Free Asteroid Crisis: Star Challengers Book 3 by Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, June Scobee Rodgers Page A

engineers have experimented with this ship, they cannot get any of the systems to respond. Simply put, they’re stumped.” He raised his eyebrows, the thin mustache bristling on his upper lip.
    “Could I give it a try?” JJ asked. “I know it’s a long shot, but I’ve taken flying lessons. My uncle Buzz taught me how to take off and land, both with and without instruments. And I know as much about the Kylarn as anybody.”
    “That doesn’t mean you can fly an alien ship!” Tony said.
    “On the other hand,” King mused as they drifted there outside the node room, “JJ isn’t completely locked into how normal aircraft systems work, and she’s pretty resourceful. She might even have an advantage. And we have been studying simple Kylarn words and symbols.”
    “Commander Zota briefed us on basic squidbutt controls,” JJ said. “I’m sure Dyl brought his note cards. If I have those to remind me what all the symbols mean, I just might be able to figure it out! Think of what we could learn from that alien spacecraft. What do we have to lose? Isn’t it time to take a few risks?”
    “Indeed, Cadet Wren, you have a point,” Fox said. “If you think you can get this thing flying, I’m willing to let you try—though not without a spacesuit. It will offer a small measure of protection.”
    “I can manage in a spacesuit,” JJ said. “We’ve been trained, remember? And I wouldn’t mind the extra safety factor myself.” For a split second, she wondered what she had just gotten herself into. So much could go wrong. But then she thought about actually flying an alien ship, and excitement took over. “I’ll get those index cards from my brother, then we can test a few things.”
    Donning a spacesuit was a lot more complicated than pulling on a change of clothes. The technology had advanced from the suits developed for the original space program, but the completely enclosed suit still had to be like a form-fitting spaceship that provided all the life support and protection a human body needed to survive in the extremely hostile environment. She dressed in an insulated undergarment, leggings, boots, torso pack, gloves, oxygen, communication systems, and energy reserves.
    Ready to go.
    She sealed her helmet and activated the suit radio so Fox could speak with her. Floating in her bulky suit looking at her friends, she gave them a thumbs-up, pushed off into the node room, and sealed the hatch before pulling herself up into the hollow control cavity of the alien ship.
    “Don’t overdo it, Cadet Wren,” Fox said in her earphones.
    “I’m a cautious person,” she replied. She thought she heard her brother snicker before Fox clicked off the transmission.
    The alien cockpit chamber was spherical and cramped. Large pilots could not have managed a test flight, but the squidbutts were evidently squishy and could cram into a small space. She didn’t see any single control panel, just display screens, buttons, and control sticks mounted at seemingly random places around the walls. Since the Kylarn had sets of tentacles, it wouldn’t be difficult for one of the aliens to reach in any direction. She had reviewed Dyl’s notes and recognized many of the symbols. The exact controls of the ship would be different from the time machine, of course, but they were similar enough that the sequencing should work.
    “First things first,” she said, partly to herself and partly to Colonel Fox over the suit radio. “This should activate the systems.” Zota had already shown them the trick to activating the alien technology. Grinning with anticipation, she pressed the symbols in their proper order.
    Lights glowed on the control panels. Trapezoidal screens lit up, filled with streams of information that she couldn’t read. Other screens showed images of the space station—external cameras, apparently.
    A set of controls up and behind her head showed targeting hexagons and a set of control sticks—possibly the energy weapons