Part 15 (2/2)

”We're here now,” said Zip, matter-of-factly. ”What happens next? We'll see if our friends are still with us.”

The men waited for some sign of guidance, but there was only silence.

No lights were activated over an elevator. Minutes dragged on. ”Try the doors,” said Zip at last, and walked to the nearest elevator. He pressed b.u.t.tons, but nothing happened. ”Go on, try the other ones,” he called out with a wave of his hand. Some of the men went to the other elevators and pressed b.u.t.tons. Others went to the standard doors adjacent to the elevators, but they did not open.

”Well, I guess we have to go back,” said Joe. No one laughed.

”This one's open,” called one of St. George's men. They all turned and saw an open door-the tenth in a row of identical, unmarked doors along the wall. The man didn't go through it but waited for Zip. The leader of the Starmen went through the portal onto a metal deck. Stairs went upward. He began to climb, with the others following after.

Three flights up he came to another door, which opened as he set foot on the landing. He went through it into a room outfitted as a small hangar. Five s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps of alien design were clamped to the floor. At the far end of the hangar was an airlock.

Walking gingerly, Zip stepped out a little farther into the hangar. The airlock was enormous and perfectly clear, revealing thousands of stars.

Though it had been only a few days since he had seen a starscape, now it almost seemed as if he were perceiving the heavens for the first time. A feeling of awe coursed through him.

”We're almost free,” he whispered.

12: First Impact

”ALIEN s.p.a.cECRAFT!” murmured Joe, slowly. ”Magnificent!”

He and Mark had followed Zip into the hangar. George St. George and his men came after them. They huddled close together and remained at the door while the Starmen strode across the floor of the hangar toward the s.p.a.cecraft.

The five s.h.i.+ps were sleek craft with a highly swept delta wing design.

The hulls were a startlingly reflective deep forest green color. The craft looked identical to each other, each about 75 feet long with a wingspan of about 45 feet. The winds.h.i.+elds were black and opaque. They lay horizontally on the floor of the hangar, all pointed toward the airlock.

”Beautiful! Just gorgeous!” exclaimed Mark. As he approached the alien craft he noted that the hull was not merely colored, but patterned. ”Oh my! Look at this!”

Joe and Zip were right behind Mark and came over to see what the big Starman was showing them. The hulls were not only beautifully colored, but showed evidence of leaf patterns. Subtle gradations in color gave the impression that the s.h.i.+ps were almost camouflaged-that they could land in a deep forest and become almost invisible.

”This is a work of art, a work of genius!” exclaimed Joe.

”How do you get in?” asked Zip, looking for a door. He was running his hands over the surface. There was no sign of a doorway, no seal or join anywhere he could see or feel. He could see his reflection in the side of the s.p.a.cecraft as if he were looking into a still pool in a forest.

”So close, yet so far,” said Mark. ”Here are s.h.i.+ps, there is an airlock, but we're not any closer to escaping than we were before.”

”This'll take some time,” said Joe, with a grimace. ”It's probably voice-activated, like the computer screens below.” The company had pa.s.sed large computer screens regularly on their trek through the power plant. ”All we need to do is learn the language of an alien race we don't know, have never met, and whose language we can't read. Then we can break free of here.”

”Let's get busy,” said Zip. ”I like a challenge. We were led here by our hosts. There has to be a way.”

Zip went back to George St. George and his men. ”We'll be working on getting into one of the s.p.a.cecraft and learning how to use it. You can help by exploring this place and finding out what's here. George, would you please take an inventory of what we've got in the way of food and drink and make a plan for making it last as long as you can. We'll also need s.p.a.cesuits. We can probably fly without them if we have to, but it's a bad risk.”

”Okay, Zip. We'll do our part,” responded George. His men scattered throughout the hangar. There was a lot to investigate. It was only about 200 yards long and 50 yards wide, but was lined with cabinets.

There were shelves and racks with equipment of various kinds, some recognizable and some decidedly not. More than a dozen doors opened into the hangar. Zip went back to the s.p.a.cecraft the Starmen had chosen for their escape vehicle.

Joe and Mark were at the closest work station, where there were tools of curious manufacture.

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