Page 37 of OmnitronW
He looked at her, wished he knew how to use language that would reassure her. He wasn’t human enough yet for that.
Perhaps she realized it because her lips trembled in a sort of smile.
“Be careful. Come back safely.”
For her? He would try. He nodded and stepped into the narrow tube.
It was a good thing he wasn’t claustrophobic. The hatch slid closed, brushing against his back. The air began to hiss out.
Rinna waited until she heard Tim declare himself clear, then turned back to the cockpit. She took the pilot’s seat this time and worked on the video feed. After a period of reluctance, it flickered fitfully, then steadied, giving her a view of Tim and Trac standing a few feet from the shuttle’s nose.
They didn’t appear to be doing anything, but then she noted data arriving to her system from Trac.
She dragged her attention off the view of Tim and tried to focus on it. After a minute, she realized she didn’t understand the readings. And she wasn’t sure the ship’s systems—including Veirn—knew how to read it either.
“Veirn?” she murmured. She kept her voice low to keep from further agitating Drun.
Veirn helped by picking out familiar elements and other readings, but there were a lot of unidentified stuff in there, too.
She could have used the bigger databanks on the Quendala right now, though she wasn’t sure they would be a huge help if none of this matched with what they already knew.
Everything about this mission screamed not just first contact, but first contact. This entity or entities were new. Much of their elements were new.
She felt her breath huff out a bit at the thought of encountering something truly new. Though she hadn’t herself experienced this, she’d been on site as new and interesting data had reached them from their research teams. It had caused enormous excitement. It was what fueled much of what they’d done. Had any of them been in a situation like this back then?
The Garradians had been about and been for research until…she sighed. Had they lost their courage and their curiosity during their long sleep?
She couldn’t answer yet for her courage, but she could put her curiosity to work again. She could remember having it back in the day.
She bent her head to the data, her attention on the unfamiliar now. It was hard to concentrate with a clock ticking in her head—a clock she hadn’t turned on but was still there.
What was going to happen soon? And why did she have a feeling that the entities were worried about it. Which meant she needed to worry, too.
16
“I believe,” Trac said, “that this is some kind of containment bay. I detect limits in all directions.”
Tim turned his head lamp on and made a slow three-sixty turn, but he saw nothing but the murky blackness.
“Are we alone in here?” He felt a stab of worry for the other humans on Arroxan Prime. He sensed the aliens considered anyone on the surface collateral damage. They’d made it clear they would have to save themselves from whatever it was they were doing on the surface.
“I am not sensing other life forms,” Trac said.
“If we move out of sight of the shuttle, can we find our way back?” Tim asked. If they were just going to stand here, they might as well go back inside.
There was a pause. “I believe I can find the shuttle again,” Trac said.
It was not as certain as Tim would have liked, but he realized that neither of them knew what would happen out here in this strange unknown with time possibly running out for them.
“We should use a lifeline,” Trac said.
It was good advice. Tim pulled the attachment free of his suit and extended it to Trac, who hooked it to himself and then drew it through the hook to attach it to the shuttle. If, for some reason, the containment area lost gravity, it would keep Tim from floating away and should give them a way back to the shuttle
He frowned. There was gravity. That felt…odd, but then what wasn’t odd about this situation?
“I am detecting a wall or field directly ahead. I propose we try that direction first,” Trac said. “Then we can follow it around.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Tim said.
