Alien Tango

alone. Period.”
    Figured. “Okay. Then I want Paul. Only.”
    “Jeff’s not my type, so I want to stress that you and Paul need to come out alive.”
    “Duly noted.”
    Gower came over after a lot of arguing. “Kitty, what are we doing?”
    “The usual, saving the world from all the other things out there trying to destroy it.”
    “Oh, good. Routine.” He unlocked the door. “You’re sure we’re not releasing the next Mephistopheles?”
    “I’m sure if we don’t do something, this will escalate to the point where we’ll wish Mephistopheles and all his buddies were back and in charge.”
    “Okay,” he sighed. He took my hand, and we moved at hyperspeed into the cell with Brian. The door was locked again by Reader, who was still on the outside.
    “Why is he here?” the Brian who wasn’t Brian right now asked.
    “He can help, I think.” I sat down. “I sort of feel sick because we moved so fast.” I patted the couch next to me. “Come sit down.” Gower did, but Brian remained standing, though he moved right in front of me.
    “Why?”
    “Why do I feel sick? I’m human, I function differently than A-Cs do.”
    He looked at Gower. “He is both.”
    “How can it tell?” Gower asked me quietly.
    “Body and brain not like the others.” Brian moved closer to Gower. “More like us.”
    Gower leaned back. “Maybe.”
    I reached out and took Brian’s hand. “He’s not ready. Come here.”
    He knelt before me. “So lonely.” He started to cry again.
    “I know.” I leaned his head into my lap. “James, I want the intercom off.”
    He sighed. “Okay.” I heard something click, and the little white noise that showed the ’com active was gone.
    “Paul, you need to listen to me, and this goes no farther than you and I. You can’t tell Jeff or Christopher, ever.”
    “Terry’s still in you,” Gower said softly.
    “Yeah, you knew?”
    “I guessed. Once you realized what was going on, I figured part of her was still in there.” He put his hands to my temples and concentrated. “It’s not a lot of her,” he said finally. “Just . . . a trace, really.”
    “That’s what I thought. But it helps me sometimes, and this is one of those times.” I stroked Brian’s head. “Can you tell me, if you join with someone here, will that mean all the consciousness, what’s here and what’s still out there in space surrounding us, will all be inside whoever you join with?”
    He nodded. “Don’t want to hurt you. Here to guard!”
    I looked back at Gower. “The entity is a combination of all A-C talents, distilled. They shouldn’t have included empathic, but they did. That’s what’s caused this, which could be good for us. The empathic part got attached to the various astronauts it’s seen. And for those who died in space, it pulled their consciousnesses in with it. So there are human minds mingled in. That’s why it thinks you’re the most like it—you’re a human/A-C hybrid.”
    “How is this good for us?” Gower sounded mildly freaked out.
    “The Challenger disaster traumatized the entity, just like it traumatized the world. It wanted to save them and couldn’t. I’d call that the turning point. It doesn’t want to hurt us, it wants to protect us. That’s why Jeff picked up its confusion. It wants to help but is supposed to harm.”
    “Why was it attracted to you?”
    “She understands. She thinks . . . right.” The tears were still coming; my pants were getting wet.
    “Well, there’s something out there that believes your mind works the right way,” Gower chuckled. “Not sure that’s comforting.”
    I rolled my eyes at him. “Nice. Look, we have to help. And we need your help,” I added, as I stroked Brian’s head again.
    “How?” Brian’s eyes were still foggy.
    “Why don’t you want to stay with Michael?”
    “Not right mind. Close, not right. Hurts.”
    “They need to be with someone who has A-C talent, I think.” I took a deep breath. “And I think that means they need to be with you.”

CHAPTER 36
    “WHY ME?” Gower didn’t sound as freaked out as I was prepared for, but he didn’t sound completely convinced, either.
    “I think they need to be with someone who can interpret dreams. They don’t communicate the way we do. This is so hard for them, can’t you tell?” He nodded. “But they could communicate with you on a different level, nonverbally.”
    “Why not Jeff or Christopher or one of the girls?”
    “Because they’re not