Alien vs. Alien

said.
    “To lock the President into the bunker or to keep him updated?”
    “Yes,” Franklin answered. “Commander Reader went to Paris, Commander Crawford and the rest of Airborne went to Paraguay.”
    “How?”
    Everyone, even the Middle Eastern Contingent, gave me a variation of the “duh” look. Buchanan pointed to the Executive Washroom door.
    “Seriously? There’s a gate here?”
    White cleared his throat. “It’s an air base.”
    “There are gates in every U.S. military compound, as well as in most compounds that belong to friendly nations,” Franklin said. “I see your good guessing skills only extend so far.”
    “Wow, I just realized how you and my Uncle Mort must have bonded—shared sarcasm. Moving on, why wasn’t Senator Armstrong taken to safety?”
    “I refused to go,” he replied. “And before you ask, I’m staying because I may have information that we need, and you may also need my help.”
    “The senator’s already in the know?” I asked Franklin.
    “Yes. He noted some . . . things.”
    “That Commander Reader never had to tell anyone here to go onto full alert—the entire base was on full alert before we arrived. And when I mentioned I was looking for our friend the reporter, we were instantly taken into a polite form of custody.”
    “MJO, I see you’re making friends everywhere.”
    “Truly. I must confess I was overjoyed to see the good senator here—he’s the only reason I’m not still confined to a very small room.”
    “Nice to know it’s the start of a beautiful friendship for the two of you. Where’s the Pontifex?”
    “Sent to the Dome, per your orders,” Franklin said, sounding mildly worried.
    “Just checking.” Decided to check further and got my phone out. He answered on the first ring.
    “Kitty, what’s the status?” Christopher asked.
    “Is Paul with you in the Dome?”
    “Yes. He’s brought me up to speed.”
    “Thank God. Okay, you still can’t find Jeff or Chuckie, right?”
    “Right. I had Paul talk to ACE, who, per Paul, is distant and distracted like you wouldn’t believe. ACE is happy that Paul’s in the Dome and said I’ve been looking the wrong way. So I’ve been thinking—”
    “That maybe they’re on Earth but in one of those rooms that’s made to block out everything, including you and Jeff?”
    “Yeah.” He sounded kind of pissed that I hadn’t let him do the big reveal. Oh, well, it’d been a Day of Suck for most of us. “Not that this helps us at all.”
    “I think it might. There’s got to be a reason they’ve been trying to get us out of the Embassy.”
    “Not following you. What?” Christopher sighed. “One of those stupid birds is standing next to me. Making noise.”
    I hated what I knew I was going to have to say next. “Please put the phone down to the bird. Boy or girl, by the way?”
    “Male, and did I just hear you right?”
    “Yes.”
    “How did our lives get this unreal?”
    “No idea. I need to talk to Bruno’s rightwing bird there, okay?”
    “I refuse to ask any more questions. Shout when I get to talk to you again.” I could tell the phone had moved. I heard urgent cooing, some feather rustling, and what I felt was just this side of screeching.
    “Thanks, got it. I’ll take Christopher again.”
    “The bird tried to bite me. Was that the signal to talk to you again?”
    “Yes.” It worked, so that meant yes in my book. “Your bird feels things are secure at the Dome, at least for the moment, but would like you to ensure that all of the Security force is prepped, and by all of Security I mean Gladys and anyone who even sort of reports to her.”
    “Why?”
    “Because the Dome is going to be the focus of an attack like we’ve never had before.”
    “You know this how?”
    “Aside from some information I have that you don’t, the bird, ah, told me.” Felt the overwhelming urge to name the bird. “Harold’s a little stressed. Stop kicking at him.”
    Christopher was silent for a few long moments. “You’re calling this thing Harold? And you know it’s stressed? How? Why? And if it would stop pecking and clawing at me, I’d stop kicking at it.”
    “He. Harold. Call him Harold and he’ll be nicer. His mate’s name is Maude, and she doesn’t like being kicked at either. And Harold’s stressed because we’re about to be invaded.”
    “By whom?”
    “I have no idea, other than that they’re from space. I needed to call you to make sure Paul was there before