Free Tachyon Web by Christopher Pike Page A

had been beginning to believe had grown into his seat. Their relief at having survived the deceleration was cooled by the new deadline the fused damper had given them. Plus, there was the not so minor consideration, at least from Eric’s side, that within minutes they would be coming face-to-face with aliens. He was anxious to get going.
    “I didn’t see any air locks when we were coming down,” Strem said, squeezing one of the drying white hairpieces over his head, ignoring Cleo’s and Jeanie’s snickers.
    Sammy pointed out the window at the dark artificial valley in which Excalibur was nestled. “From sensor readings, there appear to be several placed along this rim. Walk in either direction long enough and you will come to one.”
    “Should be interesting trying to open it,” Eric said. He pulled on his opant coat and glanced down at his gray slippers, realizing none of them had thought to note what type of shoes the Kaulikans wore. It was too late to worry about that now.
    “We’ll bring lasers,” Strem said. “We can always cut it.”
    “No.” Eric shook his head. “Absolutely not.”
    “You could set off an alarm that way,” Sammy agreed. “There will be a remote eye on your pressure suits and opant belts. When you get to an air lock, I’ll be able to study it with you, and we’ll figure something out.”
    “I’m bringing a laser, anyway,” Strem said. “I’m not going in there unarmed.”
    Eric was annoyed. “And do what with it? If we get caught, we can’t fight our way back to Excalibur .”
    “Why not?” Strem asked.
    “You could just stun them,” Cleo said. “You wouldn’t have to kill anybody.”
    “Listen to yourselves,” Eric said. “Here we’re about to make the most incredible contact and you’re talking about confrontations. Can’t you see, if we get caught we can’t give these people the impression we’re a hostile race?”
    “Suit yourself,” Strem said. “I’m bringing a gun. I’ll hide it under my coat, and no one will know I have it. I won’t use it unless I’m forced to.”
    “If we do get caught,” Eric said as patiently as he could, “the fact that you have a weapon will be bad enough. It won’t matter if you use it or not. Remember, we are the ones who are trespassing.”
    Strem looked puzzled. “Why is it that at times like this, you always start worrying about the implications of every blessed thing we’re going to do?”
    “For the life of me,” Eric grumbled. “I can’t remember another time like this.”
    “I agree with Strem,” Cleo said.
    “I agree with Eric,” Jeanie said.
    Sammy due to his uninvolved nature, didn’t vote either way. In the end, Strem took a gun from the weapon cabinet, but before he tucked it away, Eric made sure it was locked in the stun position.
    Sammy fitted the implants in their ears, and they turned on a Kaulikan TV program to give themselves a trial run. They quickly discovered that when an alien was speaking, they had to subconsciously block out what was being said in order to catch the whispered mechanical voice in their ears. The translation, however, was the easy part. Though remaining on the bridge, Sammy would be able, by virtue of the implants, to hear everything that was said. They had previously decided that when he’d received a Kaulikan’s spoken words, and had them translated, he would give an appropriate response in English to the ship’s computer which would then relay it to them in Basic Kaulikan. It sounded good in theory but when they tried simulating an anticipated conversation, they decided they would be lucky if they were mistaken for stuttering morons.
    The contacts were comfortable and hard to see through. Cleo defended herself by saying that she had had to use several layers of the green dye to get the proper shade. Blind stuttering morons.
    There was no sense in waiting. Cleo blow-dried their wigs, and Jeanie touched up their face color. They climbed into their pressure suits and