Kitty Katt 11: Alien Separation (21 page)

“E
XCUSE ME?”
Jeff asked.

“How would you know that?” Christopher asked.

“Plutonium and uranium are heavy metals, the ones at the bottom of the periodic table,” Chuckie explained patiently. “In order to have a planet this size duplicate the gravity of a planet six times larger, said planet has to have extremely heavy elements making up its core.” Of course, Chuckie was as smart as the Dazzlers. Smarter, really. So this was him being really nice to those slower minds he had to work with.

Chuckie was right as always, of course. We'd needed to know this, me in particular, because this information now gave me a good idea of what was going on. But I needed to ask a couple questions first. “Chuckie and girls, is it possible that a world would naturally form land sections in the spirals that the map the Lecanora have insinuates is the case here?”

“Possible,” Claudia said. “There are some planets in other solar systems that have this kind of spiral formation on their crusts. It's rare, but there are some out there.”

“Most like that are closer to the galactic core,” Lorraine said.

“How do you know that? I mean that seriously. You guys were born and raised on Earth.”

The girls shrugged. “We learned about the galaxy in school,” Serene said.

“You know, where the guys spent their time focused on honing their talents and running really far, but never studying the things that really matter.” Lorraine wasn't trying to hide her disdain for talents and track. Refrained from comment, because this wasn't a new mindset for her or any other Dazzler—it was why most of our younger A-C women wanted to marry humans.

“Besides, the galaxy is one of our hobbies,” Claudia added.

Jeff, Christopher, and I all exchanged a look, but we didn't say anything. Only for Dazzlers would math, science, medicine, and engineering be their totally fun jobs and bomb building and the study of the entire galaxy be considered a hobby. Chuckie was only single right now, as far as I could tell, because he was still mourning Naomi's loss. The Dazzler weakness was brains and brain potential. Had to figure there was a line forming in the ranks and that he'd be spoilt for choice the moment one of the Dazzlers with empathic ability could give the “he's ready to date again!” signal.

“Okey dokey. So, back to this planet. Uranium and plutonium are really valuable, right?”

“Very,” Chuckie said. “And not in the hugest supply.”

“There's no guarantee that Chuck's guess is right,” Christopher said.

The three girls and I all looked at him, snorted in unison, then the Dazzlers went back to their study and I went on as if Christopher hadn't spoken. “So, a planet whose core is made of uranium or plutonium, or one of the other desirable ‘iums,' would be worth fighting over, wouldn't it?”

Chuckie nodded. “Yes, it would.” He cocked his head at me. “You think that's what's going on?”

“Yes, potentially. We still don't have enough information yet. But I'd like to know what powers all the Faster Than Light ships this solar system uses.”

“All those ‘iums,'” Claudia said. “And I can guarantee that no one here would think that they had enough of them.”

“I think someone would have tried to take over Earth for its resources,” Serene added, “if not for the fact that they're afraid of you and Jeff, Kitty.”

“Always nice to be appreciated or feared. Okay, all that makes sense and so figures. I also think that this planet's been tampered with. We have likely suspects in both the Ancients and the Z'porrah, by the way, though there are other options.”

One, in particular. He was helping me just a little too much, more than he ever had before. Meaning that Algar had some sort of vested, emotional interest in what was going on, and my gut said that his interest was in more than the crew who'd been dragged out here from Earth.

“Tampered how?” Christopher asked, sharing Patented Glare #5 with us, in case we might have thought he'd missed the group diss.

“Races uplifted, seeds planted that create special sections that provide special powers to those who reside there, weirdness all the way around. Things like that.”

“There's certainly precedent in both of our solar systems,” Jeff said. “But what does that mean for us and, more importantly, for all the people we're here to help, the Lecanora in particular?”

“Don't know yet, but we need to get to the All Seeing Mountain as soon as we can. Think the warp tunnel can do that?”

Chuckie shook his head. “It's only made to go from here to there as near as we can tell. We haven't had the time to do a full test, of course, but since there's no way to program a destination—like we can with the gates—it's unlikely that there are other destination options. However, Christopher and I spotted a couple other caverns like the one we sheltered in and this one when we were going all over the planet.”

“Did you happen to find any of our other people?” Jeff asked, in a tone of voice that clearly indicated caverns were not on his Top Ten List of priorities.

“No,” Christopher said. “We did a search of all the planet and Chuck did his measurements. But we stand out, and we both thought it might not be a good idea for Alcalla and Binalla to appear and then disappear.”

“Especially if we weren't actually considered Gods or good guys,” Chuckie added.

“Makes sense,” I said to Jeff, who grunted.

“However,” Chuckie went on, “there were excited activities happening in the Green Land—and trust me, it was like being in the Emerald City over there—and in the Blue Land. That's set up a lot like Venice, by the way, with most of the buildings tied together and floating on the water. And, of course, lots of blue and not just the water. So I think there's a good chance some of our missing team are in those lands.”

“I'm sure they are.” I was. If there were sentient beings, our people were going to land near them, guaranteed.

“We did sneak around the Blue Land a bit and were able to listen. Caught an old Lecanora telling stories to some little ones, and he was saying that the water went on forever.”

“Meaning, as near as we can tell, that everyone on this continent thinks it's the only continent on the world,” Christopher said. “We couldn't figure out how to prove it, and while I know I'm fast enough to run on the water, it didn't seem like a smart option at the time.”

“That
was
smart. For all we know, they have giant leviathans in their water that can catch someone using hyperspeed. Anything's possible, just as this world having one continent and being otherwise all water is possible. In an infinite multiverse, you'd have the probability of having anything and everything.”

Chuckie grinned at me. “Just when I think you never paid attention.”

“Always, to everything you ever said. But I have a more pertinent question. If it's hella cold outside the cavern, why isn't it cold inside the cavern? I'd expect it to feel like an icehouse or deep freeze in here, not comfy.”

“Oh!” Serene sounded like the light bulb had just gone off. “Of course.”

We all stared at her. She was still happily staring at the glowing orb. “Um, Serene? We're all agog to know what you think is an ‘of course' sort of thing.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, Kitty. What you said about the temperature just made sense.”

We waited. That was it.

“Serene? We're not on your wavelength and time is, as it so often is, of the extreme essence. Full sentences, with all the information that no one else has guessed.” Not even Claudia and Lorraine, based on their expressions.

“Oh. This isn't dangerous.” She pointed to the orb. “Well, I think it could be, of course, and we shouldn't touch it, but it's not here to do bad things. It's the power source.”

“For what?” Christopher asked, taking one for most of the team.

“I think for the entire planet.”

“I
CALL SHENANIGANS.
The power source to keep this cavern warm? Fine. The power source to keep the cavern warm and work the warp tunnel? Okay. The power source for the entire planet? Not buying it.”

“I can,” Lorraine said slowly. “Especially if Chuck's right—and we know he is—and the core of the planet is loaded with plutonium or uranium or both. I think this is a nuclear generator of some kind.”

Every human, Chuckie included, took a giant step back, and dragged whichever A-C they were closest to back with them.

“Let's move away from the source that turns people sterile and gives them horrible cancers, shall we?” It was clear I was speaking for everyone other than the girls, Chuckie included.

Claudia pulled out of Randy's hold. “Don't be ridiculous. It's shielded. But I think Serene's right. Good job on pointing out the warmth, Kitty.”

“Wow, always willing to take credit for just saying something randomly that turns out to be right and all that, but radiation isn't a fun thing, girls.”

“It's shielded,” Lorraine repeated, patience clearly forced. “Trust us. That's why we knew not to touch it.”

“Is it a shield you can see?” I really wanted proof. Hey, Chuckie and the flyboys had no regeneration and I knew they all wanted to have kids or more kids, depending, and live long, healthy lives. The rest of us did, too.

“That it's shielded is something we can derive from a variety of factors,” Serene said. “Chuck, you know it's shielded, you can do the math, too.”

“I'll take your word on it,” Chuckie said. “Though the presence of a power source isn't surprising.”

“Why here?” Jeff asked. “Why this cavern in this area?”

“It's really cold and deserted in this part of the world,” Claudia said.

“Which would make this cavern more appealing to the life that's out there,” I pointed out, “not less. Besides, how is it getting power anywhere? Though the stalagmite and stalactite?”

“Yes.” Lorraine sounded extremely pleased with me. “Exactly, Kitty.”

Chose to not share that, once again, I was tossing something out that just happened to be right. I knew when to go on sounding brilliant. “I'm with Jeff, then. Why would someone put the power orb here? Or, rather, why only the one?”

“Well, there could be others,” Serene admitted. “But I think this one is strong enough to cover the entire world, especially if this is truly the only continent.”

“I don't buy it. I'm going to put forward a theory that the moment we find another cavern like the two we've been in already they'll be in another part of the world and they'll have both a warp tunnel and a power orb.”

“My bet is at least three power orbs,” Chuckie said. “Because I'm with Kitty—even if one is good enough, whoever put it in place must have put in a backup generator, if you will.”

“And there are seven sections, but the Purple Land is avoided by all for a variety of reasons. Meaning I think the tunnel we just took moved us from Bronze to White Land while avoiding the Purple parts.”

“Yellow is between White and Purple,” Christopher said. “And can we call it something other than the White Land? I feel like you're telling me I conquered the place or something.”

“Sure. We already have Greenland here, let's call this place Iceland.”

Chuckie laughed. “The names would be far more accurate here than they are on Earth.”

“Yeah, 'cause we're not Vikings trying to fool everyone else and keep the good parts for ourselves without having to fight for them.”

Chuckie sighed. “You know that theory has been debunked.”

“Blah, blah, blah.”

“It's possible that if we can find other caverns and tunnels that those tunnels will go to the Yellow or Purple Lands,” Serene said quickly, probably to forestall a conspiracies theory discussion. “We just have to find them and test.”

“We have hundreds of beings who are now homeless because we had to use their homes to save them and ourselves,” Jeff said sternly. “All the rest of this can wait. We need to determine what we do with and for the Lecanora and their animals before we do anything else.”

A throat cleared behind us and we turned to see King Benny standing there. “The Gods are coming together. There is not one of my people who would wish to be anywhere other than where you are, Leoalla.”

“King Benny, who are these women?” I pointed to the girls.

King Benny smiled at me, teeth showing. Decided it was just how otters smiled. “And still Shealla tests me. They are the Muses of Knowledge, Shealla. They give inspiration for creativity and science, and therefore assist the Gods with creation.”

“Right you are again,” I said cheerfully. “I told the other Gods that King Benny was always right about his God-knowledge.”

He beamed at us while the others all nodded quickly. That was one of the nice things about working with smart people—they tended to catch on quickly.

“What do
you
call the different lands?” Claudia asked King Benny. Which made me feel bad—because none of us so far had thought to ask.

“They were originally named for the Gods,” he replied.

“Originally?” Chuckie asked.

King Benny nodded. “Our king has demanded the names be changed. But, Shealla, the Giver of Names, is here with us, and whatever Shealla says we should call these lands we will call them. Therefore, we are now in Iceland.” Clearly King Benny had been listening to us for far longer than we'd realized.

“We can discuss these things later,” Jeff said with finality.

“Right, because the issue is how we move everyone,” Jerry said. “Since we had to sacrifice your wagons.”

King Benny shrugged. “They are things. You saved what mattered—the lives. All the lives.” King Benny bowed to us. “That the Gods would risk all to save the least of their creatures proves that the Gods are good and right and their laws are just.”

“Ah, just checking, but you don't think we created the snakipedes, ah, I mean the Horrors?”

“Oh, no, Shealla. We know that they were created by Zenoca.”

This was a new one. “Just checking, but who do you think Zenoca is?”

King Benny shrugged. Somehow he still had his antlers on and the shrug moved them again in a humorous way. And again I contained the Inner Hyena. Go me. “He is the creator of all that is evil in our world and all others.”

“What does Zenoca look like?” Chuckie asked. “To you, I mean.”

“Zenoca can change his appearance, Alcalla, as I know you well know.”

“Then how do you know that one of us isn't Zenoca?” Chuckie seemed intent, and I could see the wheels spinning in his head. I just didn't know why they were so spinning.

“Zenoca always travels with the glittering Jewel of the Gods, which he stole from the First Father of the Gods. The Jewel cannot be hidden from our sight, the First Father of the Gods saw to that.”

And all of a sudden, I knew exactly why Chuckie was on this line of questioning. “King Benny, does Zenoca sometimes appear as a woman?”

“Yes, Shealla. Many times. Zenoca has much guile, and in one of his incarnations he used his influence to create a King of the Clans of our people.”

“Oh?” Jeff asked. “So your people didn't always have a king?”

“No. We had our own clans and clan leaders, and while we interacted, we didn't encroach on each other's ways. But once we were under the rule of the king, we were forced to alter much of our lives.”

“How long ago did this happen?” Christopher asked.

“Two of our years ago.”

“Years are arbitrary,” Claudia said. “On Alpha Four, we counted a year as a revolution around one of the suns, but not both. King Benny, how do you count years here?”

“A full return, Muse. We must travel around both suns before our year is done, so that we honor all the Gods and shirk none.”

Did the math. “So, roughly four years ago for us. And you know who was sneaking around over in this solar system behind our backs at that time?” When I was pregnant with Jamie, and while they were setting up Operation Confusion.

Everyone on my team nodded. “The former Diplomatic Corps,” Christopher snarled.

“Assisted by Ronaldo al Dejahl,” Chuckie added.

“And LaRue, who I believe I've mentioned is a shape shifter. In other words, Zenoca is probably her real name.”

“Ronaldo?” King Benny seemed very intent. “That is our king's name.”

“Really? That seems far too coincidental to me. What clan did he come from?”

King Benny shook his head. “He is not Lecanora. He looks more like all of you, like the Gods. Zenoca was in female form and convinced most of the clan leaders that we needed a strong king to protect us.”

“Protect you from whom?” Jeff asked.

“Threats.” King Benny shook his head. “The biggest threat on our world are the Horrors, and no king can protect us from them, especially one who just sits on his throne and does nothing. Some believe he is a God, but my people, we have seen his true heart, and he is of Zenoca.”

“And,” I said to the others with false cheerfulness, “lucky us, he's probably also a clone.”