Alien in the House

rooms at the Science Center, in that it was like a fishbowl. Buchanan was a very big, unmoving fish.
    I’d never seen him asleep; I’d only seen him in action. It was unsettling. I wanted to run in there and shake him, get him up, tell him what was going on, find out who’d hurt him. I also wanted to pull all the tubes and needles out of his body.
    “Maybe you shouldn’t go in, baby,” Jeff said quietly.
    “No. I know part of you is jealous of my relationship with Malcolm. But he’s saved my life, and Jamie’s life, more than once. I’m going in, regardless of whatever risk there is or isn’t. I don’t leave my friends like this without at least trying to help.”
    “I’ll wait with Tito,” Jeff said. “And not because I’m jealous.”
    “Liar.”
    Jeff chuckled. “Okay, a little jealous. Your reactions are really strong.”
    “Many times Malcolm reminds me of you. Right now, he reminds me of when you’re in isolation.”
    “Ah.” Jeff hugged me gently.
    “He can’t feel any of this right now, Kitty,” Tito said.
    “And isolation saves lives, baby.”
    “Right. That makes it less freaky and scary for me how?”
    “Good point. Head in. I’ll let James know you’ll be a few minutes. And yes, feel free to draw the curtains if you want.”
    Went in and did draw the curtains, mostly because I didn’t want to feel like I was being watched as opposed to my planning to ravage Buchanan while he was unconscious.
    Buchanan was lying still on the bed. He looked peaceful, as if he was indeed merely having a very deep sleep. “Malcolm?” No response, and I hadn’t expected one. I took his hand in mine. “Malcolm, if you can hear me wherever you are, I’m going to find out what was done to you and fix it, I promise.”
    Thought about the other times someone I cared about had been down. About when Reader had almost died. I’d had ACE to talk to then. Couldn’t bear to try to talk to him in my mind and not have him answer. Couldn’t bear to act like ACE wasn’t there, either.
    “ACE, I know I can’t ask you to intervene. And I wouldn’t want you to take focus away from whatever’s going on with you. But if you have the ability, can you please watch over Malcolm? He hasn’t been in space, but he’s my friend and he’s saved my life, a lot. He’s kind of like you, ACE. He has his mysterious ways, and I don’t know where he goes or what he does when he’s not with me. But he’s always there when I need him, like you’ve always been. He’s not an astronaut, but he’s still an important penguin.”
    There was no answer, but as I looked at Buchanan and thought about ACE, I remembered something important. Maybe I remembered it on my own, maybe ACE was around and strong enough to give me a little nudge.
    “Thanks, ACE. Malcolm, I’ll be back, hopefully with the cure.” I squeezed his hand. “Don’t leave me yet, okay? I need to get the rest of the Justice League and the X-Men rolling on this.”
    Trotted out of the room. “How’s Buchanan doing?” Jeff asked. “Is he awake?”
    “No, why would you think that?”
    “You’re excited and focused, versus worried and sad.”
    “Well, yeah, but that’s because something dawned on me. Doctor Strange is probably on the astral plane and we need to bring him back.”
    “That’s not exactly a help, Kitty,” Tito said.
    “This will be. You need to contact Serene, and probably Jeff’s dad.”
    “My dad? Why?”
    “Because over the past couple of years, we’ve forgotten a few key things. Surcenthumain became the Superman drug. But it’s original purpose was to put human and A-C astronauts into a deep sleep so that they could travel to distant stars without dying and, I think, aging. That drug was created by Gaultier Enterprises.”
    Had to say this, Tito and Jeff weren’t slow or stupid. Tito was on his phone calling Dulce, while Jeff called Alfred. Meanwhile, I sent Amy and Raj a text, telling them to focus their search on the space exploration section, or whatever it was, at Gaultier, particularly any offshoots of the Surcenthumain project.
    We all finished about the same time. “Serene and Brian are on their way,” Tito said. “They just have to drop Patrick off with the other kids at the Pontifex’s Residence.”
    “My dad’s coming, too. He’s going to swing by NASA Base and pick up some files first.”
    “Be sure he’s under guard.”
    Jeff nodded. “Already handled. I sent a text to James.”
    “Great. Tito,