Alien Proliferation

shower—none of them were black, and there wasn’t that much white, either. Apparently Armani didn’t go for baby wear, or Reader had managed to ensure one of us would be in an actual color, at least for a while. I put my money on Reader.
    Called over, apparently all was quiet on our western front. So we made good on the plan to test the baby monitor. That thing was a godsend, and by the evening, I was feeling pretty good about the new penthouse. After all, we’d made love in almost every room, other than the nursery, which just seemed wrong to both of us, or the isolation chamber, which seemed unromantic to both of us and, homey room or not, decidedly creepy to me. The baby was basically angelic, and I was feeling pretty darned good about the way things were turning out, as long as I didn’t allow myself to think about what I’d seen and done in the now-destroyed secret lab.
    Dinnertime was upon us. The full-sized fridge worked just like the mini ones, and there had been plenty to eat and drink in it during the day. However, we figured it might be a good idea to see how the others were doing.
    Intercommed over to Christopher first. “WHAT?”
    “Oh, sorry, guess you two are still having sex.”
    “That was the idea, right, Kitty? I mean, why you had us come over last night?”
    “Somewhat. We want to get dinner.”
    “There’s food in our fridge. Bet there’s some in yours, too. Go ahead, eat up.” Boy, his snark was on full. Must have caught them at a really inopportune moment. Resisted the urge to keep them on the line. Barely.
    “Okay, fine. We’ll let you know if something’s going on, but otherwise, have at it. Enjoy yourselves. And all that.”
    “Great, thanks.” The com went dead.
    “Boy, he was pissy.”
    Jeff laughed. “Can’t imagine why.”
    Com came back on. Amy this time. “Kitty, I know it’s New Year’s Eve, but are you okay with us just staying in? Christopher and I really don’t want to go out.”
    New Year’s Eve already? How had this happened? “Sure, Ames, no problem. Enjoy yourselves. Ring in the new by ringing each other’s bells and all that.”
    “Great, thanks, you’re the best.” Com went dead again.
    Checked with Tito and Walter. Walter insisted he’d already had dinner and was not deserting his post, regardless of day or time. The kid was dedicated, I had to give him that.
    Tito was working out and then had plans to go over to Dulce and hang with Michael and the single flyboys and, as near as I could tell, hit on my cousins and any Dazzlers whose resolve they hadn’t managed to break down yet. Apparently Uncle Mort had left some Marines to keep an eye on things, and the Centaurion boys felt they needed to represent. From what I gathered, my grandparents had also had Uncle Mort bring in New Year’s Eve party supplies—Dulce was going to be party central, to the point where the other A-C bases were going to be running on skeleton crews.
    Jeff called Gladys and made sure continuous scans were running for all bases and strongholds, and he also tripled the security around Al Dejahl’s chamber. Felt sorry for the Security A-Cs, but then again, most of them seemed a lot like Walter, extremely keen and more interested in doing their jobs slavishly than partying.
    This left Chuckie, White, and the Gower girls. We decided to check on them in person, which was simple because they were all in the group dining area on the first floor. Shockingly, they were all having an early dinner and heading over to Dulce, too.
    “Why don’t you come with us?” Naomi asked. “It’ll be fun.”
    “It’ll be loud. Jamie isn’t thrilled with loud.”
    “There’s going to be a kid’s party, a young singles party, a young marrieds party, and a wild old folks’ party,” Abigail supplied. “Your grandmothers set it all up. On two levels—kids and young marrieds on one, singles and wild oldsters on the other. It’s going to be great; your Nana Sadie said she might have your Uncle Mort bring in more Marines.”
    “Oh, my God. Who put my grandmothers in charge?”
    “James,” Naomi said with a laugh. “He said he wanted to enjoy a party for once.”
    Figured. The King of Planning would know his counterparts, wherever they might be. “Well, have fun.”
    “You sure you don’t want to come with us?” Chuckie sounded mildly concerned. “It’s just going to be the three of you here by yourselves.”
    “Christopher and Amy are here. Sure, they’re screwing like