes.” He seemed relieved. He shouldn’t have been—I could tell he was finally telling the truth.

“So Chuckie remains the Conspiracy King, not that I ever had a doubt, and all this is an elaborate ruse. You don’t represent the Alpha Four government at all. There is no way they want all our A-Cs back. As long as there are parasites, they want our A-Cs right where they stuck them, on Earth, with all of us dealing with the superbeing problem. In fact, I’m betting they, either don’t know you’re here or, worse, they’re coming after you with intent to blow us all up. Which is it?”

I stared at Gregory. He tried to stare back. I was much better at it. “We’re . . . not sure . . . entirely.” He stared at the ground.

I turned to the only one I figured was going to tell me an approximation of the truth. “Queen Renata? What’s your guess?”

She nodded. “Prepare for interplanetary war.”