Part 56 (1/2)

There were plenty of things I needed to tell everyone, like what had happened in the other world, and who our world's Mastermind really was. But for right now, the most important thing in the multiverse was to be with my family and friends, and in the one place in the multiverse I fit perfectly. In Jeff's arms.

Available May 2015.

the eleventh novel in the Alien series.

from Gini Koch:.

ALIEN SEPARATION.

Read on for a sneak preview.

REVENGE IS A DISH best served cold.

Yeah, I have no idea what that means, either. But it's what they say when you're ready to go after someone who's done their best to destroy you. I think it's supposed to mean that you should be levelheaded and calm while plotting your enemy's ultimate, untimely, and ugly demise.

Sound plan. Pity that I work better angry. But then again, I'm pretty angry. So we should be good here.

Of course, that's probably being far too optimistic.

Not sure what was more shocking-discovering that there's a multiverse out there and I'm representing in most of the zillion and one universes, or discovering the ident.i.ty of the Mastermind.

Visiting another universe was kind of cool. Nice to see how the other half was living with basically no aliens on the planet. Not as well in some ways, just dandy in others. It was a ”fun” vacation, if we define fun to mean spending a couple weeks unsure if I'd ever get home again or if I was going to spend the rest of my life in Oz, both literally and figuratively.

Coming home was better-always nice to have that ”took a trip but boy it's great to sleep in my own bed and have great s.e.x with my alien mega-s.e.xy husband again” feeling.

But while I got to save the day for the other world, back in mine, I'm not so sure how to manage it. The term ”it's complicated” has never been more apt. And, as in the other world, a frontal attack is probably not the right plan.

A battle will be coming, though, one way or the other. Because it's time to take the bull by the horns and ram those horns right into the Mastermind's personal tenders. So to speak.

But at least I won't be fighting this battle with a small commando force. For this battle, I'm going to ensure I have an army. And, to quote one of my favorite 80s glam rockers, it's time to make the Mastermind Stand and Deliver. For I am a Woman of the Multiverse and I will not allow evil to continue its run unchecked.

Yeah, fine, fine. Let's go with what's been working all this time. Yo, Mastermind-just thought you should know that Megalomaniac Girl is back and she's madder and badder than ever. So watch your step, 'cause I'm coming for you.

Early morning and I are not best buds. I'm not a girl who sees any virtue in watching the sun rise. However, it was the morning after I'd come back from an unintended vacation, and my husband and I had spent the night wide awake and extremely active in the best sense of the words.

Now we were lying next to each other, relaxing in the afterglow of a night very well spent.

”I know who the Mastermind is.” As post-coitus comments went, this was probably not going to go down as the World's Most Romantic Statement.

”Yeah?” Jeff rolled onto his side to face me, leaning on his hand. His other hand stroked my body. It was great to feel his hand on my skin-I'd spent the last couple of weeks wondering if that would ever happen again.

We had music on, and as Weezer's ”My Best Friend” hit our airwaves, I s.h.i.+fted likewise so we were face to face and I could also stroke Jeff's chest and such. And I could look at him. Considering I hadn't been sure I'd ever see his face again, it was nice to be here, like normal, as if nothing much had gone on.

We were in Sydney Base, and because of that, the standard nightlight glow was in the room, meaning we could see each other. Aliens, of which Jeff was definitely one, were different from humans in many ways, not all of them physical. As near as I could tell, no A-Cs liked to sleep in the extreme dark. I'd never asked why-and as I'd learned during my foray out of this world, I probably needed to be a bit more curious about many things.

However, since we'd moved into the American Centaurion Emba.s.sy in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., I'd gotten used to sleeping in the actual dark again. But this was kind of a nice retro moment. My first night discovering aliens were on the planet I'd spent in a room very like this one, half of it with Jeff. The best half.

I was willing to stay in bed with Jeff forever but, somewhat because I'd had a two week ”vacation” in another universe, duty was calling in a loud and insistent manner. Also, Mr. Clock shared that it was six in the morning, and that meant that our daughter was going to be up in an hour, give or take.

”Yeah. Only . . . I don't know if I can tell you.”

”Because you're worried I'll give away that I know because I can't lie, any more than the rest of the A-Cs can, right?”

”Right. You sound like you had this conversation already.”

”I did. With you, in that sense.”

”Oh. Other Me figured it out?” I'd switched universes with another version of me. Yeah, my life was just that kind of exciting. Hers was, too, now, come to think of it. Oh well, she was me. She'd roll with the punches.

”Pretty much.”

”How? I mean, I realize I'm great at looking at accepted truths and quickly spotting the flaws and all that, but she couldn't have had a lot to go on.”

”Oh, she didn't. But she had the one key piece of information we've never had. The same thing to go on I figure you discovered while you were in her universe-her Chuck hates the Mastermind's guts, with good reason.”

Other Me was married to my best guy friend since high school, Charles Reynolds. Well, her universe's Charles Reynolds, at any rate. It had been instructive and interesting to see how my life might have been different. Hoped she'd enjoyed seeing how the other universe lived.

”Wow, yeah. So, you know who it is?”

Jeff nodded as ”Bad Blood” by Ministry came on. ”Almost the worst person it could be.”

”Got that right. So, does Chuckie know?”

”No.” Jeff sighed. ”We've managed to keep it from him. For the all of about a week and a half that we've known. And only because we were frankly so busy and focused on fixing things with the Australian government and getting you and your Cosmic Alternate to switch back.”

”Did Malcolm already know?” Malcolm Buchanan had Dr. Strange powers. At least as far as I was concerned. If he didn't want you to see him, you didn't see him. If he said it was so, it was probably so. Luckily for me, my mother had a.s.signed him to be my bodyguard when we first got to D.C. She'd a.s.signed the Buchanan in the other universe onto Other Me a lot sooner. Apparently things were dicey wherever I was. Go me.

”Yeah. Buchanan's known for what sounds like three years. But he has no actual proof. None of us here do.”

”We had no proof, either, other than the fact that Cliff Goodman was that universe's Charles' lifelong enemy. And the fact that he tried to kill Other Me, their kids, Charles, James and Malcolm. He'd already . . .” Murdered my mother in that world. Along with the rest of her and Buchanan's teams, which included other people I knew and loved in this world.

”I know,” Jeff said gently. ”We figured it all out. Well, most of it. I'm sure we're both missing parts of the whole nightmare.” He grinned. ”And I know I don't have the full story of how you kicked b.u.t.t and saved the day.”