Alien in the House

“Doesn’t look like much. Small, so it’s using some kind of miniaturization along with or within its mechanization. Maybe nanotech.” He kept talking. My ears turned off.
    Ravi’s mouth stopped moving. “Super duper. Can you reverse engineer it?”
    “Am I breathing?” Ravi jumped out of his chair at his impressive computer setup and trotted over to the impressive laboratory portion of the computer lab.
    Because he was dating Jennifer, Ravi had gotten the full tour of the Dulce Science Center, a fact Jeff still regretted. Because Ravi had come back and then taken the rest of the hackers over for a visit. They’d come back to D.C. with a slew of Dazzlers panting after them and even more equipment.
    So while the Zoo’s computer lab wasn’t up to Dulce or NASA Base’s levels, it was the next best thing. It should have made me feel like I was back in the Science Center. But being in here just made me miss Dulce, the Lair, and what our lives had been like. So I didn’t visit here much unless I felt like having fun riling up Hacker International. Hey, I liked to keep in practice.
    Ravi had the disk under a magnifying lamp while he fiddled. He was talking to someone over at Dulce while he was so fiddling. “Are you live with me and receiving all data?” Apparently the answer was yes. “Good. Do you have enough to analyze to be able to track? Huh. Okay. Well, we’ll just have to deal with it. Removing the outer shell now.”
    Couldn’t say what made me do it. Jeff would call it feminine intuition; my mother would call it my gut. I called it being Megalomaniac Girl. Regardless of why, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that something bad was going to happen the second Ravi removed the shell.
    Which is why I tackled him to the ground as the disc exploded.



CHAPTER 33
    T HERE WAS THE USUAL BEDLAM. It was stopped quickly. Because we had a troubadour in the room.
    “Everyone, calm down!” Raj had total calm authority going in his tone. I’d only heard a few people sound more authoritative, and I was married to one of them. Mom would have been proud. Everyone shut up immediately. “Kitty, Ravi, are you alright?”
    “I am. Ravi?”
    “If you get off of me, I should be fine.”
    “Most people don’t complain.”
    “Most of their fiancées aren’t in the room.”
    “Good point. A little help?”
    Raj got me to my feet, then helped Ravi. “Is everyone okay?” he asked as Jennifer flung herself into Ravi’s arms. I’d never seen Ravi look so proud, happy, or smug.
    Took a look around as everyone else said they were fine. There were less everyones than I’d been expecting. And I’d just noticed this room was short about ten people I’d been thinking I’d see here. I was not batting even close to a thousand tonight. “Where’s Olga and Mona and everyone?”
    “Under the circumstances, this didn’t seem to be the best place for them to wait,” Jennifer said as she extracted herself from Ravi and went back to being professional. “Len and Kyle agreed. Jeremy took them to the fourth floor. There’s a nice sitting room there, where they could be comfortable.”
    “And where Mossad and the Bahraini Royal Guard couldn’t check out what the boys are doing here.” Camilla sounded like she thought whoever had sent them up to this floor was an idiot.
    “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” said idiot replied. Without too much resentment or defensiveness in my tone. At least, I hoped.
    She shook her head. “We’re under attack. That means everyone’s a suspect, and everyone’s a potential enemy.”
    “I don’t normally think that way.” Well, I didn’t normally think that way. Thanks to Colonel Hamlin’s visit, I was thinking that way constantly tonight.
    “Time to start.” She was examining where the disk had been.
    Chose not to share that Camilla could be proud I’d already started on a full-blown case of paranoia and also had her on the Suspects List. She might be pleased or might be pissed, and since it was a fifty-fifty shot, I chose discretion as the better part of valor.
    “Jeremy’s staying with the guests on the fourth floor, just in case a fast exit is needed. And Len and Kyle are with them, too,” Jennifer said, sounding worried. “Was that alright?”
    “Yes, that’s great, Jennifer. Don’t let Camilla throw you. She’s still working on her people skills.”
    Camilla snorted a laugh. “Takes one to know one.”
    “No argument. So, what do you think? Of