“Similar, yes. But it’s under our control and it’s not something the Poofs can’t get out of—I’ve already tested it. However, they’re the only animals of ours that can escape. This can expand to cover something as large as a chocho.”
“Wow. Doesn’t look possible but I’ll trust you on it.” Serene was, after all, our weapons and miniaturization expert. “How does it work?”
“You need to trigger it,” she pointed to a very small button that I’d never have noticed if she hadn’t pointed it out, “then touch it to whatever you want it to surround. That can be done via any method, as long as the portable cage touches something small enough for it to contain.”
“How can it tell? It’s not sentient, is it?” We had sentient metals in the galaxy and, as our trip to Cradus had proved, some of those metals were high up on the mental evolutionary chain. Just didn’t want to be wandering around with some in my purse, in case the kids got into said purse. Of course, I’d carried some of Cradus and Spehidon around for a bit, and even when Jeff put things high out of reach, that meant nothing to Charlie.
“No, it’s got a surface to weight ratio built into it. Do you want all the scientific details?”
“God no. I just want to be sure it won’t try to cage Charlie.”
“It could. So don’t trigger it and put it against him.”
“Um . . .”
She laughed again. “Kitty, it’s safe. It only cages its capture, it doesn’t harm them.” She looked around. One of Lizzie’s rabbits was in the doorway. Serene picked it up, triggered the trap, put it against the bunny, and voila, the sphere spread out in the blink of an eye and said bunny was caged.
The rabbit looked at me, eyes wide, asking if it was time to freak out or not. “It’s not.” Took the cage from Serene, hit the button, the cage retracted into its former sphere. Nuzzled the bunny. “Your lesson? Don’t wander off.” Handed him to Lizzie, who had come to look for him, accompanied by her other rabbits and the least weasels. “Your rabbit.”
She clutched the bunny to her. “Geez. He was just checking to see where you were.”
“Right here, testing rabbit traps.”
Lizzie looked horrified. “Why do we have rabbit traps?”
“In case we need to hunt them.”
She looked more horrified, and ready to ask Siler to take her and all the rabbits back to her School For Gifted Minors in Portugal.
Heaved a sigh. “Geez right back. I’m kidding. Serene was showing me one of her gadgets and it helped to have a test subject. Your rabbit volunteered.”
“Sure he did,” Lizzie muttered, as she went back into our rooms, cooing to the rabbit about how terrible parental units were and how mothers thought they were funny when they weren’t, the rest of the rabbits and the least weasels following behind.
Noted that the least weasels seemed more like medium weasels now, which might be why they were hanging out in our rooms—not enough room in the Royal Hatbox these days. Good to know they were bonding with the bunnies, too.
“It’s nice to see that your mother’s parenting style is being carried on,” Serene said. “Brian says he still has nightmares about being caught by Angela doing anything she didn’t like.”
“Which, many times, was merely breathing. Mom likes to keep everyone on their toes.” Missed my parents. Managed not to say so—Serene’s childhood and mine had been very dissimilar and there was no need to rub that in.
She nudged me. “It’s okay. Your parents were and are wonderful. You should never feel awkward about that, even though some of us had parents that were less than stellar.” She smiled. “Besides, once I met you, I got the family I’d always wanted.”
Gave her a hug. “And what a family it is.” Realized we were now fully alone in the hallway. “You know, I have a question that, since it’s just us, I feel safe in asking.”
She raised her eyebrow. “Is it about our sex life?”
Snorted a laugh. “No, and you knew it wasn’t going to be.”
She grinned. “True. I just like to joke around with you.”
“Because you can, because you know I know what the others don’t, or don’t really recognize. But that’s why I want to ask you this. Why do you think the Valentino and Price families are with us for this trip?”
“And not Jeff’s other sisters’ families, or other extended families on any side?”
“Yeah. I mean, besides the obvious ‘we like them and they aren’t traitors’ reason.”
“Especially since the younger kids from those families still don’t appear to be tainted. And ignoring all the things we’ve already been over?”
“Yeah, because they aren’t relevant to my question, really. I don’t want the ‘conspiracy’ reason, so to speak. I want what you think, why you, specifically, think they’re with us. You, like me, are an outsider who’s come into this family. You, unlike me, pay a lot of attention.”
Serene chuckled, then looked up at the ceiling. I’d seen Chuckie do this a lot—it was the universal “smart person thinking hard” position. She looked back at me after about thirty seconds. “Possibly to make a point.”
“What would that point be?”
“The good family members get to go on the fun vacation. The bad ones have to stay home.”
Pondered this. “It’s potentially valid, if we ignore the cool family members left behind.”
“If I remove any conspiracy or threat ideas, I don’t think it’s a message to the kids or the grandparents,” Serene said. “I think it’s a message to Jeff’s other sisters and brothers-in-law.”
“Well, they’re on Earth right now, doing who knows what?”
She nodded. “They are. And when we all get back, who will be lauded for having gone into space? And not just into space, but all around the galaxy? For the kids, sure, it’s a huge thing. But for Sylvia, Clarence, Marianne, and Jonathan, it’s something that sets them apart from the others. They came with Jeff on this journey. They have the risk, sure, but they also get all the glory of the trip.”
“Glory? Really?”
Serene chuckled again. “You don’t think of this as glory. You think of this as work, as us doing what’s right, what’s needed, and what’s necessary. But most people don’t think like that.”
“I suppose.” I’d been told often enough that I didn’t think like everyone else, after all.
“Trust me. Right now, while no one knows what’s happening to us? Right now, everyone’s happy they’re not with us. But the moment we’re back, alive and well, with fantastic stories to tell of new worlds discovered and new alien friends made? The ‘coolness’ of working with our enemies will seem that much less cool.”
“Or they’ll be even more bitter and extra dedicated to hurting us in any way they can.”