Alien Tango

unconscious. My arm tightened on his throat.
    “Jeff, please, please come back.” He was struggling still, but maybe a little less. I didn’t relax my legs or my armlock around his neck. “Baby, please come back. I’m so scared.”
    His thrashing was slowing. “K-Kitty?” He sounded borderline out of it still.
    “Yes, it’s me.” I was still crying.
    “Why are you strangling me?” He was confused and hurt, and it took time for him to remember what had happened.
    “You’re trying to kill her,” Christopher snarled. “She’s a little upset, therefore. Jeff, get it together. We’re surrounded by hostiles.”
    I could feel him force himself to calm down. “Who’s around us?”
    “Alligators.” I tried not to let my voice shake, but I couldn’t. I also didn’t let go.
    “Kitty, you can stop now.”
    His hearts were still pounding like mad. “I don’t think so.”
    He looked around. “Well, yeah, hold on, but stop strangling me.” He flipped to his hands and knees and stood up, all in about the blink of an eye. “Stay on my back.”
    “I need my purse.”
    Martini managed a strangled laugh. “Right.” He bent, grabbed it, and handed it to me. “You’re right, they’re all around us.”
    “I want to go home.”
    “Me too, baby.” He edged to Christopher and the others. “Thanks. How’s Serene?”
    “ACE knocked her out humanely. I was just going to punch her.” Christopher sounded pissed. “You almost killed Kitty, Jeff. Twice.”
    “Thanks, I need a guilt trip right now. Paul, you out of juice?”
    “Yeah, so’s Christopher.”
    “Jeff, you can’t go to hyperspeed now. It’ll kill you. I can’t give you more adrenaline so soon.” My voice was heading to the dog-only register.
    “Okay, baby, it’s okay.”
    I was still crying. “No, it’s not. They’re going to eat us.” I’d stopped strangling him, but my arms were still wrapped around his neck.
    He took my hands in one of his. “I won’t let them hurt you.”
    “Hope you have some ideas,” Christopher snapped. “Unless I’m hallucinating, I think those things closing in on us have other ideas.”
    “ACE? Can you put a shield around us?”
    “Yes, Kitty.”
    I saw a shimmer, and we all started to float. “Okay, Paul, apparently we need to have a sit-down so I can explain that, since you now share mental floor space with the most powerful consciousness in the galaxy, it’s probably okay to personally ask for an assist now and then.”
    The ’gators saw their tasty treats start to get away, and they rushed us.
    “Kitty, stop screaming.”
    “I always scream in terror when things are trying to kill me, Christopher, it’s my thing.” One snapped at Martini’s feet, and I shrieked. Its snout hit the shield and it bounced away.
    “Baby, I need the eardrums. It’s a shield that stopped bullets when it was activated before. I think ACE can stop a couple of ’gators.” There were at least a dozen of them. I chose not to point this out.
    “How long can ACE keep us protected?”
    “How long do we need?” Gower asked. He sounded strained.
    “Paul, is ACE drawing on your power to do this?”
    “I think so, at least somewhat.” He was definitely gasping, just a little, but much more than he’d been before ACE had started shielding us.
    “So, not much more time.” I dug into my purse, pulled out my phone and dialed, thanking God the A-Cs put massive extended-life batteries in these things.
    Reader answered on the second ring. “Where the hell are you, girlfriend?”
    “Up to our asses in alligators. I know that’s considered a folksy little saying, but I mean it literally right now.”
    “Not a great help.”
    “I’ve never been here before! Wetlands. Alligators. Scary. It’s all I’ve got for you.”
    “Tell James to follow the main road that leads into the wetlands,” Martini said. “The gate’s open, we’re past the parking area, but not too far off it. A car should be able to drive off-road in this area.”
    I repeated Martini’s directions. “Please tell me you have a vehicle.”
    “Um . . . yeah. We do.” Reader sounded underwhelmed.
    “What’s wrong with it? It’s not some horse cart is it?”
    “No . . . not like that.”
    “James, we’re in trouble. What the hell are you in?”
    “A nineteen-seventy-five Volkswagen Super Beetle.”
    I let that one settle into my mind for a moment. “All of you?”
    “No, of course not.”
    “Who besides you?”
    “Lorraine, so