Page 7 of Alien's Eternal Mate
The ship settled on its landing pylons at the spaceport. I trudged down the gangway dead last as Kregell Nore, Luna’s president, came by to personally greet the science team.
I hung out near the back of the expedition. I hoped that they would not bother mentioning my presence at all, but Caraway had to run his mouth and introduce me anyway.
I waved and forced an utterly insincere smile onto my face. The president narrowed his gaze and frowned, but I don’t know if he recognized me or not.
In any event, I avoided yet another awkward conversation and clambered aboard the transport shuttle with the others. I picked a seat in the very back and stared out the porthole while we skimmed along the lunar surface.
The mining facility loomed ahead. We settled to a stop just inside the atmospheric shielding.
More introductions went around, this time with the head of the mining facility, a furry little Fratvoyan who seemed more upset about the delay in his operations than pleased to be at the precipice of a great scientific discovery.
In spite of myself, I did feel a little thrill when we took the lift down and I saw the gleaming, green metal walls of the facility. I laid my hand on the striated, angular doorframe of a large oval portal and gasped.
“It’s warm.”
“There appears to be a current of energy running through it. Not electricity or plasma based, though.” Caraway met my gaze as he rested his hand near my own. “Would you please try and find the source of the power, Doctor?”
I decided that such a task was, in fact, in my purview.
“It will be my pleasure, Dr. Caraway,” I replied with intended mock sincerity. He ruined it by taking my reply at face value.
“I knew you’d cheer up once you got a look at this place. And this is just the first level, which isn’t all that interesting. The really cool stuff is further down.”
I glanced his way sharply, and he grinned. I hated him for having piqued my interest.
“Yes, there’s the mind that wrote Analysis of Quantum Entanglement’s Effect on Silicone based Circuit Rot.”
I blinked in surprise.
“You read that paper? That was so long ago, when I was but a first year student at Titan University.”
“Yes, indeed. I found it to be brilliant.”
I studied his face carefully, but could see no indication he was being anything other than sincere.
“Don’t be so surprised, Doctor Reed. A giant once lived in your body. Prejudice shrank him into a dwarf, but I get the feeling you could experience a growth spurt any minute now.”
He patted me on the shoulder and left me to stew in my own juices. I got out my compad and set it into scanning mode while grinding my teeth in anger and frustration.
Growth spurt? A dwarf? Really? Because I don’t share his pink cloud vision of harmony with the alien threat? My intellect is keen as ever, and my prejudices are based upon verifiable scientific…
I squeezed my face into a contorted mask of agony. Who was I trying to justify myself to? All of my friends in Blue Dawn were either dead or facing lengthy sentences. Our movement was dead. Perhaps we could cause some small ripples in the galaxy, but we would never affect lasting change.
I was nothing more than a prisoner of war, paraded around to prove that the IHC/Alliance philosophies were best.
Why could I not have been captured by the Coalition? At least the Ataxians would have the good grace to torture me to death in short order, instead of letting me linger like the remnants of a poorly-scraped tumor.
I turned on the scanner, desperate for a distraction. When I saw the readout on the holographic display, I let out a grunt of disbelief.
“What is it, Doctor?”
Buzos came to my side, but I was too intrigued to be fully annoyed by his alien presence.
“The energy doesn’t appear to be shunted into the walls by a conduit. It’s being generated by the metal alloys itself.”
Buzos gasped, leaning in closer and wafting his machine oil breath over me.
“You’re right, Doctor. Incredible. Obviously these materials are not native to the Sol system. The sun is not large or hot enough to produce such exotic minerals that went into its construction.”