Alien Proliferation

Jeff wouldn’t allow the equipment to remain in our rooms, under the impression that either Chuckie or the C.I.A. would be spying on us. Chuckie wouldn’t do so, but I couldn’t say the same for the rest of the C.I.A., so I didn’t argue.
    One of them handed me a nice, thick file. I put it on my nightstand. “You guys going to stay here while we do the conferencing?”
    Two of them, who looked related, nodded. “Yes, ma’am, Commander,” the one who looked older replied. He was also the one who’d given me the file I was now ignoring. “Per how Commander Martini and Mister Reynolds prefer it, we’ll have additional equipment set up in your living area. We’ll be there to maintain it, and in case anything goes wrong.” He indicated who I was now pretty sure was his younger brother in the “we.”
    The rest of the A-Cs did a sound and video check, then zipped out of the room. This left me with the two brothers. I decided pretending I knew their names would be both stupid and useless, since, if they were staying, it meant one was an imageer and one was an empath, and the empath would undoubtedly pick up my confusion. Jeff said I broadcast my emotions.
    The younger one grinned at me. “I’m Wayne, Commander. This is my older brother, William.”
    I looked at him. He was a little bigger than his brother, and per Chuckie’s comments based on keen and alert observation, and my sometime awareness, the empaths tended to run larger in body size than the imageers.
    Before I could say anything, Wayne winked at me. “Yes, I’m an empath. William’s an imageer.”
    “Nice to meet you two. Officially, I mean. I’m sure I’ve met you many times I don’t remember.” I was sure I had. But every A-C I’d ever met, other than a couple of psychotic megalomaniacs, had been drop-dead gorgeous, and these two were no exception. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but after a while, all that beauty tended to look alike.
    They both laughed. “It’s okay, Commander,” William said. “We understand and don’t mind.”
    Wayne grinned. “Our younger brother works gate security. I know you’ve seen him. Even though I’m sure you wouldn’t remember him.” Seeing as it was me, this was a safe bet.
    William snorted. “We know this because he’s always mentioning it at family dinners. ‘I sent the Commanders to New York today, and they said thank you.’” He shook his head. “Kid’s ready to burst with pride every time he spins the dial.”
    I found this somewhat endearing. Gladys certainly wasn’t ready to burst with pride any time I asked her for help. It was nice to know someone in Security thought my needs were paramount and appreciated that we were polite. “That’s very sweet.”
    Both brothers made gagging noises. I found myself liking them a lot. “Commander White asked us to make sure that we’re recording everything the C.I.A. says in this meeting,” William said. “Are you alright with that, Commander?”
    “Let’s see what Mister Reynolds has to say about that.”
    “Let’s see if I allow you to have this meeting first.” The tone was almost as annoyed as Jeff managed when speaking about Chuckie, but for a different reason. And it wasn’t coming from my husband. Ah, yes, my Doctor From Hell had arrived.

 
    CHAPTER 2
     
    T ITO JOINED US, looking as annoyed as he’d sounded.
    “I’m not happy about this meeting, Kitty.”
    “Join Jeff’s club, then. It’s necessary.”
    Tito grunted while Wayne and William did a fast fade into the living room side of the Lair. Chickens.
    The Lair was the only “human” set of rooms in the entire Dulce Science Center, which in its turn was home to the majority of A-Cs on the planet. The Center went fifteen stories down into the earth, and I still wasn’t sure how wide it was, it was that huge. The fifteenth floor was used for high-threat incarcerations, morgue, and some other niceties, including top-secret meetings, and, these days, our living quarters, since both Jeff and I preferred the Lair to other options.
    Two younger, female A-Cs joined us. To myself I called all the female A-Cs Dazzlers, because if the men were gorgeous, the women were more so. And they were all brilliant, too. The ones considered dumb as posts by your average A-C were all Mensa material for humans. It really wasn’t fair.
    They were also all, for the most part, extremely nice, which made hating them close to impossible. These two were standard Dazzler beautiful,