Alien Tango

see.”
    “Glad we’re back to normal.”
    Martini’s eyes moved away from mine. “Only us.”
    I turned to where he was looking. Gower was curled up, and Reader was holding him much as Martini had been holding me. Brian was the same, and Claudia had her arms around him. The other astronauts were in the room with us. Chee was being held by Lorraine, and Michael was being held by Alfred. No one looked recovered.
    “I have to help them.” I slipped off Martini’s lap and went to Gower first.
    Reader’s eyes were wild. “Girlfriend, this isn’t really what we were expecting.”
    “It . . . showed us things. Things we needed to see.”
    “Why?” Gower sobbed.
    I stroked his head. “So we’ll never forget. It’s us alone out here, and we have to stick together. The entity wants to be with us, but it also wants to be understood. Its pain is ours, only magnified. Are you in there?” I wasn’t asking for Gower this time.
    He nodded. “Yes, we are.” The voice was different, not quite Gower’s. “We did not mean to cause so much pain.”
    “It’s okay, we’ll recover. People can recover; it’s part of how we adapt and survive. Can you help Paul, though?”
    “We are . . . trying. He is resisting.”
    I managed a chuckle. “He’s a man. They don’t like to accept help unless they have to.”
    “Am I going to be sleeping with an entire galactic consciousness?” Reader asked me. “Because if so, I think Paul and I are going to need a bigger bed.”
    “No. We will not intrude. We know how important you are to . . . us?”
    “To Paul, and you’re now a part of Paul, so that’s right.” I looked at Reader. “They’re going to be confused for a while, I think. Just remember that they’re really trying to adapt and not cause problems.”
    He managed a grin. “I’ll do my best.”
    Gower gave a shuddering sigh. “What’s going on, Jamie?” It was his voice again.
    “I think we’re all making plans to never come to Florida again,” Reader said. “But otherwise, you’re the new and improved model, and supposedly things will be normal in a while. Oh, and let the entity help you, okay? By the way, girlfriend, we need to give that a name. Calling it ‘the entity’ is starting to make me expect something to burst out of Paul’s chest at any minute.”
    “Makes sense. What name?”
    Gower sat up and kind of twitched. “Oh, this is really odd. Okay, the entity says that it likes the name Kitty.”
    Reader and I both burst into laughter. “That would be interesting,” Reader said with a wicked grin. “But if we’re going to do a threesome, I’d rather have the original model.”
    “So not amused over here,” Martini said.
    Gower twitched again. “I hope this gets smoother. I feel like I have palsy. I explained that we’d like a name that isn’t a duplicate of anyone else’s, so that the entity is acknowledged in its own right.” Mr. Diplomacy in action. I knew I’d been right about where the entity needed to go.
    “What about Bob?”
    “Are you kidding? I’m not sharing mind space with ‘Bob.’ ” Gower chuckled. “The entity says it’s not wild about Bob, either. No offense meant to the many great Bobs who have come before and will come after intended.” It was learning humor already. This was a good sign.
    “You want a boy name, a girl name, or a nongender-specific name?”
    Gower seemed to be thinking, or having a conversation in his head. He twitched a little, but it was getting more controlled. “Nongender-specific.”
    “Okay, I’ll think about that while I check out the astronauts.”
    “They don’t need checking out,” Martini snapped.
    “Oh, Jeff, you know what I mean.” I got up and went over to Brian and knelt next to him and Claudia. “Hey, big guy, come on, it’s okay.”
    Brian clutched my hand. “This sucks.”
    “Yeah, it does. Look at it this way—you won’t have to live with it every day like Paul will.”
    Brian shook his head. “I won’t be able to ever forget this.”
    “Yeah, I know you’re good with the remembering. That’s okay. It shouldn’t be forgotten. But, you’ll be okay in a little bit. Besides, this is nothing compared to doing hill charges in the monsoons.”
    “Or stair drills during sandstorms.” He managed a smile. “It was good preparation for my career.”
    “Mine too, at least my second one.” Brian looked ready to sit up, and Claudia and I both helped him; he kept hold of my hand. Claudia stroked his