Alien Tango

Reader a curt nod, spun us around, and dragged me back in front of Chee’s cell. Reader came with us. I buried my face in Martini’s chest. His hearts were pounding, and I knew I was trembling. “Jeff, how bad are your blocks?”
    He sighed. “Going up and down. I’m having trouble . . . ”
    “Because you’re so badly hurt.” I tried not to worry and failed. “Michael’s sure picking a great time to be an aggressive predator.”
    Reader put his hand on my shoulder. “True, though predator’s the wrong word. He’s always been a jerk. It’s one of the reasons he and Paul aren’t close—it drives Paul crazy the way Michael treats people.”
    “He seemed nice when we first got here.” Martini’s arms were around me, and I could feel him starting to pick up how freaked out this had made me because he relaxed somewhat. He stroked my back and my head.
    “He can be nice,” Reader said. “But he has to know where someone’s limit is. Under normal circumstances, anyway.”
    I moved my head to look at Reader. “What do you mean, normal circumstances?”
    He grimaced. “Michael’s had a real competition with Jeff and Christopher, all their lives. They’re the same age, but he has no A-C talents, so he’d never be in the positions they’re in. He’s an astronaut, which is pretty impressive, to both A-Cs and humans, but it’s not enough. Jeff’s in charge of the Field, and that means Jeff’s in charge of everything any time it matters. That’s a huge responsibility, and one Michael would love to be given but will never have. Christopher, as the head of Imageering, is pretty much Jeff’s equal in most situations and is his right-hand man in any others. Again, not a position Michael can ever achieve.”
    “And his older brother is the Head of Recruitment and the Sovereign Pontifex’s right hand.”
    “Right, again, a position Michael is unlikely to ever achieve. Recruitment requires the ability to see into a person’s dreams, for a variety of reasons. So he tries to one-up whenever he can.”
    “Stealing my girl would certainly be one-upping me,” Martini snarled, back to tense.
    “Jeff, for God’s sake, look at her face if you suddenly can’t pick up how she feels about this. Kitty’s freaked out, not flattered.” I loved Reader, I really did. He gave Martini a close look. “You need to go into isolation.”
    Martini snorted. “Yeah, like that’s an option.” He heaved a sigh. “But you’re right. And I’ll try to calm down.”
    “Good.” I swallowed. “I figure Claudia, Lorraine, and I need to go into the cells with the astronauts.”
    Reader nodded. “Yeah, according to Alfred, best guess is that the entities need to join with a woman in order to dissipate. We figure one woman per astronaut, just in case.”
    “Then, let me say right now I’m not going in with Michael, and if he acts like this with either one of the girls, he can keep his entity and stay in solitary for the rest of his life.”
    Martini’s body started to relax. “Who do you want, baby?”
    “Want would be the wrong word. I’ll go in with Brian. It’ll crush him if I don’t, and he’s already taking a lot of ego beating with my having explained that I’m with you and not looking to make a change in status.”
    Full Martini body relaxation. “Okay, but I’ll be watching.”
    “I hope so. I have no idea what’s going to happen.”
    “No one does,” Reader said. “But I guess we’re going to find out.

CHAPTER 35
    “SORRY ABOUT MICHAEL,” Chee said. He sounded really down all of a sudden. “He gets that way sometimes.”
    “It’s okay, Daniel. Not your fault.”
    “I suppose.” Chee looked despondent.
    “Are you okay?”
    He shrugged. “I suppose. Guess it doesn’t really matter.”
    This was weird. “Um, okay. Talk to you in a minute.” I took Martini’s hand, and he and I went to Brian’s cell. Reader came along, too.
    “What’s up with Chee?” Reader asked me.
    Before I could answer, Brian saw us. “What the hell are you doing holding his hand?” he shouted at me. “Get away from him! Things are bad enough, you don’t need to make them worse!”
    “Brian, what’s with you? He’s my boyfriend, you know that.”
    Brian started pounding on the door. “Get away from him, from all of them! It’s bad enough being all alone, you don’t have to rub it in!”
    Martini pulled me away from the door. “Okay, you’re not going in there.”
    “Something’s really wrong,