Alien Diplomacy

me. “After what’s been going on, I believe you’re working for the same goals I am. And under the circumstances, I don’t want to be left alone to be murdered by whoever’s trying to kill people.”
    I saw Chuckie nudge Jeff, who grunted. “Like with Caroline, telling the truth as she knows it, and not picking up anything negative toward any of us.” He looked at Walter. “Have all bases scan us again.”
    “And our neighbors, if they can.”
    Everyone looked at me. “Why?” Christopher asked finally.
    I rolled my eyes. “Really? I’m the only one here who’s ever heard of high-powered surveillance equipment? Really, Chuckie?”
    He sighed. “Good point.”
    “I’ve heard of it,” Christopher snapped. “I just don’t get what you’re going for, having us use it to spy on our neighbors.”
    “Dude, seriously, has Tito given you any tests to ensure your brain wasn’t affected negatively by the Surcenthumain? Every Embassy around us was infiltrated in some way today. I’m betting none of them had their version of Walter hanging around, because no human can run fast enough to escape if the place goes boom. So, they could have put in any amount of surveillance, trained on us , and our neighbors would be none the wiser. I want Chuckie to look for what’s looking at us. I’m not trying to see what the Irish and Romanians wear under their kilts.”
    “They don’t wear kilts,” Christopher snapped.
    “I know. Figure of speech, okay?”
    “Sorry, just having trouble keeping up with the Kittyisms.”
    I decided to end our spat. We were only having it because everyone was freaked out and upset. “Look, let’s just get the good cameras in here and going so we can all relax. About that, if nothing else.”
    Chuckie sighed. “I have to agree. Martini, are you actually equipped for this?”
    Jeff nodded. “I’m sure we are. Dulce or NASA Base should have something on hand that will work. However, we’ve just moved into Alpha Team territory.” He rubbed his forehead. “Let’s go downstairs and see what James wants to do.”
    “Wait.” Everyone looked at me. “Walter, what do our video feeds show? They were running, right, when the fire alarms went off?”
    “Yes, Chief.” He fiddled with some knobs and the picture changed. I saw everyone other than me, Jeff, and Walter go out the front door. Then the film went dark. “What the—” Walter fiddled with some more knobs and flipped some switches. Still all we saw was blackness.
    “Was our equipment tampered with?” Jeff asked, voice taut.
    “Possible,” Walter said, still intent and fiddling. “Switching to see the feeds on the other external locations.” They were black, too. One moment boring nothing going on, the next, they went dark.
    A thought occurred. “Walt, fast forward the feeds.” He did as requested. Suddenly there were pictures again. “How many cameras did we have on before Jeff had you turn them all back on?”
    “Just three, Chief. The one for the front door, the one for the side, where we take out the trash and get deliveries, and the one for the underground garage.”
    I sighed. “There are three of them. It wouldn’t take a lot to toss something over the cameras covering the side and the garage, right?”
    “How would they knock out the camera at the front door?” Chuckie asked.
    I pondered. “They didn’t come in from the front, that’s where all of you were. They came in from the side or underground. One of them turned off the front camera feed, just in case. They probably put dark cloth over the other cameras—they were in here, casing the place, after all. I’m sure they looked for and found all the various cameras’ plugs.”
    “They went into every room, Chief,” Walter confirmed. “They said they had to be sure each room didn’t contain a leak. And you can leave the cameras running while blacking out the pictures, so the offline alert wouldn’t be triggered.”
    “Yeah, they might be lame with their taxi driving, but they knew what they were doing inside. So they flipped the fire alarm switch in some way and trotted in here without a problem because they already knew their way around. After all, Walter wasn’t watching the cameras, was he? He was trying to figure out where the supposed fire was. He wasn’t looking for someone to try to come in when, during a fire alarm, everyone wants to go out.”
    “That’s true, Chief.” Walter sounded dejected. “I never checked the video