Read Online Alicia Jones 4: Enigma by D. L. Harrison - Free Book Online Page B

around, the property was fairly large, so it was
almost a quarter mile long driveway.  The protestors weren’t actually on
the property, though there were about thirty people out there on the side of
the road.  It just didn’t make sense to me, why my family and not
me?  I didn’t like it, but I wasn’t inclined to go ask them either.
    “Al, set up a perimeter and interface with my parents’ home
A.I. to pass on the software.  Include the nanite software as well.”
    I grabbed the pack as he acknowledged me, and then walked
into the house.  I heard some noises in the kitchen and headed that
way.  My sister looked up at me from the table, and my mom looked over
from the stove.
    “What are you doing here?” Tina asked bluntly.
    My mother on the other hand walked over and gave me a hard
hug.
    When she released me I explained, “I heard about the
protestors.  I wanted to make sure you guys were okay, and to install a little
extra security.”
    My mom frowned, “What kind of security?”
    I smiled, “Non-lethal mom, relax.  That gravity ball
stuff, it will prevent any harm to you or anyone stupid enough to try and hurt
our family.  I also brought you guys a nanite repair pack, a whole house
maintenance thing.”
    Before she could object, I opened the door to the cellar and
escaped down the stairs.  I had the thing set up in the house computer
vault and the nanites free in less than a minute.  When I got back upstairs
I was bombarded with questions about both, so I went through my explanations,
laying out what the nanites could do from fixing a hole in a sock, to repairing
the Air Conditioning unit or water heater.
    “So, what’s going on, why are those idiots here, and not at
my door?”
    My sister Tina replied, “They’re a local group.  All the
local groups are protesting at local government buildings, picketing and all
that, to break off all relations with you evil aliens.”
    She grinned, and then actually hugged me, which was weird
because we hadn’t gotten along well in years.  Maybe now that she was full
grown we’d get to be close?  During the last visit we’d seemed to bury the
hatchet, but I hadn’t held much hope for more than that.
    “Anyway,” Tina continued, “They must have decided to picket
the family of the only legal alien citizen of the United States.  Cheer up
sis, I’m sure they’ll be at your house soon enough,” she joked.
    Mom ordered, “Sit, you’re staying for breakfast, and we
appreciate the sentiment but so far everything has been peaceful.  Just a
bunch of protestors.”
    “Let’s hope it stays that way, emotions can make people do
crazy things, and this thing seems to be building.  Ever since the danger
passed, some people are scared and angry about what almost happened, and I
can’t blame them for that.  But blaming all aliens for the Knomen would be
foolish.”
    She gave me a look which said to me that I should be quiet
and sit down for breakfast, and I hopped over to the table and sat.
    We didn’t talk about it anymore.  My dad shuffled into
the kitchen and collected a hug from me, and we all sat around the table for
breakfast.  I might have not been their biological child, I might have
been an alien from another world, but there was no doubt I was their
family.  We talked about a few things, including how I was doing. 
They’d all been worried about me after what happened with Nathan, and like most
of the people in my life I hadn’t wanted to talk about it with them
either.  Not at the time.
    I let myself do it then, and felt a little better as a
result.  In fact, I wound up going into the office very late that day, so
I could spend the rest of the morning with family.  As for the protestors,
so far they hadn’t set foot on the property, so there was really nothing else I
could do about it.  When I got back into the office I went through more
iterations of the testing, and slowly worked out some of the math involved from
the resulting