CHAPTER 40
THE ROOM WENT SILENT. Broke it. “Um, excuse me? What do you mean by the area being marked?”
“For landings,” Muddy said patiently. “There are clear indications for where to land if you know what to look for.”
“How long have those markings been there?”
“To our knowledge, forever.” Muddy shrugged. “I realize by your expressions that for all of you this is shocking. For us, it’s not so much. Your desert area is marked for landing, too.”
“Hang on.” Got up and ran to the family dining room again and went to the fridge. “Odd request. Need a map of the peaks that the Planetary Council landed on right before my wedding, and I also need a map of the Bermuda Triangle. And any other triangular places that you think or, rather, know are marked as freaking alien landing sites.”
Opened the door. There was an atlas sitting on the shelf. Took it out to see that there were bookmarks placed throughout. “Thank you once again for all you do.” Closed the door and ran back to the others. “Found this atlas that I’ve been prepping to show the kids where we’re going.”
Flipped it open before anyone could mention that I’d had zero time to prep anything other than my introductory speech for a Code Name: First Lady marathon. Made a mental note to talk to Raj about that whole Hollywood situation before it blew up in our faces. Again.
The page was the Bermuda Triangle. “I see no markings,” Chuckie said. “And this atlas has pictures taken from space.”
“They don’t photograph well, perhaps,” Muddy said politely. “However, they are there. We Turleens come here enough that we didn’t need to choose an official landing area. Plus, we were coming specifically to meet with the Queen of the World.”
“Seriously, call me Kitty, and also seriously, stop using that title. We get it, your hints are landing hard. We just know humans and we all know how badly everyone in the world is going to take the assumption that Jeff and I are their sovereign lords.”
The next bookmark was for the area I’d asked about—the section of southern New Mexico and Arizona that had Hatchet, Animas, and Chiricahua Peaks, which formed a very shallow triangle. This area was a hotbed of alien activity and always had been.
Apparently, we now knew why.
Because Muddy nodded rather enthusiastically. “Oh yes, that’s the landing area.”
We all looked at Wruck. “So, did the Ancients provide landing strip information on our planet, or was that the Z’porrah?”
He had the grace to look embarrassed. “I believe that was done long ago. We both used to mark the worlds so that our observation teams and, as you’d call them, missionaries would be able to land safely.”
“And you never thought to mention it because?” Chuckie asked.
“Because it never occurred to me. I’m sorry, I’ve been here a long time, and in that time, I’ve been aligned with you for only a few weeks. I haven’t thought about the landing areas since LaRue attacked and almost killed me. That information was never something I’d have even considered sharing with those I was associating with.”
Most of the room didn’t look happy with this answer. But it made sense to me. “That’s fine, John. We have to remember that we’re lucky you’re here, alive and well and with us. We’re just already so used to having you around that we forget that you were alone, behind enemy lines, for decades.”
Jeff sighed. “Kitty makes a good point, and I apologize for being upset with you for forgetting to tell us something key.”
“I’ll do my best to remember what you all don’t know,” Wruck said, earning chuckles from most of the room.
“How many of the ships coming to us will prefer a water landing, do you think?” Jeff asked Muddy and Wruck.
“The Faradawn Treeship will, most likely, as will the Vrierst ship,” Muddy replied. “As for the others, we’re unsure.”
“My data is out of date on anything like this,” Wruck said. “I had no idea the Mykali were here. I don’t know that any of us, Ancients or Z’porrah, know.”
“Probably for the best, at least in terms of keeping the Mykali safe. But back on topic, the Shantanu definitely were water landers. A manta ray ship landing in water makes sense, and I guess a tree heading for water does, as well.” Thought about the other ships we’d seen. “The Z’porrah tend to be hoverers. Will any of the others do that, hover impressively overhead?”
“Hovering overhead is usually reserved for an attack or is done as part of an official welcome,” Muddy said. “Though we can’t speak for those coming to Earth just now.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Jeff said. “What it means is that we need to be prepared to have these ships land in our deserts and our oceans.”
“Are we sure they’re coming to our deserts and oceans?” I asked. Looked at the atlas. There were a lot of other bookmarks in it.
Every head, including the three Turleen heads, nodded. “They are coming to seek protection from the King and Queen of the World,” Muddy said. “As I keep reminding you.”
“Chuckie, we need the mind working on how we spin this, because I’m fresh out of cool marketing ideas. All I’ve got as a blueprint is Independence Day, and I’m hoping we’re ready to have our experience go better when the Aicirtap arrive.”
“I hated that movie,” Chuckie said, but I could tell he was thinking. He shook his head. “Give me a little time.”
“I’m not sure that we have it,” Mom said. “The estimates for arrivals are just that—estimates.”
My phone beeped. Got off Jeff’s lap and went over to dig it out of my purse. Noted that my music app was open and the song cued up was V.V. Brown’s “Shark in the Water.” Snorted a laugh but kept myself under control. Either Algar had had that hint up for me and I’d just never looked at it or else, as I suspected, he was sharing a joke with me.
Looked at the text that had just come in. “Huh, Nadine says that all three kids want to stay at the Embassy tonight.”
“They don’t want to be with us?” Jeff asked, sounding hurt.
“Apparently Pierre is having some kind of elaborate sleepover for all the Daycare Kids and ours don’t want to be left out.” Checked to see if I had any other texts. I did. “Mom, Dad’s there, too, and wants to know if you’re okay with him staying with the kids.”
“Tell them all yes,” Mom said. “You and Jeff need to get cleaned up and dressed and then everyone needs to get back to the Large Situation Room. When aliens are arriving, the government doesn’t get to sleep.”
Sent confirmation texts to Dad and Nadine. Wasn’t sure if I should be hurt or relieved that the kids didn’t want to hang with us tonight. Settled for both.
Chuckie called Serene and Jeff called Raj. Craig and Francine were eating an official dinner and then would be heading to the LSR. Those who needed to know what was really going on did. All others would remain unaware that Jeff and I had taken a side trip to Bermuda.
Since the Planetary Council were still on-site, Mom decided that the Turleens would go with her and the others and get introduced while Jeff and I cleaned up.
“What time is it?” I asked as Jeff closed the door that led out to the main hallway. “I’m totally jumbled from going back and forth across the country and I didn’t think to actually look at the time when I was looking at my phone.”
Jeff turned and shot me a look I was very familiar with—his Jungle Cat About To Eat Me look. My breathing got heavy.
“It’s time,” he said, as he locked the door, “for you to change out of that bikini.”