Free 1942664419 (S) by Jennifer M. Eaton

something there.”
    “Our ships may seem strange to those who have not encountered this type of technology. I have no doubt you saw something. What I doubt is that it is anything to be concerned with.”
    Easy for her to say. The walls weren’t stalking her .
    We continued down the corridor, the décor just as gray as all the others had been. Would it have hurt anybody to hang a picture or something? Maybe then I’d stop seeing things!
    The more we walked, the tighter the hallway seemed, even though the corridor didn’t get any narrower.
    The passage appeared to go on forever. Unmarked. Clear. Nothing but miles of straight, gray walls. Nematali ambled on, hands folded at her ribs, staring at her fingers. She didn’t even look up.
    I nearly tripped when she stopped without warning.
    “We have arrived,” Nematali said.
    Seriously? “How the heck do you know where you are?”
    “My people rely on all of our senses, not only our sight.”
    “What are you saying, that this spot smells different?”
    Nematali laughed. “Hardly, but my mind knows where I want to go. The walls here have a unique reverberation. Each area is different. If you could learn to rely less on your eyes, you may be able to sense it as well.”
    My thoughts trailed back to the chamber where the lights went out. The room seemed silent while illuminated, but the second the lights winked off, I heard a hum that hadn’t been there before. When David entered the chamber, I could hear him—sense his whereabouts. Maybe I did rely too much on my sight.
    I closed my eyes and tried to open my senses. The floor vibrated beneath my feet. Hums, trickles, and whistles surrounded me, where I was sure the hallway had been silent before. Interesting. Maybe I could find my way around without seeing.
    My chest fluttered as my body ebbed toward the deep gray barrier, almost as if pulled toward the liquid metal. Nematali grabbed my shoulder. “Why did you move in this direction?”
    I stared at the wall. Part of me expected to see bony skeleton fingers yanking on a rope tied to my waist. “I don’t know. I kind of felt propelled or something.”
    “Maybe human minds are more developed than we’d thought.” She raised her hand to the wall. “Beyond this aperture is the preemptory sequencing division of the terraforming project. The work of these scientists, as you know, is quite important to both our people.”
    And David might be in there.
    I closed my eyes again and drank in the resonance emanating through the wall. Could it be possible? Could our minds know where we needed to go, and help us “sense” our way there?
    “Can we go in?”
    “Of course. As soon as they allow access.” She pointed to my bag. “And you may want to have your camera ready.”
    My muscles locked up as I stared at the solid surface.
    “What kind of door will it be: the open up and walk through kind or the turn-into-liquid, walk into, and be-really-cold kind?”
    She tilted her head, as if my question perplexed her. “Anytime we walk from one area to another, the wall will divide, allowing access to the next room. Anytime we traverse to a space that requires compression, or air-tightness as your people call it, one must pass through, or into the partition to keep the integrity of the ship intact.”
    Ask a stupid question, get an overly complex answer. That was pretty cool, though.
    My shoulders relaxed as the wall shimmered and opened into a good-old-fashioned doorframe. No compression or integrity issues here. Hurray for our team!
    I fumbled with my camera as I stepped over the threshold onto shiny, light gray tiles. The yellow lighting stung my eyes, and I blinked until they adjusted.
    “Whoa,” I whispered.
    Dozens of pale, violet-skinned Erescopians fanned out across the room, completely naked, as they had been the night they landed on Earth. I raised my camera and pounded away a few dozen shots.
    If the people back home wanted aliens, Jess Martinez was going to deliver