“We—” Melville started, but Prince wuffed, growled, wuffed again, whined, and wuffed one last time.
“Got it. They’re all still dealing with the effects of the gate transfer and have just finished being sick. They’re also clear they’re surrounded with nowhere to go, so at the moment, a low enough security risk to just allow the A-Cs to handle it. Good boys.”
Dug around in my purse. Charlie hadn’t quite started teething yet, but it was coming any day now, meaning I was carrying teething biscuits just in case. A-C baby teeth came in all at once, and based on Jeff’s reactions to Jamie’s teething, I kind of hoped Charlie would start ASAP so we could be on that world tour and far away from Jeff when he was in the worst of it.
Gave each dog a pet and a biscuit, figured I needed to focus and so stopped my iPod when the song finished and put it and my earbuds back into my purse, then turned back to the people. Took another close look around. Was pretty sure two of the guys were also people I knew. Both were, like Viola, in their early to mid-20s. One was about Christopher’s size and build and on the fairer side, while the other was taller with a darker Mediterranean look going. Both were, as per usual, incredibly handsome.
Memory again did me a solid and shared that the shorter one was Romeo Ruggero and the taller Carmine Giordano. I’d also put Romeo in charge of military and Carmine in charge of the gates during Operation Infiltration. This wasn’t as big a deal in most bases, but Caliente’s odd status made being the main Gate Agent an important position.
“There’s no tampering from our side,” Carmine said.
“Good to know. And good to see you again, Carmine, and you, too, Romeo.” Both dudes beamed and I saw their eyes dart around—not to look at those with me, but at the other A-Cs. It dawned on me that the FLOTUS visiting—regardless of your relationship to her—was perceived by many to be a big deal. Meaning this was kind of a test run for my world tour. That was me, getting a double any time I could.
“We need to regroup and advise the President that you’re alright,” Kevin said.
“True enough. Viola, lead on to a convenient conference room.”
“What about them?” Melville asked, pointing to the prisoners.
Considered options. A-Cs were fast but trusting. “Bring them with us.”
Kevin shot me the “really?” look. “Because you want them in a high-level meeting why?”
“They were down there. Besides, what else are we going to do with them?”
“I’d like to put them into a cell,” Melville said. It was clear that Larry and Curly agreed. The prisoners were far too busy looking around to share their opinions, though I was willing to bet “not a cell” would be what all nine of them would vote for.
“I’d personally like to make sure that they’re not contagious,” Tito said, still inside his hazmat suit. “Sure, we were dealing with an android or something, but she could have brought a virus along with her.”
“Let’s get into a room with a door we can close, then, just in case. Carmine and Romeo, I’d like you with us, too.” If we were contagious, we’d just infected all of Caliente Base—and therefore the majority of the Earth A-C breeding population—but I chose to keep that worry to myself.
We trotted off. Caliente Base was a smaller version of the Dulce Science Center. Dulce went down fifteen stories. Caliente only went down ten. We’d landed on what I considered the Base’s Bat Cave Level—where there were all sorts of computers, screens, terminals, and more, with tons of people dashing about doing things that it would probably make my head hurt to know about. Most were A-Cs, but there were always U.S. military personnel around as well.
We reached our conference room. In a human-run building, that room would have walls and perhaps some windows to look out at the view. In an A-C facility there was no view, so that was out. They seemed to adapt by giving all the conference rooms low walls with glass all the way to the ceiling. It was like being in a fishbowl. I still had no idea why A-Cs felt that they didn’t need to sequester themselves where they couldn’t be seen when having top-level meetings, but I’d given up worrying about it. Mostly because, based on new information we’d gotten during Operation Madhouse, I had a feeling it was influence from the Tinkerer.
Tito tested each of us as we entered the room. First he checked everyone with the OVS—the Organic Validation Sensor—which looked like the wands used by airport security to do the closer body checks, only with a lot more blinking lights.
Once each person was verified to be mostly organic and so not an android or Fem-Bot or whatever, it was shots time. Tito had a plethora of needles in his bag and seemed happily content to stab each and every one of us with them. No one complained—Operation Epidemic hadn’t been that long ago.
“If we’re infected, we’ll have to lockdown this Base,” Evalyne said quietly to me. “But D.C. is the bigger issue. We have no idea how many local LEOs were in contact with whatever that thing was.”
“Android, Fem-Bot, clone, some combo. The possibilities are really endless. I’m just glad we have no androids or robots or whatever with us right now.”
Tito studied his phone. Then frowned and shook his head.
CHAPTER 18
FELT THE WHOLE ROOM TENSE as Tito went back into his medical bag. He pulled out something that looked like a hand can opener, loaded something I couldn’t see into it, then put it up against one of the female prisoners’ upper arms. From the way she jerked she was getting a shot.
Tito did this with all the prisoners other than the two guys in suits. Then he put the pseudo can opener away and relaxed. “Nothing contagious. Well, nothing contagious anymore. We’re not dealing with any kind of plague or supervirus.”
Everyone in the room let out their breath. Decided we didn’t need to know what venereal diseases and other things the prisoners were dealing with. Also decided that telling Tito he could have shared that there was nothing dangerous going on a hell of a lot earlier could wait for later. There were more pressing matters at hand.
“Super, so the Casey-Bot was full of it?”
“No idea,” Tito said. “As I told you, her results were off because I was testing for a human and, since she wasn’t fully human, there could have been something in her that would have infected others.”
“I think she was created to give us the distinct impression that she was dying,” Kevin said. “Presumably to get Kitty into exactly the position we were just in.”
“Great, that’s part of the reason for us to powwow. So, let’s sit and get in touch with Jeff and the others.”