Alien vs. Alien

matter of fact.”
    “Huh. You know, the Poof was with Reynolds when we got attacked. But I don’t think it went into the room with us.”
    “But you’re not sure?” Jeff shook his head. “It doesn’t seem possible if Fluffy was with Chuckie. That would mean the Poofs could get in and out of the impregnable rooms, and, if so, why wouldn’t they have brought you with them?”
    “No idea. Let’s table that concern for when we don’t have alien birds attacking us. Gate or hyperspeed?”
    “Bruno said to use the cube.”
    “I’m not taking orders from a bird, and besides, I think Chuck may be right.”
    “The shock of you using his first name is still almost enough to make me faint.”
    “Noted. Besides, I’m not confident I can land us somewhere I’m not familiar with, especially when there are a lot of people around.”
    “It’s up to you, then. We can use our handy dandy floater gate or take in the sights.”
    “I’m tired. Let’s take the gate.”
    We headed to the ballroom and checked on Hacker International first. “Glad you two didn’t stop to have sex,” Christopher said. He didn’t appear to be saying this sarcastically, so apparently hyperspeed sexy time had been a brilliant choice. “They’re here.” He pointed to one of the screens.
    The armada was hanging out by the moon. They wouldn’t be visible to the human eye, but anyone looking therough a telescope would have no problem seeing them.
    “You should still stay here,” Jeff told Christopher, though he didn’t sound as though he really meant it.
    “No,” Christopher said firmly. “The hackers know what to do. The Barones are here, and they can interface. And I know you’ll need me there.”
    “You sure you want us to stay here?” Jennifer asked. I could tell she wanted to stay. Jeremy looked torn. But who knew what was going to hit over here? Hacker International would need as many A-Cs as possible if they needed to clear out fast.
    “Yes, at least for now. Stick around, do what you can here. Walter, you still listening?”
    “Yes, Chief.”
    “Excellent. Please advise everyone who might not know that the invaders have arrived. No idea what the parasite situation is, but we need to figure it’s going to be bad. Keep some Security and other available A-Cs here with the Barones and Hacker International. Help them as you’re able. Lock up behind us.”
    “Roger that, Chief.”
    “Christopher, you want to spin the floater gate dial?”
    He shook his head. “I think, under the circumstances, we’re better off going on foot. I want to get an idea of what’s going on before we’re immediately involved in it.”
    “Nothing’s on screen yet,” Ravi shared. “There are no signs of human panic.”
    “Oh, give it a few minutes. Or less.” I put my purse over my neck, Jeff and Christopher each grabbed one of my hands, and the three of us took off.
    Christopher might have been Cyclops in Chuckie’s mind, but as far as I was concerned, he was the Flash all the way. He controlled the hyperspeeding; we were at the Mall in what seemed like a second flat.
    Which was great, because that meant we got to enjoy the invaders’ big reveal moment and, therefore, more of the total chaos it created. I’d been right—the armada had made its presence known in much less than a few minutes.
    If Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg got together to make an alien invasion movie that didn’t involve shapeshifting robots, they couldn’t come up with anything better than the scene in front of us.
    The sky, which had been clear only a few seconds prior, filled with flying saucers. I couldn’t tell if they were spread out around the planet or not, but there were a large number of them massed overhead.
    The certainty that these aliens, whoever they were, had been here before and dropped by regularly for routine checkups settled firmly into my stomach. We were looking at classic, stereotypical flying saucers.
    Interestingly enough, the parasites weren’t landing and splatting onto people. They appeared to be in a giant bubble. The sun was low in the sky, and that was probably the only reason the bubble was obvious—the sun’s rays were hitting it in a way that showed its outline. The bubble was similar to the one I’d created with ACE’s help in order to safely dispose of the gaseous Surcenthumain during Operation Confusion. Only about a zillion times bigger.
    There had easily been tens of thousands of people at the One World