Alien Proliferation

don’t exactly have a spaceship capable of following them, or anyone else, really.”
    “Why not? I mean, just borrow one from that Alexander guy. He’s handing them out like party favors!”
    “We’ll go along,” Naomi offered.
    Abigail nodded enthusiastically. “We’ll be able to track them, I’m sure.”
    Other mouths were opening, but Gower’s opened first. “Kitty? ACE would like Amy to know that Alexander has offered to follow them.”
    “ACE, please tell him no, thank you.”

 
    CHAPTER 86
     
    “W HAT?” THIS WASN’T JUST from Amy. Everyone other than Gower shouted that out.
    Jamie fussed, and I got up and did the “in the Snugli” version of the Mommy Dance. “Guys, really. While I agree that the idea of pursuing the evildoers to the ends of the universe sounds all cool and whatnot, I’d like to point out a couple of things. One would be that Amy, Naomi, and Abigail are currently untrained in anything remotely resembling self-defense, weapons, or tactics.”
    “Never stopped you, girlfriend,” Reader said with a grin.
    “Per our latest set of megalomaniacs, I’m special. Two would be that we have just a tonnage of work that has to be done here, on Earth, to counter the latest decades-in-the-making elaborate ruse. Chuckie’s got a list of all their operatives—we have to make sure they’re hunted down, nullified, and give us their information. Three—we have a destroyed secret lab down under and a long tunnel going who knows where. Let’s get what we can out of both. Four would be that Richard already told us what our new jobs were to be, and, news flash, unless or until we’re actually assigned to another planet, this is the one we’re supposed to protect and serve.”
    “They’ll come back.” Chuckie stated this as solid fact.
    “Dude, no kidding. And in greater numbers, blah, blah, blah, seen that movie, too. Here’s my final news flash—we freaking need the rest to have a chance to regroup, adjust, assimilate, and all that jazz. What’s wrong with you people? I have a freaking newborn here who’s the target for our fave power couple. I want to be ready when they come back, not go running off like a moron so they can have a chance of success.”
    Everyone was staring at me, in shock, as near as I could tell. Gower nodded. “Councillor Leonidas agrees with Kitty. ACE agrees with Kitty, too.” Gower did the twitch. “Fun as always.”
    “Why are all of you staring at me?”
    “Because we’re so used to you running off like a moron,” Christopher supplied.
    “Yeah? Well, I’m always right when I do it. Unlike some of you I could name.”
    Jeff nodded. “Yeah, you are, actually. Speaking of Clarence, Sylvia and the kids are with my parents, no idea where my great brother-in-law is. Richard, what do you want to do?”
    White shrugged. “Missus Martini, sitting as she does at the top of our enemies’ Most Wanted list, has the floor, so to speak. If she doesn’t want to race off, I’d assume it means we shouldn’t.”
    “See?”
    Jeff shook his head. “You’re proud you’re number one on the hit list?”
    “Yeah. The bad guys’ evil computer said I’d single-handedly destroyed at least ten operations, and I only know about four. I’m pretty proud of myself. Destroyed without knowledge of. Totally cool.” Jeff didn’t look like he thought it was cool. “Steven Tyler and Joe Perry would think it was cool,” I muttered under my breath.
    Jeff rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Aerosmith is off limits to you, still and forever.”
    “You’re high if you think I’m never going to an Aerosmith concert again.”
    “Oh, that I know. You’re just going with me, and I’ll have a restraint on you.” Jeff heaved a sigh. “Okay. So, I guess that’s it. We need to get something over to Alexander and Leonidas so they can confirm it’s one of us dealing with them.”
    Chuckie nodded. “Sign, countersign, password, counter-password, individualized to each of them, and so forth. Standard. I’ll run it by you before we finalize it.”
    Jeff sighed again. “Run it by James, Tim, and Serene.”
    Reader laughed. “Uh, Jeff? We’re honored and all, and Serene is, I think, still jumping up and down because of her promotion from Ditz-in-Residence to Head of Imageering, but none of us expect to start tomorrow without your advice and guidance. Yeah, we’ve been paying attention, but, it’s sort of sudden, and none of us saw it coming. None of us have takeover