He kissed me deeply. “You’ll be great, baby, you always are.”
“Thanks and right back atcha, especially when it comes to sex. I promise not to take too long to join you and the others in the Fun House.”
“That’s a good name for the Large Situation Room, as long as you mean it sarcastically, and I know you do.”
Jeff left, and I waited for a few moments, just to be sure he hadn’t forgotten something. My coast apparently clear, took the atlas and headed into the closet. Stood in front of the hamper. “Thanks for all the help today.”
Waited. Nothing.
“Um, I’d love to ask a couple of questions, starting with the page the atlas was opened to. If you have time and all that.”
More nothing.
Heaved a sigh. “Look, I’m about to head out around the world trying to ease everyone into a ‘most aliens are good’ mindset while at the same time prepping the world for galactic war, along with trying to find and stop Stephanie, Cliff, and you and ACE alone know who else. I’m also not sure if I should be supporting Muddy with the idea that Jeff should come with me, or supporting Mom with the idea that Jeff should stay here, and I have literally no idea which option is better in the short or long run.”
Nada.
Heaved another sigh. “Okay. Well, um, thanks for the goggles and such. You know I’m aware that you won’t always come when I call, right?” Turned around. “I’ll check my iPod and phone for more musical clues. Maybe ACE will be feeling chatty tonight, should Jamie actually slumber at Pierre’s slumber party.”
“Except that I usually do come when you call.”
Turned around to see a handsome, rakish dwarf with tousled dark hair and eyes that were just a little too green to be natural for Earth sitting cross-legged on top of the hamper.
“So, were you in the shower or something?”
“No. There are just times I enjoy seeing what approach you’re going to use.”
Rolled my eyes. “I’d say ugh and something else unpleasant, but I’m sure that would mean you disappeared, so I’ll just laugh hollowly and play along.”
“I also always find it interesting that you’re worried that you’ll manage to overcome the obstacles in your path.”
“Dude, seriously, I don’t know why that’s a shock to you.”
“You beat a great white shark away from helpless sea slugs.”
“You mean I slammed my fists into a shark’s snout until the shapeshifter noticed I was being stupid and then saved me and the others.”
Algar cocked his head at me. “Why would you think being a protector, in any way, is stupid?”
“John was right there.”
“John was distracted.”
“He’d have noticed how close the shark was before I got there.”
“Would he have?” Algar shrugged. “Maybe he would have. Maybe he wouldn’t have, and another universe would create because of the fact that he was eaten by a great white shark.”
“Is that how they create? One incident? And, if that’s the case, did another universe create because I stayed on the boat instead of going back into the water or because I considered staying or whatever?”
Algar raised his eyebrow. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about, the multiverse?”
“Well, no, not so much. Not that I’m against that talk, but I kind of have a lot going on in this particular part of this particular universe. And I could really use some advice or suggestions or even just a playlist with answers.”
Algar chuckled. “You know you don’t really need my help.”
“Oh my God, not this again. I need something. Earth and the galaxy need something. I have no idea how to handle what’s coming. I’m not sure what to focus on, and I know I’m totally out of my depth.”
He sighed. “What would you do if I told you that it would be impossible for you to handle things incorrectly?”
“I’d say you were lying like a wet rug. I’ve heard the whole ‘you can’t make a wrong choice because your choice is right at that time’ thing. That’s fantastic in terms of choosing what job to take, or what dress to wear, or what city to move to, but it’s not quite as easy when you’re dealing with a galactic issue that involves multiple races, including some who, point-blank, want to eat us.”
“There is that, yes.”
“Is Muddy correct in terms of what he told us about the Aicirtap?”
“He is, as a matter of fact. The Turleens travel all over the galaxy, sometimes openly, sometimes stealthily.”
“In other words, ask Muddy some more questions about what’s going on.”
“I always recommend being curious.”
“I’m curious about why the atlas was opened to a page showing the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Complete with a triangle drawn around an area where the points of said triangle are, I believe, the three tallest structures in the Middle East.”
“Why would you think that was significant?”
“In addition to the fact that the book was opened to that page? Because apparently the Bermuda Triangle and the triangle formed by the three peaks that the Planetary Council landed on right before my wedding are both landing strips for alien spacecraft. And I want to know if there are others, where they are, and how they will or won’t affect what’s heading to us from space.”
Locked eyes with Algar. Did not figure I had a chance in hell of winning a stare-down competition with him, but still felt up to giving it a try because I really wanted some answers.
Algar smiled at me, blinked slowly, and suddenly I saw things in his eyes. Triangles all over the world, each one marking a safe place to land for a variety of different aliens. Some no longer used, some used all the time.
The images flashed through his eyes, just as images had flashed through Jamie’s newborn eyes during Operation Confusion, when I had to find her father and everyone else in order to save them and the day. I’d thought ACE had done that, possibly even Jamie herself, but now it was obvious that Algar had been the one to give me those vital clues.
The triangle that connected the three tallest structures in the Middle East had something unusual in the exact middle, which happened to be in the Persian Gulf—it had a structure deep under the water. And that structure didn’t look manmade, at least not by any man from Earth. It resembled a gigantic block that was made up of a bunch of inverted tentacles, only not really. But that was the closest I could get. Really hoped that it wasn’t where Cthulhu and his pals hung out, because that was possibly the very last thing we needed.
There were also other images that flashed through Algar’s eyes, including the tallest structure in the world and one of the Middle Eastern Triangle Points—the Burj Khalifa.
Algar blinked again and the images were gone. I was looking back into his normal eyes, if they could ever be considered normal.
“Wow. Um. That was . . . intense. Oh, and thanks, by the way, for helping me save everyone when Jamie was born.”
He smiled. “I don’t do it for your thanks, you know.”