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  “Everything.” Eric bent over and slipped his green contacts out. He had not realized how irritating they were, nor had he known just how beautiful Vani was. Seen without the blur of the dye, her eyes were polished emeralds, her soft golden face a picture of all he had tried in vain throughout his adolescence to draw in his mind. Even Sammy appeared taken by her grace. The strangeness of his uncovered eyes did not appear to bother her at all.

  “We are from another solar system,” Eric said, simultaneously hearing the Kaulikan equivalent spoken over the bridge’s speakers. “Our home world is hundreds of light years from here.”

  She touched the control console gently, the revelation obviously going deep inside her. She showed not a hint of disbelief. “Did you come all that way in this tiny ship?”

  “Yes.” He remembered his remark in the garden. “In the blink of an eye.”

  “Are there forests and mountains on your world?”

  “Yes. And on millions of worlds in the galaxy.”

  Sammy looked worried at the direction the conversation was taking. Eric ignored him. His last words had started a bright hope burning in Vani; it was almost a tangible glow that could be seen without the aid of the opant coat. He was not going to let it go out.

  “Why have you come to my people?”

  “We passed too close to the nova. We lost our coolant. Our ship was in danger of exploding. We saw your fleet. We needed a source quick. That is why Strem and two others of our friends tried to take the coolant from your engineering department.”

  “But we would gladly have given it to you.”

  Eric shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “We are not supposed to be here. We were not sent here by our people. We felt it would be dangerous to reveal our true identities.”

  “We would not have harmed you.”

  Sammy spoke. “We were afraid, and still are, that you would be anxious to obtain our technology.”

  Vani’s glow dimmed. “You cannot help us?”

  “We want to,” Eric said.

  “But it is not our place to interfere with your people’s destiny,’ Sammy added hastily.

  “This ship can fly to the stars,” she whispered to herself, shaking her head. It was like she was a condemned prisoner being shown a door out of jail, just before being told that the door was probably locked.

  “Eric, you could take me to Lira? I could see it tomorrow?”

  Sammy answered before he could. “If our government would permit it.”

  Vani turned to Sammy. “Would they?”

  “They haven’t so far,” Sammy said reluctantly. The answer contained its implications. A dark thought entered Vani's heart, as it had previously entered Eric’s.

  “Did your government know Kashi was going to be destroyed?”

  “We’re not sure,” Eric said quietly.

  “But with ships like this…” She gestured. She was no dummy. The strangers must have known. And done nothing. “Why did you show me this ship, Eric?”

  “I guess I wanted to…ah…take you back to my world.” It was a hell of a guess.

  “Eric,” Sammy began.

  “Shh.”

  “And leave my people?” she asked.

  He didn’t answer, feeling ashamed.

  She glanced at Sammy. “It does not matter. I know it would not be allowed.” She stood. “I should be going back.”

  Eric jumped to his feet. “Oh, no, don’t go!” He took her by the shoulders. “Vani, nothing is decided yet. Stay, give this a chance.”

  “But what can you do? What can I do?”

  “The best we can. And unless we try, we’ll never know what that might be.”

  “But I take care of fruit trees. I know nothing important.”

  “To us, you’re full of the unknown. Stay? Please?”

  She looked out of Excalibur's windows, at the stars, wavering. “My world now feels so small to have to return to.”

  “You’ve missed your study period, anyway.”

  She chuckled at the absurdity of his remark. “Will you tell me more about the mountains?”

  “I’ll show you movies of them. You’ll stay?”

  “I will stay. For now.”

  “Good. We can fix that arm of yours in no time. Sammy, we have a Healer aboard, don’t we?”

  Sammy returned to his place at the helm. “Yes. But let’s not forget some pressing business. Our friends are still being held captive.”

  “I haven’t forgotten.” He steered Vani back to her chair and leaned over Sammy’s shoulder, reopening the implant channels. Three blinking orange dots inside the cube’s model of Vani’s ship represented his friends’ position. “Strem, can you talk?”

  (“Yes,” came the whispered response. “We’re still in this damn room. There are two guards at the door. They’ve tied our hands behind our backs.”)

  “We’re tracking you,” Eric said. “You’re in the second wheel. How are they treating you?”

  (“They haven’t offered to feed us, but they haven’t hurt us or anything. Okay, I suppose.”)

  “Why do you think you’re to be transferred?”

  (“I heard the Kaulikans say the word. Hey, what’s your rescue plan?”)

  “We’re working on it. We’ve got the coolant.”

  (“How did you manage that?”)

  “I asked for it. The Preeze Cap is cooling as we talk.”

  (“Just don’t leave without us,” Cleo said, not sounding so hot.)

  “Cleo? Jeanie? How are you two holding up?”

  (“I’m scared,” Jeanie whispered. “Can you really get us out?”)

  Eric looked at Sammy, who shook his head. “We’ve got some good ideas,” Eric said.

  (“You got that Kaulikan chick with you?” Cleo asked.)

  “Vani is here,” he said. “Stand by, I’ll get back to you in a minute.” He broke the connection. “Well?”

  “It’s fortunate we can at least speak to them. Do you really have a plan?”

  “We’ll send the Kaulikans a message. ‘Release our people. We mean you no harm.’ Send it now, in fact.”

  “And if they refuse?”

  “We could bargain. They have something we want. We have something they want.”

  Sammy turned off the translator, leaving Vani in the dark. “We don’t speak for The Union. We can’t give the Kaulikans the details of the graviton or hyper drives.”

  “The Patrol doesn’t speak for The Union either. Those coldhearted military creeps…”

  “We have to think of another way,” Sammy interrupted.

  “Like what? Hell!”

  “What is it?”

  He pointed out the forward window. A dozen bobbing lights were approaching Excalibur. Kaulikans on foot. His stunning the people at the air lock must have keyed the Guard to their position. A sensor beam on the console began to flash a warning. Sammy checked the readings.

  “We’ve got a small craft above us,” he said. “Rocket powered, slow and fragile.”

  “Can we bring the graviton drive up to power?” Eric asked.

  “I was hoping to cool off for a while longer.”

  “With an angry mob outside?”

  Sammy nodded, putting his hands to the controls. “I’ll take us off into space.”

  “Wait! We should stay close.”

  “Why? I’ll just take us out a million miles.”

  “No. I want to stay right on top of things.” Eric had a reason why he didn’t want to leave fluttering around the fringes of his subconscious, but it refused to come up to where he could grab it. Yet, he was sure it would be a mistake to dart off. “Put us in the tail of their ion drive. They won’t be able to reach us there.”

  “We’ll have to waste energy on our force field.”

  The individuals approaching up the dark alley were getting dangerously close. Eric had seen a film of someone getting caught in the force of a graviton flux being brought up to power. It had not been a pleasant sight. “Do it!” he ordered.<
br />
  Excalibur began to hum as they lifted off the rotating wheel, the on-board gravity wavering slightly as the ship adjusted to the absence of the centripetal force. He watched the hand-held lights shrink beneath them as Vani’s home fell away. But suddenly a brilliant searchlight swept the bridge. It was the craft their sensors had spotted. He could see the red flares of rockets through the glare, nothing else.

  “There’s another three approaching rapidly,” Sammy said.

  He threw his arms over his eyes, wincing, “Are they armed?”

  “They appear to have lasers. I’m not sure what else.”

  “Close the window shields. Get us in the ion wake.”

  “They could throw atomics at us even there. I’d rather not have to mess with those.”

  “We must stay here. They’d be fools to try to destroy this vessel.”

  The external panels descended, cutting off the outside. Eric turned to the holographic cube in order to follow their movement away from the Kaulikan starship. The drone they had experienced on their initial approach to the fleet returned. But this time they were neither on the brink of collapse not at the end of a mad deceleration, and Excalibur was able to handle the torrent of energy.

  “I’ve got us five miles from the tail of the ship,” Sammy said a moment later. “Is that close enough for you? I don’t want to strain our force field more than I have to.”

  “Yes. Can our sensors work through the turbulence?”

  “Poorly. I can spot their small craft flitting around the fleet, but that’s about all.”

  “Are they coming out to look us over?”

  “No. We may have lost them, for the time being.”

  Eric reconnected the translator and went over to kneel by Vani’s side. Throughout the commotion she had say quietly, holding her sore arm. “We’ve moved a few miles away from your world, where we won’t be disturbed.”

  She glanced at the ceiling. “What is that strange sound?”

  “We’re in the tail of your ion drive.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “Don’t worry, it can’t harm us.”

  “All this power is at your command?”

  “If it were all mine, I would give it to you and your people.”

  “I believe you.” She touched the side of his face. “Your eyes are much prettier without those silly lenses.”

  “They don’t scare you?”

  “You did not scare the Sila. You do not scare me.”

  He looked at the floor. “You look much prettier without the lenses.” He added hastily, “Though you looked fine to begin with.”

  She was amused. “Now, I do not believe you.”

  “It is true; at least to someone from my world.” He paused. “Vani, what I said a moment ago... I did not mean to expect you to leave your people. I was talking more in the way of you visiting my world.”

  She patted his arm. “If your friends permit it, I would be happy to do so.”

  “My friends,” he whispered, worried, glancing at the cube. The three orange dots were beginning to move. “Sammy, have you sent the message?”

  “Just now. They told me to stand by. You know, what if they just turn off their drive? They could send out a hundred of those small craft and box us in.”

  “Can your people turn off their ion drive easily?” Eric asked Vani.

  “We shut it down twice a cycle. All of the worlds do so. But it takes much preparation beforehand.”

  “Here comes their reply,” Sammy interrupted. “Someone named Rak – his title is First Councillor – wants to speak with the commander of our vessel.”

  “Rak!” Vani gasped.

  “He’s broadcasting from their flagship,” Sammy said.

  Eric vaguely remembered a Kaulikan in the corridor on the way to the cafeteria mentioning an inspirational speech had given. He must be the big boss. Eric left Vani and took a seat beside Sammy. He was glad Rak would hear the computer and not himself. The computer would not sound nervous. Sammy nodded for him to go ahead.

  “This is Eric, First Commander.” He might as well give himself a title. “First, I would like to apologize for the unfortunate incident in the engineering department of one of your ships.”

  “We accept your apology,” came the reply in the same mechanical voice as Vani’s. “Should you need supplies, coolant or otherwise, our every resource is at your disposal.”

  “Thank you. We appreciate the offer. But what we really need is the return of our three crew members. We understand that you have them in your care?”

  “That is correct. But as they do not speak our language, we have not been able to communicate with them to find out who they are.”

  Rak was civil enough but he had not addressed the issue.

  “We are on an important mission, unconnected with your people. Our ship was momentarily overheated by the nova, and we required additional coolant. We mean you no harm and wish only to continue with our mission.”

  “Do you still need coolant?”

  “No.”

  “Commander Eric, your people and your ship are a remarkable discovery for us. We would like to know more about you.”

  “We appreciate your curiosity. If you were to release our people, we would feel freer to talk.”

  “In time we will certainly free your people. But even though we accept your apology regarding their behavior, they have committed an act in Kaulikan territory in violation of Kaulikan law. They must be processed by the guidelines set down by that law.” He added, “Your cooperation could speed that processing.”

  “What is the nature of the cooperation you desire?”

  “Information about your people would be helpful, particular as regards your intentions toward our fleet.”

  “I believe I have already addressed that point. We have no intentions toward your fleet. We just want our people back.”

  “Before their release, they must first be processed.”

  “First Councillor, were any of your engineering personnel actually harmed by my people?”

  “All appear to be recovering nicely, including those who were knocked unconscious at the air lock near the resting place of your ship. We are, however, missing a young lady who was seen spending time in the company of someone who we now believe to have been one of your people. Her name is Vani AEG-172.”

  Vani looked both anxious and delighted that First Councillor Rak was concerned about her.

  “She is here with us now and is doing well.”

  “May I ask, Commander Eric, if more of your people have infiltrated our fleet.”

  “They have not,” Eric said. Sammy was signaling him. “First Councillor, please stand by.” He put him on hold.

  “He’s stalling,” Sammy said. “He knows this ship didn’t come from this solar system. He wants it, or at least, a look at it.”

  “Can you blame him?”

  Sammy shrugged, checking the cube. Their friends were being moved toward the central shaft. “Better tell Strem what’s happening.”

  Eric tapped in on the implants. “Strem, Cleo, Jeanie, we have the top man on the line. He’s being stubborn. He wants information about us.”

  (“Don’t give it to him,” Strem breathed.)

  “We can see you’re traveling. Do you know where to, yet?”

  (“No.”)

  Vani spoke up. “Eric?”

  “A moment, Strem.” Eric turned, “Yes?”

  “Rak will want to see your friends in person.”

  “Will he come to them?”

  “Rak has never left the flagship.”

  And his friends were being led to the axis, to free fall, exactly where a shuttle would depart from. “Vani, is transportation between the worlds of your fleet accomplished by small craft, like the one that flew by our window a few minutes ago?”

  “Food ships are not so small.”

  “But when personnel travel from one world to another?”

  Vani nodded. “Then it is usually in the type
of craft you saw.”

  Eric felt a jolt of adrenaline. The solution was obvious, or else he was a genius. He reconnected the line to Rak. “First Councillor, I have come to a decision. I will wait till you are done processing my people and have released them. Please try to hurry. You may contact me when you are through. First Commander Eric out.” He broke the connection before Rak could respond and returned to Strem. “You are as good as rescued. Cooperate with your guards. Stay loose.”

  (“What are you going to do?”)

  “It will be a surprise.” He turned off the mike.

  “What are you going to do?” Sammy asked.

  Eric stood and stretched. “We are going to clean out the cargo bay. Then when the shuttle leaves for the flagship, we are going to swoop in and swallow it up.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  His plan sounded easier in theory than it turned out to be in practice. The first problem arose when Strem and the girls reached the central shaft and didn't go any further. Eric called to see what was happening, and when Strem answered – they were in another boring room, he said, doing nothing – his talking to Eric alerted the guards. Consequently, they were examined once again, and the implants were discovered and taken away. But initially, Sammy and Eric did not know this had happened, and when the three orange dots began to move back onto the second wheel, they figured their plan was ruined. When their next call to their friends, however, got them a baffled Kaulikan response, they realized the truth.

  Then, to make matters worse, Rak and his people figured out where they were hiding Excalibur and sent out swarms of tiny ships to observe them. This was particularly troublesome because, with the interference from the ion wake, they were having a hard time confirming that no shuttle was leaving Vani’s ship for the flagship; which was now their only way of keeping track of their friends, unreliable as it was.

  Yet, Vani continued to insist Rak was the type of leader who would want to see personally what he was up against. Rak even called a couple more times, but Eric was short with him. “Until you release our people, there is nothing to discuss.”

  The one positive aspect of the delay was that Vani was able to put her arm under the Healer, which was capable of greatly stimulating the re-growth of bone. The noise and heat of the mechanism frightened her at first, but after an hour under its rays she was able to bend her wrist without pain. Brimming with excitement she gave Sammy and Eric appreciative hugs, using both arms.