Alien Diplomacy

apparently agreed to.
    “Oh, they’ll be fine,” Dad said cheerfully. “But if you’re worried, just call in some of those nice agents who always escort me to the Bases. They love the pets.”
    I doubted that very much, seeing as the A-C agents who got stuck with dog and cat duty always seemed like they’d rather be fighting a fugly than dealing with our animals. But I knew enough to keep my yap shut.
    Jeff made the call, and four agents who’d clearly drawn the short straws arrived to pet sit. Dad insisted on coming down for the icky tests, so he carried Jamie.
    We joined Christopher and Serene, who also had Surcenthumain running through their veins, in Tito’s Lab of Horrors. Actually, his setup was nice. His rooms were right next to the infirmary, and he’d made it rather cozy, if you ignored the Mixed Martial Arts and UFC posters that adorned most of the walls. Tito liked to combine his favorite hobby with his life’s work, which I couldn’t argue with. I liked the posters, but they didn’t exactly say “lie back and relax” to most people.
    Melanie and Emily were there, as well. “You two really get around. I thought you were still science side.” All the Dazzlers were trained in medicine; some were better at it than others, but it was considered a natural part of their education, the way learning a foreign language was for humans.
    Melanie laughed. “You know these medical tests are top secret. Who is Doctor Hernandez going to ask to assist him other than us?”
    Emily nodded as she took Jamie from me and gave her lots of cuddles. “Besides, our little darling here loves her Aunties Emily and Melanie.” She gave her a kiss. “Jamie wants us all ready for the next hybrid babies to come.”
    Since said babies belonged to Doreen, Lorraine, and Claudia, I couldn’t argue. Just as my parents had taken Amy under their wing when she’d lost her family, Melanie and Emily and their husbands had done the same with Doreen. The A-Cs were already one huge, extended family, but several of us were getting closer and more compacted in some interesting ways.
    Jamie and I went in first. Blood was taken, orifices were probed,brains were scanned, and reflexes were checked. Because we had two Dazzlers on duty, they did the analysis and such at hyperspeed, meaning we had instant results for Tito to look at and make the Doctor Frowny Face over.
    “You’re still able to switch from human to enhanced easily,” Tito commented. “That’s good in some ways, but it means one or the other isn’t reflexive, so you’ll have the natural reaction most often.”
    “I think I’m having human reactions that way. Normally, I mean. At least for me.”
    “Good, and makes sense.” He tickled Jamie, then did the same fun stuff with her. “She’s really learning fast. She’s well beyond what most three month olds should be able to do.”
    Melanie looked at the results and nodded. “Some of this is standard for A-C babies. But I agree. Her brain functions are still much higher than normal.”
    I opened my mouth, but Emily beat me to it. “Yes, Kitty, she’s fine. So are you. Though neither one of your mutations has stabilized.”
    “So, what does that mean, exactly? I’m still having trouble controlling the hyperspeed. Will Jamie have that issue?”
    “So far, not that we can tell,” Melanie said. “Jamie’s progressing normally in terms of physical abilities. A little faster in some areas, as we said, but still nothing out of the ordinary.”
    Emily snorted. “We saw you in Paris, Kitty. You had no trouble at all controlling your speed.”
    I thought about it. “I was really revved up. ACE said I was under control because I was so enraged. But I thought that was because I was a new mother.”
    “You’re still a new mother,” Melanie said with a laugh. “And the maternal instinct doesn’t fade away as your child grows.”
    “It tends to get stronger,” Emily added.
    Tito looked thoughtful. “The drug works on the id, and our limited knowledge of it shows that it’s very rage-related. Every time you’re really angry, does your control increase?”
    “It’s only happened a few times, but yeah. But I don’t want to have to be furious twenty-four-seven in order to actually hit what I’m aiming at and not hit all the walls.”
    “Your control may stabilize when your mutation does,” Melanie suggested.
    “If I’m still mutating, does that mean instead of crashing into walls I’ll go through