Alien Research

CHAPTER 30

“THE SECOND TEAM, or the stealth team if you prefer, will go down the left fork, and get into the Science Center through the reclamation system.”

“I thought we were all supposed to be stealthy,” Christopher said.

“While the others do what?” Jeff asked.

“Go down the right fork and hopefully get into the Science Center that way.”

“But you expect the first team to get caught,” Christopher said.

“Not entirely. But I do expect that team to have to fight. Which is why I’m going to make you two happy and head up the second team.”

“Oh, yes, that makes me feel so much better,” Christopher snapped.

“Who do you want with you?” Jeff asked.

“Richard, Paul, and Adriana. Chuckie needs to be with your team so someone who can lie believably can do most of the talking. You’ll also have Rahmi and Rhee, who, let’s face it, are worth about ten Field agents each when it comes to fighting.”

“Which team is Tito on?” Jeff looked worried. “I’m not saying I agree with this plan, but I do want to hear all of it.”

“He’ll need to go with you. When push comes to shove, he’s the only man the princesses are going to listen to.”

We argued some more, but I won, mostly because Jeff could see the wisdom of splitting our team and he wasn’t fully convinced anyone was in the Science Center, Mahin’s tell and my brilliant hypotheses or not.

The others didn’t have nearly as many issues with the two teams idea as Jeff and Christopher had. Chuckie, in particular, felt it was something our enemies wouldn’t expect.

It took Jeff and Christopher as well as the princesses, but they were finally able to rip the grate off the pipe’s end. The pipe still had a thin layer of old, icky water in it. This was good and bad. Good in that it indicated I was right and no one had given this pipe more than the cursory “look, we took care of it, happy?” treatment. It was bad because we were going to have to crawl through it to get anywhere.

We had the fun business of deciding who would go first and last. After a lot of whining and arguing, it was decided that Christopher would lead and Jeff would bring up the rear, presumably to have our best fighters and the guys who knew the intricacies of a pipe with one fork in it leading and protecting our rears.

However, because the pipe wasn’t really someplace anyone would want to have to lie down so someone else could crawl over them, our order going in actually mattered.

After much discussion, it was decided that the princesses would follow Christopher, with Tito and then Chuckie behind them. White would be behind Chuckie, with Gower, Adriana, and then me.

Way back when, during Operation Fugly, Matt, Chip, and Jerry were with us when we’d crawled this pipe tunnel, and they’d had flashlights. Turned out the only flashlights we had this time were with Adriana, whose backpack looked nowhere near to being as stuffed as my purse, but which contained so many more useful items. Thankfully she had two, so Christopher took one and White took the other. Those of us not near to those two would get to crawl in the dark.

Truly felt Jeff had insisted on me going next to last so he could be the one staring at my butt for this part of the journey. His grin when this occurred to me was pretty much confirmation. Decided it was cute and flattering and definitely preferred him focused on my butt than, say, Adriana’s, so it was all good.

“Attack” order determined and our two flashlights in the hands of each “team lead,” then it was the fun business of crawling on our hands and knees. Wished we’d left our parachute wrappings on, but hadn’t had the foresight so everyone instead got the fun of crawling through ick.

Jeff gave me his standard great kiss while the others started in. “You be careful, baby,” he said when he ended the kiss.

“I’d rather be in bed.”

He grinned, his eyes smoldered, and his eyelids drooped. “Nice to see you remain focused on the priorities.” He looked, as he so often did, like a jungle cat about to eat me. I loved this look. That I wouldn’t get to see it in the pipe or however long it was going to take us to solve our latest crisis was just another one for the Hate The Bad Guys column.

It was finally our turn. Jeff helped me down, patted my butt, and then I followed Adriana into the pipe, Jeff right behind me.

We could have used hyperspeed to get through, but Christopher didn’t want us racing in. I wasn’t sure if this was because he was burned out and hadn’t regenerated yet or was actually based on cautious wisdom. However, I agreed that conserving our strength for the battle or battles ahead was wise, so hadn’t questioned this.

The downside was that stagnant water with extra special “don’t look and you’ll be happier” additives and the fact that the pipe seemed endless, though I knew it wasn’t. It was just a lot slower going with ten of us versus five of us.

Wasn’t sure if not being able to see what we were crawling through was better than knowing exactly what we were sloshing around in or not. Especially since A-Cs had better vision than humans, and, once in for a couple of minutes, everyone’s eyes adjusted. Meaning we could make out more than just blackness. Decided not looking was probably the best course.

“You doing okay?” Jeff asked quietly.

“Yeah, just glad I have hand sanitizer in my purse. Be sure to take the time to wash off if you’re able.”

“I can only hope we’ll have time to clean up before we have to fight. If not, hopefully whoever attacks us is a germaphobe.”

We went on in silence. I listened for the sound of someone behind us. After all, the last time we’d used the pipe to get in, Ronald Yates had followed us. But I didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, other than quiet sounds of cursing or someone being grossed out by whatever they’d just put their hands in.

Finally reached the fork. The old baseball mitt Jeff and Christopher had played with when they were little boys was still here. We’d taken the bat and ball, and used them, too, during Operation Fugly. Took the mitt. Couldn’t shove it into my purse, but I brushed it off, shook it out, and put it on my head.

“Seriously?” Jeff whispered.

“Yes. We might need it, you never know.”

“Only my girl. By the way, I can’t feel you now, so we must be within the range of the nearest emotional blocker.”

“That’s good, I guess. If you can’t feel us, neither can anyone inside.”

“Let’s hope. Be careful, baby, and never forget that I love you.”

“I love you, too, Jeff. Be safe.” I crawled to the left and caught up with Adriana. Heard Jeff go off to the right.

There was more light in here. At first I thought it was because I was closer to White, then remembered he was still about the same distance from me as before. Looked around and realized this part of the pipe was getting a little larger.

Neither Jeff nor Christopher had mentioned this. Would have liked to have confirmed if it was just that they hadn’t remembered or if it meant that this side wasn’t as forgotten as I was counting on.

However, the extra space was appreciated. There was less stagnant water on this side, or else the extra width of the pipe meant the water was more spread out and so dried up more quickly.

After what seemed like forever, I bumped up against Adriana. “We’re here,” she whispered. She also stood up, offered her hand, and helped me up.

We’d exited into a metal room. Plenty big enough for the four of us, with room to spare. It wasn’t huge, but after the pipe it felt incredibly spacious for a rectangle—Jeff and Chuckie would have been able to stand upright, but anyone taller would have to hunch over.

“It’s nice to stand up.”

“It is,” Adriana agreed. “But there seems to be a problem.”

Resisted the urge to say that of course there was, but it took effort. “What’s wrong?”

“Richard can’t open the hatch,” Gower said.

Gower was holding the flashlight, which meant I could see better now. He handed it to Adriana, then went to help White try to wrench the hatch open.

Not that I was some sort of expert, seeing as I didn’t spend my days in pipes or small metal rooms attached to pipes, but this metal seemed different than I remembered the metal on the other side being. There was more rust, for one thing. And there were handholds near the hatch. In fact, there were handholds all over this room.

There hadn’t been anything like that on the other side, either a room or handholds. Christopher had wrenched the grate off, but it had come off more easily than the grate had today. He’d said the metal was a special alloy, too. But this metal just looked like iron.

The hatch made a creaking sound. “Almost got it,” Gower said through gritted teeth.

I got a very bad feeling. Maybe it was instinct. My gut. Feminine intuition. It was more likely that I’d seen a lot of movies and TV shows and I was fully aware of the way our luck ran.

“Richard, Paul, make sure you’re holding tight onto one of those metal handles nearby. That’s an order. Adriana, you too,” I added as I made sure my purse was closed and securely over my neck, and followed my own advice. I put the mitt onto my free hand.

“What do you expect, Missus Martini?”

“I expect us to not like whatever happens when you get that hatch open.”

“What if nothing happens?” Gower asked.

“Then we can laugh at my overactive imagination. Adriana, try not to lose the flashlight.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Super. Then go for it, guys.”

White and Gower pulled, and, as they’d expected, the hatch finally opened.

And as I’d expected, we didn’t like what came out.