“Uh, Kitty?” Tim called from the back. “Was mass panic the plan?”
“I’ve been with you guys, remember? I have no idea if this was rehearsed or if Dew is off-script.”
“She is not,” Mossy said. “At least, she is not off our script. You all seem to think there is the luxury of time. There is not. Your planet needs to be ready as fast as possible.”
“Well,” Raheem said with a little chuckle, “all of this should make all the meetings we’re going to be having go a bit more smoothly.”
Looked at him. “How long before one of your counterparts starts accusing Israel of coordinating this?”
“I give it less than five minutes, honestly. However, we do have some sway with that.” Raheem raised a hand and one of his guards came trotting down. “Please tell our religious guests that Queen Katherine and I will want to address them immediately after this televised event is over. Ensure that none of them leave the room, even if that room must be locked from the outside.”
The guard nodded to Raheem and raced off. We were all quiet for a moment. “Wow, you’re going to lock them in?”
“If necessary.” Raheem shrugged. “I will blame faulty door locks. We cannot have a lack of unity, just because these visitors are . . . unappealing to us, at least at first glance. If what the military man with us just said is correct, we have little time.” He nodded to Mossy.
“I’m a Brigadier General,” Mossy said. “And yes, there is almost no time. Certainly none for needless, petty delays.”
“You’ve been here a lot, and yet I still don’t think you ‘get’ humanity. We’re totally freaking into needless and petty. It’s one of our ‘things.’”
Mossy shrugged. “And yet, your husband is not. And he leads the world.”
“Not really and not yet.”
“America is still the world leader,” Mossy said. “Act like it.”
“Wow, I totally prefer hanging out with Muddy. He’s folksy.”
Mossy shot me a snide look worthy of any Vance could do. “He is. He’s far more diplomatic. I’m far more focused on saving the galaxy.”
“In other words, Mossy’s just like you,” Vance said. “It happens,” he said to Mossy. “You get two of the exact same personalities in the room and at first they fight. She’ll warm up to you, I’m sure.”
Mossy shrugged. “I don’t care, in a personal sense. In a general sense, Earth is at the center of what will be the biggest battle this side of the galaxy has seen in at least a thousand years. I don’t care if the Queen Regent and I spend the entire time snarling at each other as long as, when it’s over, we’ve won and our planets and people are not destroyed.”
“What Bossy Mossy said, and that’s me giving you a nickname, meaning I like you. Sort of. At any rate, we need to know what in the world Jeff’s plan is for what to do not only with the Themnir but their ship.”
“I already know,” Reader said, having removed himself from the servants’ section and come forward. “Chuck just gave me an update. Per Muddy, the five who are on the gangplank are going to be escorted to the White House. The rest of the Themnir are staying on their ship. Until they know we’re going to be able to beat the Aicirtap back, they want to keep the majority of their population inside their escape mechanism.”
“Can’t blame them. How many Themnir are here?”
Reader took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Their entire population. Every last one of them.”
CHAPTER 59
“HOW? I mean that seriously. How can an entire planet full of beings be in one ship, even a ship that size?”
Mossy took point on this one. “The Themnir’s home planet is truly more of a small, lush moon. It’s incredibly moist, with a lot of foliage and the small things that live in lush, abundant foliage. I would assume that the Roving Planet is packed to capacity, but the Themnir are able to go into a form of suspended animation.”
“Similar to what you Turleens do?” Hey, wanted to show I’d been paying attention.
“In a way. However, we are still able to fly ourselves around obstacles, avoid anomalies, avoid collisions with others of our kind or other ships or asteroids and the like. It’s something we can do innately, and it’s a focus for all of us, so the ability is improved over time. For the Themnir, their suspended animation is far deeper. They will be sleeping in layers.”
“Layers of what?” Tim, who’d also abandoned the cheap seats, asked.
“Layers of themselves.”
Looked at the screen. The camera was focused on the Roving Planet again, as the ramp slowly closed. Did some higher math calculations in my head, only because Chuckie wasn’t around to do the heavy lifting at this moment. “It’s very possible, based on their size in comparison to the ramp. I can see that you could have tens of thousands in there. Packed like canned sardines, but if they don’t really notice, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Everyone stared at me.
“What?” I asked finally. “You all staring at me had better not be in shock because I don’t sound like a moron.”
“It’s not,” Reader said. “We’re not actually staring at you, girlfriend.” He nodded his head toward Raheem, who was on my right.
Turned to see that one of Raheem’s guards, the one who hadn’t left to go lock up the religious types, was holding a semiautomatic pointed right at Raheem, who was still in his cushy seat and therefore had nowhere to go. The gun was shaking, though Raheem was not. He looked calm. Annoyed and disappointed, but calm.
“Your Majesty,” the guard choked out, “you cannot allow this. You are listening to this . . . this Jewess about allowing those . . . things to come into our lands? You would imprison our ayatollahs and imams and allamahs so that they will acquiesce to worship a God other than our own? You are a traitor. To Allah, to your people, and to all who have served under you.”
It was dark in here but my eyes had adjusted ages ago. Could see Len and Kyle out of the corner of my eye—their guns were out, but they didn’t have a clean shot. Vance was still sitting on my left, and Reader and Tim had stood near and in front of him. Vance wouldn’t have a gun and Reader and Tim couldn’t pull theirs without the gunman shooting.
Mossy, however, was standing in front of and between me and the king. And my stuff was between me and Vance and, due to turning to see what was going on, I’d shifted so that I was facing the guard. And my mouth was opened slightly because I’d been planning a snarky comeback.
Had no idea how well Turleens heard, but now was the time to find out. “I go low,” I said as softly as I could, not moving my lips, while I revved myself up. “You go high. Now.”
Launched myself at the guard’s legs using a hyperspeed boost. At the same time, Mossy shifted into dirigible form and slammed into the guard’s arm. Turleens apparently had great hearing, one definitely for the win column.