Kitty Katt 11: Alien Separation (40 page)

“W
HAT DO WE DO
to stop them?” Fancy asked. “We don't have the means to fight them while they're in the air.”

“We do if any of the Horrors are still alive,” 2.0 said. “They can take on something like that.”

“I sincerely doubt it, Ronnie, but it would be worth trying. If we knew for certain that whoever is blowing up the castle is actually our enemy.”

“Well, it was my castle, so they're my enemy.”

“Can't really argue with that one, girlfriend.” Reader shook his head. “I'm kind of with Ronaldo here—why would you even wonder if they were friendlies?”

“Because someone removed every, single, living Lecanora from that castle before it was bombed. Said removers might be siding with those whose ship was shot down, those who are currently shooting up the Capital of Greenland, or someone else.”

“They didn't remove any of his honor guard,” Fancy pointed out.

“Said honor guard was eaten by the Poofs. I think that means we can't judge if whoever's snatching people out of thin air are pro Free Women extremists and Amazonian Ancients or not.”

“They didn't remove
us
,” Abigail said dryly, indicating herself and the princesses.

“Well, they tried to remove me, James, Fancy, Wilbur, and Ginger. They got everyone else.”

“We're assuming those who took the others were the same as those who took the servants in the castle?” Rhee asked.

“Good point.” Heaved a sigh. “Honestly? I don't know. We have so many planets involved, and a lot of them have hyperspeed and most of them have advanced tech. It could be any of them. It could be beings we're not even aware are involved.”

“And we don't know if they've taken people from other areas or not,” Fancy said. “Do we have the time to verify if Haven is still secure?”

“No.” Reader had a Commander Voice and it was on High right now. “If they're taking people off this planet it's either to save them or enslave them. Period. But us knowing how many are gone tells us nothing, so it doesn't matter at this time. We need a plan of action, but since we don't know what we're up against, it's harder to devise. But spending time verifying who is or isn't here is just a time waster.”

“It would help if we knew who took the Lecanora out of the castle,” I said. “It's either someone with hyperspeed—meaning, to our knowledge, it can't be someone from Alphas Five or Six, but it could be someone from Alpha Four, a Free Woman, an Iguanodon, a Major Doggie, or a Cat Person—or it's someone with Snatch You Out Of Thin Air Tech, meaning it could be anyone on any of the inhabited planets. But otherwise, I agree with you, James. I just have no idea what actions to plan.”

“He was about to describe them when the attack began.” Rahmi pointed at The Clarence Clone. “Those who had taken the servants out of the castle.”

“Yes, I was.” He looked rather proud. “They looked like flightless waterfowl.”

We all stared at him. “Excuse me?” I asked finally.

“Flightless waterfowl.”

“Like . . . penguins?” Reader asked.

Clarence brightened up. “Yes! That's the name. Penguins. Black and white, with wide and thick webbed feet, big flippers instead of wings, sort of rotund bodies, and bird-like heads with pointed beaks. They're very pretty. At least, I think they are.”

The rest of us, 2.0 included, all looked at each other. “How does he know what penguins are but couldn't remember their name and can't remember his family?” Abigail asked.

“I'd imagine there's a basic knowledge base they have for all the clones—all basic living functions like how to eat, how to breathe, how to blink, and so forth. Then you'd overlay a standard knowledge base. For all we know, Clarence and Ronnie can both speak multiple Earth languages.”

2.0 nodded. “I can. I can understand, speak, read, and write in at least twenty languages. Maybe more. I haven't really tried.” Noted that he seemed far more on our side than an adversary right now. Possibly because the devil you knew that wasn't trying to blow you up was better than the devil you didn't who was.

“Right, so a generalized knowledge base would be Earth-centric, because that's the planet that our clones are technically ‘from.' So, our Clarence Clone pulled up the description before the name—memory is funny and I can buy it working that way.” Turned to said Clone. “How big were these Penguin People?” Without an Earth A-C here, didn't have a guess for which planet the Penguin People were from, but it had to be either Alpha Seven or Beta Sixteen because we'd never seen them, and if faded memory served, the races on those planets were avian-ish.

“Big. Our size. And they weren't all black and white. There are some that are a pretty blue with white, and some that are a deep brown with white. That I've seen so far.”

“All working together?” Reader asked.

The Clarence Clone nodded. “Yes.” He cleared his throat. “Can I be on your side?”

We all stared at him, 2.0 included. “Excuse me?” Apparently I was the designated WTF asker at this time.

“I'm alone, and I don't like being alone, and I've been alone
forever
. You're the Gods and Ronaldo is the king. And I . . . ,” he looked down. “I'd like to have some friends.”

2.0's eyes narrowed for a few seconds—was pretty sure he was in The Clarence Clone's head. “He means it,” he said quietly, as his expression relaxed. “He doesn't want to wait for ‘her' anymore. You haven't hurt him, too much, and he feels needed right now.” 2.0's turn to clear his throat. “And, frankly, I feel the same way. I was set up by someone I thought cared about me, and the people who saved me are my supposed enemies. I'd also like to switch sides.”

“He could be lying,” Abigail said quickly. “About both of them.”

Studied 2.0 and The Clarence Clone. They looked a lot like I felt—out of their element, lost, and mostly alone. Only they were far more alone than I was. “Could be. But we have to remember—they aren't the originals, they aren't the people who are our enemies. They're similar but different.” In the case of The Clarence Clone, very different.

“Look, on behalf of both of us, clearly we were created to fill roles, do jobs, but not be
real
people. But we are real, at least I am, and I'm pretty sure he is, too.” 2.0 indicated The Clarence Clone with his head. “I don't want to be exterminated when she gets back, or when the Z'porrah arrive. Deposed kings can have decent lives. Assassinated kings cannot.”

“What's the name of the one who put you onto the throne?”

“She has a lot of different names. On your world, it's LaRue. Here it's Zenoca. I don't know if either one of those are her original given name. I don't know that it matters, either.”

Fancy hissed. “Our world has been ruled by Zenoca for these past years!”

“Fancy, that's not necessarily news. Ronnie, any guess for why she didn't tell Clarence her name?”

He shrugged. “Not a confirmed guess, but my bet would be that she didn't want him giving her away. She knew I wouldn't.” He sounded quite bitter, not that I could blame him. “Basically, she had two patsies here, just at different knowledge levels.”

“It's always hard when you discover the person you thought had your back is instead the one shoving in the knife. We tend not to backstab, but we get the knife far more than we like.” Tried not to think about what I wanted to do to Cliff Goodman for what he'd done to us. Failed. But I figured the anger would probably give me an assist.

“In the short time I've known you, you've threatened me, beaten me, and saved me, but as far as I can tell, you haven't lied to me. I'd like to try working with people who actually tell me what the hell's really going on.”

“The love on the mountaintop is great and all,” Reader said, “but we have bigger problems than the two of you realizing you've been used and wanting to come over to the side of right. War. On this planet. Right now. With technology so advanced there's nothing here that can protect everyone.”

Thought about this. “Well, actually, that's not true.”

G
OT SEVERAL WTF LOOKS.
Ignored them. “We have a power source we know about in Iceland. More scattered throughout this continent. And there's likely one somewhere under us, right under us, because that gigantic telescope isn't hanging up here simply because it wants to.”

“You guys told us about that last night,” Reader said. “And while Serene insisted she could rig things so that she could handle and control the orb, Chuck also made the point that it was extremely dangerous and that only he, Serene, Lorraine, or Claudia were even close to being qualified to do so.”

“I think we're going to need to try.” Pointed to the two ships that were hovering—they were moving slowly down toward us.

“You think we can turn the telescope into a weapon?” 2.0 asked. “Because I thought of that, a while ago. I can't touch it. As far as I've been able to tell, no one can touch it, because I've been up here a few times and I've seen youngsters try to reach it, and even if they're on each other's shoulders, they can't. I think it moves away from them, though it doesn't appear to.”

The Clarence Clone nodded. “No one can touch the All Seeing Eye.”

“Is that what you call it, or what everyone calls it?” As I asked this I took a better look around. There were other beings up here with us. Far away, because this was a big area, but still, here. And I was pretty sure that they were katyhoppers. Based on the coloration that I could just make out, they were Matriarchs. Meaning they weren't up here by accident, because per our katyhoppers, the Matriarchs never came up here all as one.

“It's what it's called.” The Clone sounded stubborn, but like a child would be. He looked down. “I know the Gods know all the names.”

Looked to Fancy, who shrugged. “Different regions refer to things differently. I have heard it called that before, Shealla—by you, for example.”

She had a point. “Fine, fine, works for me, then. And, Clarence, you're right about the name. I'm sorry I doubted you.”

He looked up at me and smiled. “It's okay, Shealla. Everyone says the Gods like to test you. I guess that means I passed?” The Clarence Clone wasn't very much like his original other than in looks and expressions. I preferred the Clone.

“Yes,” I said gently. “You passed.” Cleared my throat. “So, Clarence, Ronnie, have either of you ever seen a big glowing orb or something like it, most likely in a cave?”

The Clarence Clone shook his head. “No. But I don't go into any of the caves.”

“Why not?” I asked him.

“They scare me. Everyone is afraid of the caves.”

Fancy nodded. “This is true for my people. Haven is not the same as the caverns.”

Knew this to be true from what we'd seen of the planet so far, so I didn't argue with it. 2.0, on the other hand, didn't look afraid—he looked pissed off. “So she put some sort of power source here and never told me about it?” He sounded pissed off, too.

“No, actually, I'm pretty sure she didn't know about it. Frankly, she might not even know about the All Seeing Mountain and the All Seeing Eye. We think the power orbs have been here a really long time. Like, beginning of the world long time.”

2.0 shook his head. “That should be impossible.”

“You're both clones of dead guys, which should also be impossible. Welcome to the New Realms of Possibilities.”

2.0 shocked the hell out of me by laughing. “Okay, good point. So, what do we do? Even if we can find the orb you think is up here, I don't have a scientific background.”

“What background
do
you have?” Reader asked.

“Business. I know why I'm supposed to dislike all of you, I have all of the original Ronaldo's memories. But the father you killed isn't someone I knew or know. And I'm smart enough to know the difference between someone else's memories—even someone who was and is technically me—and my own. And I didn't know Ronald Yates. He didn't raise
me
. And, as you pointed out earlier, I'm not the person who conspired against you, either.”

“Other than here,” Abigail pointed out.

“Yes, but I've seen the error of my ways. I'm willing to not care about the past wrongs I'm supposed to be all worked up over, and far more willing to do what I can to ensure that we all have a future. Not that I can offer any help at all here, because, again, science is not my area.”

We had scientists with us and a certified genius, too. Only they weren't actually with us right now. Which was frustrating on so many levels I lost count. “Can anyone actually reach Chuckie telepathically?” Hey, it was a long shot, but I liked to live by the cat motto that it never hurt to ask for what you wanted.

Abigail cocked her head. “You know . . . I think if Ronaldo and I work together, we just might be able to.” She looked at me. “But can I trust him? Really?”

Took her hand in mine. “I don't know. But I'm willing to take the leap of faith. However, the decision has to be yours, because it's your head he'll be in.” I could ask the Matriarchs if we needed to, but with Abigail's powers seemingly fully back and then some, it would be better not to let everyone know that the katyhoppers were mind readers, 2.0 and The Clarence Clone in particular.

“My world is going to be destroyed,” Fancy said quietly. “If our now-deposed king could enter my mind and help me to save it, then I would take that risk.”

Abigail got a funny smile on her face. “The good of the many outweighs the needs of the few. Sis and I risked similar before, when our world was under attack. This world deserves the same help.” She reached her hand to 2.0. “Prove that Kitty's right to trust you.”

He took her hand in his. “I'll do my best. And not only because I know the rest of you are all ready to kill me if you even think something's going wrong.”

“I think LaRue enhanced your brain from your original's. You seem a lot smarter than Ronaldo Number One.”

This earned me a grin. “He was in love with her. I'm not. That probably helps.”

“I'm sure it does. Was she in love with him, do you think?”

“I don't know, but I doubt it. She's been alive a long time, much longer than she looks. When you're that old, you probably have a fondness for someone, but love?” 2.0 shrugged. “I think she loves her mission.”

“What
is
her mission?” Reader asked.

2.0 looked mildly surprised by this question. “To take over the galaxy.”

I sighed. “Or, as we call it, James, routine.”

Abigail laughed. “Nice to know nothing ever changes. Okay, Ronnie, let's see if we can reach the smartest guy on any planet and figure out how to save this one.”

Abigail and 2.0 faced each other, held both hands, and concentrated. Couldn't speak for anyone else, but I was ready to knock him to the ground if she appeared to be in any kind of distress.

She knew it, too. “It's okay, Kitty. Remember, if you guys are stressed, it makes me stressed, if you're angry it makes me angry, and so on. So relax—I'll let you know if something's wrong.” True enough, that was how part of her talent worked, she was sort of a reverse empath.

2.0 grunted. “This is harder than it looks. I've never tried this before, so can you all stop sending threatening thoughts about me out? I can feel them through Abby's mind and not only is all the distrust unsettling, understandable or not, but it's making it really hard for the two of us to link up.”

“Why are you calling her Abby?” Reader asked suspiciously.

2.0 heaved a sigh. “Because that's the nickname she prefers. I'm
in
her mind, remember? There are some things that are fairly easy to spot.”

“Let's let them work, gang.” I took a giant step back and the others followed suit.

Before we had any time to fret, Abigail jerked. “Kitty, I've reached Chuck!”

“That's awesome, go team.”

She and 2.0 opened their eyes. They both looked terrified.

“No,” he said, voice shaking. “It's not.”