“Malcolm, we still have most of the leadership of the United States in this system. We will feel a lot better if we know you’re doing your thing here, taking care of business, and ensuring that we don’t come back to a war zone. But none of that matters as much as this—nothing can happen to Wasim. I want you to guard that kid as if he were me. And I promise to tell my mom that it’s all Jeff’s fault if something goes wrong.”
Buchanan managed a grin. “Fine. I’ll hold you to that, Missus Executive Chief. And I’ll watch Gadhavi, too. We don’t want him hurt or worse, either.”
“That’s my Doctor Strange.”
Happily, Algar gave us no trouble about going. Neither did anyone else. Christopher protested that his father was leaving, but he was still tired from running around a solar system and ACE leaving him, so he didn’t argue all that much.
MJO and Kristie were jazzed about being on the team. Bellie was excited, too, which, of course, was the most important thing. Bruno and Lola were also coming along, as were Ginger, Wilbur, and our family’s rabbits. Our Poofs shared that they wouldn’t miss this for anything. So we were covered, animals-wise.
We moved our stuff from our rooms in the saucer section into rooms in the sports car section. Then we said our good-byes again, with assurances that we’d be back quickly. Since we’d already gone and come back in the time promised, the Apatans seemed cool with our leaving. Kings and queens were great, but your own guys having done the impossible was even better.
The sports car flew a little differently than the saucer. Reader and I got to sit next to each other, like we were in a human-created ship. There were seats behind us, so after Jeff got the kids strapped in, in the back row of course, Lizzie between Jamie and Charlie, he sat behind Reader. Algar was in the seat behind but between us, and White was behind me. Siler, Gower, MJO, and Kristie were in the row behind them, in front of the kids.
Mother activated the version of herself she’d already ported to the sports car, which I immediately named Mini-Mother. “Have a safe trip,” Mother said. “I will monitor you, just in case.”
“Thanks, Mother,” Reader said. “Mini-Mother, are you ready?”
“I am.” Mini-Mother sounded a lot like Mother, which was to be expected.
We separated from the saucer. It was easy because we were in space. Space stations were where it was at.
“I don’t want to go to warp just yet,” Reader said as we flew away from the space station. “I’d like Kitty to get comfortable with the controls first.”
“Works for me.”
We spent some time with Reader talking me through various differences between this ship and an Earth airplane, as well as this from what I was used to with the saucer section. Since I was mostly used to pushing buttons, this was helpful.
We’d been zipping along for a couple of hours when I noticed something out of the windshield. “Do you guys see that dark mass off in the distance?”
The others looked. “I believe I do, Missus Martini,” White said. “It looks something like a giant wobbly wolf’s head.”
My stomach clenched. “Yeah, it does.”
“And I think it’s heading right for us,” Reader said, voice tight.
Heard a sound—someone snapping their fingers. And the mass was gone.
Or we were.
Instead of the blackness of space and the light of a few nearby solar systems, we weren’t alone now. There were ships, lots of them, all around us. But they looked nothing like ships we were used to.
Most were made of bronze, some of bronze and gold. There was steel, but not as much as you’d expect. Many of these ships had different blimpy shapes or were modeled like a sailing ship. Some looked vaguely familiar—was fairly sure I saw a bronze version of a Vrierst Manta Ray, only I could see hinges, periscopes, and more on it.
We all stared.
“Where the hell are we?” Reader asked finally.
“We appear to be exactly where we were, galactically speaking,” Mini-Mother said. “The solar systems are where they were, nothing has changed. Other than that we are now surrounded by ships where none were before.”
“Ships that don’t exist in our universe,” Reader pointed out.
“How is that possible?” Jeff asked.
“I have no idea,” I lied, as I realized that I recognized the ship directly in front of us—I’d seen it in the three-way mirrors. “But I can say this—we’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.”
Read on for a sneak preview of the seventeenth novel in the Alien series from Gini Koch:
ALIENS LIKE US
“AH,” Jeff said slowly, “are those ships all turning toward us?”
“Yes,” White replied. “And unless I’m mistaken, they’re readying to fire.”
“You’re not mistaken,” Reader said, voice tight. “Ready to take evasive maneuvers.”
Well, there was certainly no time like the present for me to do what I’d trained for during Operation Interstellar. Really hoped that the universal translator was up to snuff and that Mini-Mother was going to help, versus hinder.
“I need hailing channels open,” I said calmly. The button flashed. “Mini-Mother, you rock.” Pushed the button down. “This is the crew of the satellite ship of the Distant Voyager from Earth in the Solaris system. We have no idea what’s going on, but we didn’t mean to intrude on what’s either a party or a fight. We’ll just be going now, so you can, um, relax your trigger fingers.”
Silence from the other side. “Let go of the button,” Mini-Mother said. “I will keep communications open and put any responses on view if able.”
Tried not to worry about this. My kids were with us—had no idea what we might see and I really didn’t want them terrorized by someone threatening us. This moment’s example of closing the barn door after all the animals had fled.
“You’re who from where and which ship, exactly?” a male voice asked. A really familiar voice. One I’d known since the first day of ninth grade.
“Chuckie? Is that you?” My Chuckie was still in the Apata system, hanging out with people who looked a lot like those of us from Earth and Alpha Centauri, only more heavily animal than we were.
Heard a lot of background noise, as if whoever was on the other line wasn’t alone and I’d freaked them out in a real way.
“Identify,” the guy I was really prepared to swear was Chuckie said.
Heaved a sigh. Time to pull out the gun I was pretty sure I had to use. “I’m Katherine Katt-Martini from Earth. On my Earth I’m also the First Lady of the United States and the Queen Regent of Earth for the Annocusal Royal Family. I have no idea what or who I am here, other than from Earth, though my guess is that I know you, since I’m betting you’re Charles Reynolds, also of Earth.”
Heard more background noise and was really sure that guns were cocking. “What do you mean, ‘your’ Earth?”
“Dude, I’d think it was self-evident for people flying around in really cool spaceships that look literally nothing like our really cool spaceship. We live in a multiverse. In my universe, we don’t have spaceships like this. In my universe, we don’t have a war going on in this exact spot in the blackness of space between solar systems.”
“We don’t have anything called the United States,” Chuckie replied. “But you’re right—my name is Charles Reynolds. However, we’re at war with the Annocusal Royal Family, so that means you’re our enemy.”