Alien in the Family

before you officially proposed? Or right after I said yes?”
    “No idea. I don’t know these people, their archaic rituals, or why they’re coming. I just know I hate them.” Martini’s teeth were clenched.
    “She’s got a point,” Chuckie said, and I realized he was speaking in a soothing tone. “Look, I’m not accusing you, hell, anyone in this room, of some sort of subterfuge. It’s pretty clear this is a surprise to all involved. Let’s get Gower’s mother and your father out here, and maybe we’ll get some answers.”
    “He won’t come without my mother,” Martini said, sounding utterly depressed. “She gets upset if he comes out West without her.”
    “Why?” This sounded odd, since all their family, other than Martini himself, Christopher, and White, were back East.
    He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Like every other woman in my life, apparently, she loves Vegas.”
    “Great, road trip.” I looked back to Chuckie. “Whoever’s watching Jeff must be watching you.”
    “Why so?”
    “You got the pineapple. You know, in the Mob, that means you’re marked for death.”
    “It’s not a pineapple. And we’re not dealing with the Mob. Besides, that’s F.B.I. territory.”
    “I just think they’re after you, too.”
    “What are you suggesting? We all go underground into one of the Bases?”
    I thought about it. “Actually, no. I think we all want to be really easy to find.”
    “What?” This was chorused by Martini, Chuckie, Christopher, and a few of the others.
    Reader shrugged and leaned against the table next to me. “Girlfriend’s right. Why make it hard for them? Hard means we have less maneuverability. Easy means they have more of a chance of making a mistake.”
    “How so?” Chuckie didn’t sound convinced.
    I sighed. “Look, someone’s on Earth, someone I think it’s safe to say we can all consider at least somewhat unfriendly. We haven’t known about it, but they’ve been here at least six months. Maybe they didn’t show up when Jeff made the decision he wanted to marry me, but I feel pretty sure they showed up as soon as I put on that Unity Necklace. So call it six months. We’ve been under observation, close observation, since then. And no one, including ACE, has spotted it.”
    Gower twitched. “ACE was not looking for this kind of threat.”
    “Can you look now? I mean, if it’s not going to be a conscience issue.”
    Gower’s head nodded. “ACE will look. ACE will tell if it will not go against how ACE must interact.”
    “That’s great, ACE, and thanks.”
    Gower twitched again. “I don’t mind ACE, but I hate the palsy that comes with him.” He sighed. “You’re right, though. I can tell when ACE knows something he desperately wants to tell me but feels he can’t. He’s as worried as the rest of us, but he has no idea of what’s going on any more than we do.” Gower looked directly at me. “No one in his consciousness is clear on what’s going on, either.”
    Ah, I’d always known putting ACE into Gower was the right choice. So Terry had no idea of what was up, either. Then there was more going on than just the standard Royal Wedding crap. I considered that my thinking the word crap, let alone the rest of the way I spoke, thought, and acted, was probably going to guarantee that whoever was administering whatever test were going to flunk me. I wondered if Martini was going to have to listen to them and tried not to let the worry that he might get out of control.
    A hand was on the back of my neck, massaging gently. He’d picked the worry up, of course. “It’ll be fine, baby,” Martini said softly.
    “Let’s hope so,” Chuckie said, his voice crisp. “Because I think Kitty has a point.” He tossed the alien-detector to Tim. “Check out every single thing in this suite.” He looked at my pilots. “There are a few more of them in the small black bag on my bed. Get them, and help him.”
    None of them moved. “Guys? We’re answering to Chuckie right now, remember?” I got a couple of betrayed looks, but they all got up and did as requested. “Chuckie, you might want to remember that they haven’t adjusted to the change in chain of command yet.”
    “And you might want to remember that they’re all military or A-C trained, which means they adjusted to it the moment Martini said yes. As long as you, White, and Martini are fighting it, however, they’re going to do their best to support insubordination.” He wasn’t