Alien Diplomacy

“Catsuit time again, Missus Martini?”
    After a couple of days of everyone calling me Miss Katt, it was a refreshing change. “It is indeed, Mister White.” I did fast intros for Caroline and then took stock again of our position. “I may be crazy, but it looks like we could just walk out of here.”
    “You are crazy,” Tim said, “and we can’t. We got in via gates. We were late meeting up with you because we scanned the perimeter.”
    “Any police officers about?”
    “No.” Tim sighed. “There are a lot of unfriendlies, though.”
    Reader nodded. “They’re ready for us and clearly ready to takea lot of hostages. All ground transportation into this airport has mysteriously stopped or vanished, but there’s no terrorism alert.”
    Caroline stared at him. “Oh, my God! I know you! You did that Calvin Klein ad that caused so much controversy a few years ago.”
    Reader flashed the cover-boy grin. “It’s always nice to be recognized.”
    She laughed. “We had that framed and hanging up in our rec room at the sorority.”
    Gower looked at me. “How much did you have to do with that?”
    I managed not to blush. “Perhaps a little. I think we have other, more pressing, matters.”
    “Like survival,” Chuckie said. “Why don’t we just use a gate to get out of here?”
    “Wow, aren’t you Mister Logical?”
    “Yeah, I am. Let’s move to a bathroom and get quietly and safely home. I realize you haven’t tried that at all these past couple of days, but I really recommend it as a good plan.” Chuckie had a sarcasm knob, too.
    “Which bathroom has the gate in it?” I asked Reader.
    “The one we came through. The one they sent you to doesn’t.” He started off in the direction they’d come from, and we followed in a rather tight group. We got about fifty yards, and Reader stopped walking. “I think Reynolds’ plan is offline.”
    The bathroom was clearly marked. There were also a lot of mean, nasty-looking men wearing the little plastic earbud things standing around it. That, in and of itself, wouldn’t have been the problem. The problem was the guy doing free balloon animals. He was undoubtedly there to draw a crowd, and a crowd he had. Families, some younger folks, even some of your standard business travelers were there. Free was powerful, there was nothing to do, and the guy was running good, engaging patter.
    Chuckie cursed quietly. “Okay, so Plan A and Plan B are completely out. Should we call for a floater gate right here?”
    “Can’t do the crowd control,” Gower said. “Richard and Michael don’t have implants. Mine was removed when I became Pontifex.”
    “Implants?” Caroline asked. “I’m confused.”
    “There are gases natural to Earth that many from American Centaurion can manipulate to create mass hallucinations,” I said quickly, while I pondered our limited options. “Used only for crowd control in danger situations. Like this one.”
    “Ah. I’ve picked up that American Centaurion isn’t…normal.”
    “Oh, in some ways we’re very normal,” White said genially. “In others, we are quite different, yes.”
    “Who did you pick that up from?” Chuckie asked Caroline. “And how is it that you came in from Paraguay but are here, instead of Dulles or, as would make sense, considering the people on the plane, Andrews?”
    “Now is probably not the time,” I pointed out.
    “Until we have at least Plans C through G in place, sure it is.”
    Caroline sighed. “They only allowed the politicians to get off at Andrews. The rest of us had to stay on the plane and disembark here. It’s part of our security process—they make us do this practically every time; supposedly it helps us fly under the radar. Sometimes they drop us off first and then take the pols to Andrews. Sometimes we all get off here. Occasionally we all get off at Andrews. Why we have to go through all this rigmarole I don’t know, but the senator gave up on trying to win that battle months ago.”
    “Where’s everyone else who was with you?” Chuckie asked, sounding tense.
    She shrugged. “They left. They all had their cars here. I thought I had a ride, which is why I didn’t go along with one of them.”
    “And what’s made you suspicious of American Centaurion?” He still sounded tense. And ready to read Caroline her rights if her answer was wrong.
    Caroline rolled her eyes. “Chuck, because of things you told me in school. I pretty much figure everyone’s hiding