Alien Diplomacy

eyes. It was time to go straight to the source.

ACE, are you there?



CHAPTER 24
    Y

ES, KITTY, ACE IS HERE.

What’s going on?

Many things,

Kitty, ACE said politely.
    I realized that, as per my usual, I hadn’t phrased the question correctly. ACE did its best to remain out of the picture unless things were dire and we were unable to handle them. Until that point, questions needed to be specific and pointed, with little weasel room, because if they were vague, ACE got uncomfortable and stressed, which was never good, for Gower if no one else.
    I tried again.

Why are Jeff, Christopher and Serene in with Tito and the others? I mean aside from routine checkup reasons.

Tito wishes to ensure everyone is healthy and safe.

Is everyone healthy and safe?

Yes. The way ACE said this, there was clearly more to it.
    I tried a guess.

Is there something new that affects the three of them but doesn’t affect me and Jamie?

Yes. ACE sounded pleased by this guess. Score one for me.

Tito has identified something that Jeff, Christopher, and Serene have that Kitty does not have.
    He’d pointedly left Jamie out of that statement. ACE was always ready and willing to leave big breadcrumbs for me to find, because as long as I guessed right, ACE felt okay confirming. So I did what our benevolent superconsciousness wanted and pondered.
    There were any variety of reasons Tito could single out the three of them. But if they were easy, obvious reasons, I’d already know them. I focused on what kinds of tests Tito was running—not whatthey were, but what they were trying to determine. Genetic mutation.

Did Tito isolate something specific about their genes?

Yes, Kitty.
    I resisted asking if I’d pissed ACE off in some way. This was hard for him, and the last thing we wanted was a stressed out superconsciousness that could destroy the world, either on purpose or inadvertently.
    Clearly, I needed more specificity. Okay, I might not be up to Chuckie’s standards on the math and sciences, and I didn’t have a prayer against even the slowest Dazzler out there, but when it came to genetics, I was a Gregor Mendel fangirl of the highest order.
    So, what would Tito care about in regard to Jeff, Christopher, and Serene, specifically? That Jamie had whatever seemed likely, since she was Jeff’s daughter. But ACE had plainly stated I didn’t have this.
    I was coming up with nothing, so I opened my eyes and looked at Jamie. She smiled and grabbed my nose. “Oh, you have Mommy’s nose! Just like everyone says,” I added as Jamie giggled.
    “I’m going to take your nose, ’cause it looks just like mine,” I said, doing the old “steal your nose” trick that every baby in the world seemed to think was the coolest game on the planet. I pretended to put her nose on my face. “There. Now Mommy has Jamie’s nose and Jamie has Mommy’s nose.”
    Jamie gurgled at me and leaned into my chest for a snuggle. I kissed her head. Everyone said she looked just like me, but I still didn’t see it. Of course, in hybrid children, human genetics were dominant for external aspects, and A-C genetics dominated the internal workings. The Gowers were a good example, since they all had their mother’s beautiful dark skin and Dazzler-worthy good looks. But I could see their father in there, too, in some ways. And, presumably, their grandparents, not that I’d known them.
    I jerked. I had indeed known at least one of them, so to speak. I wasn’t sure where Ronald Yates, aka Mephistopheles, fit into the overall family tree for the Gowers, but they were Jeff’s cousins, and Yates was Jeff and Christopher’s grandfather. And, as we’d discovered, Serene’s father. And they were the most powerful A-Cs we had. The Gower girls were potentially stronger, per Chuckie, but they were hybrid women. Jeff, Christopher, and Serene were pure A-C.
    I closed my eyes again.

ACE, has Tito isolated a gene related to Ronald Yates?

Yes, Kitty. ACE sounded so proud of me, I almost blushed.

ACE knew Kitty would realize. Kitty thinks right.

Can you tell me more about it?

Some. Tito has identified what makes Jeff, Christopher, and Serene…different…from other A-Cs.

You mean what makes them stronger in their talents?

Yes. Jamie will have this, too, but it is different for Jamie.

Because I’m her mother?

In a way. ACE sounded evasive again.

Because Jeff was drugged with the Surcenthumain?

Yes. But Jamie is not in danger.

Good to know. Thank you. I knew when