The barn’s wagon doors resisted being opened to their fullest extent, and I was almost ready to wave my arms in the air and ask Patrick for a hand. But with the help of some inspired cursing, a stepladder, and a couple of shots of WD-40, the doors finally rode the tracks all the way out. I backed the delivery truck out and parked it around the side, where it couldn’t be seen from the house. Dad probably wouldn’t care enough to check out what we were doing, but why take chances?

  I made a “come on” gesture to the empty air, feeling slightly foolish. I knew, intellectually, that there was a flying saucer hovering just out of reach, but it was hard to avoid a feeling of play-acting.

  It was also impossible to tell if they’d seen my gesturing, or if they were already in the barn. The ship made no sound, and it didn’t disturb the ground with any kind of exhaust or backwash. I moved to the side quickly as I imagined one of the landing pads accidentally stomping me. Or maybe not so accidentally. There was a definite aspect of psycho about Sheldon.

  Inside the barn, the airlock entrance lowered, revealing Natalie on the steps. “Close the doors,” she said. “We’re in.” Without waiting for a response, the stairs retracted. I nodded in approval at the level of caution, and moved to shut the wagon doors.

  Five minutes later, the doors were closed, the Halo had put down its landing struts and settled onto the concrete floor, and Nat and Patrick were standing with me, gazing up at the large empty space.

  I grabbed my backpack from the chair where I’d dropped it. Digging around for a moment, I pulled out the communicator. I pressed the V button and spoke into the device. “Sheldon, you there?”

  “I am.”

  I felt a moment of satisfaction. Up until now we’d been assuming this was a communicator. Confirmed now.

  “First, a question,” I said. “Generally, the V-like symbol means on and the I-like symbol means off?”

  “Correct. Or open and close, or activate and deactivate. I assume you are referring to the communicator in this case.”

  “Yup. Listen, can you make yourself visible for a second?”

  “Is that wise?”

  “Doors are closed, parents aren’t anywhere around, and it’s just us here. I want to see you.”

  “Very well.” The Halo blinked into view.

  I had just enough time to gather an impression of a flattened sphere, or fat disk, when the ship disappeared. “Sheldon, what the hell?”

  “Did I misunderstand the meaning of the word second?”

  “Jesus,” Nat commented. “It’s like talking to a malicious genie.”

  I smiled at her, then spoke into the communicator. “Sheldon, please make yourself visible until I tell you otherwise.”

  There was no response, but the Halo again blinked into view. It wasn’t really a saucer shape. More of a very flat, oblate spheroid. No edges, in fact no distinctive features at all, except the landing struts. And with those retracted, it would be featureless—at least topologically. The Gen seemed to have a strong artistic sense when it came to color and texture. The ship was a deep, rich emerald green, shading toward blue at the top and bottom. The effect was striking, and an obvious retaliation against an otherwise utilitarian design.

  It was also far too small to hold the spaces we’d seen inside. Even ignoring the two floors we hadn’t visited, there simply wasn’t enough height. Or enough diameter for the second floor.

  On a whim, I said, “Sheldon, open two airlocks at opposite ends. Any two. And disable the airlock interlock if you can.”

  Two sets of stairs lowered themselves. Nat and Patrick looked puzzled, obviously wondering what I was up to. Smiling, but without explaining myself, I marched up the closest stairway. Carefully counting my steps, I made my way through the ship, around the central cylinder and out the other side.

  In moments, I was on the ground, looking across the barn at my friends. As I approached them, I called out, “Almost four times as many steps inside as outside. The ship really is bigger on the inside. That is just so cool!” I spoke into the communicator. “Close it up, Sheldon.”

  We stood back and devoured the ship with our eyes for several minutes. “Leaving aside the cool factor,” Nat said, “it is beautiful.”

  “The Gen have a good artistic sense,” I said. “Or they’re decadent. Remember the David Lynch version of Dune? Everything all baroque and intricately over-decorated?”

  “Ostentation for its own sake?” Nat replied. “Possible, but it doesn’t feel overdone. More like they had the budget to put in some flair.”

  Patrick poked my backpack with a finger. “Of the questions we still haven’t asked, we still need to find out what the rest of the gadgets do.”

  I sighed. “I’ll add it to the list.”

  “Great,” Patrick looked at his watch. “Except I have to head home. You know how Dad gets about Sunday dinner. Want a ride, Nat?”

  “I guess. Or I could get Sheldon to—?”

  Patrick and I exclaimed, “No!” at the same time.

  As my friends headed for the door, I sank heavily into my favorite chair. Hefting my backpack, I extracted the gadgets one at a time, laying them out on the workbench. I pulled up the list of questions I’d made on my phone during idle moments and examined them.

  I was lost in thought when Sheldon spoke. “Jack?”

  Startled out of my ruminations, I picked up the communicator. “Uh, hi Sheldon, what’s up?”

  “I’m still visible. And Nat and Patrick have left. I deduce that you may be done for the day.”

  I rubbed my forehead for a moment. “Damn. You’re right. Thanks for being on the ball. You can go invisible now.” I looked over my shoulder just as the Halo vanished. “And Sheldon?”

  “Yes, Jack?”

  “What do these gadgets do? The ones we found on Alaric?”

  “I can see them in front of you. The belt has the cloaking mechanism. It’s tuned for a Gen physique, so I don’t know how well it would work for you.”

  “What, like kill me?”

  “No, nothing dangerous. But it might make just your skin invisible. Or everything except your veins and arteries. Either would be likely to get you noticed.”

  I laughed out loud. “Not wrong. And these?”

  “You’ve already figured out the communicator and the key fob. The weapon that you have been referring to as a ‘ray gun’ you should certainly not play with. The others are a scanner, which your Star Trek-obsessed mind would refer to as a tricorder, although that’s only approximately right; an emergency medical-treatment device, which you should definitely not play with, as it is designed for Gen physiology; and a Lorann detector.”

  “A Lorann detector? Really?”

  “It’s actually a cloaking-field detector, but when Alaric had me produce it, the only cloaking fields on Earth were likely to be Lorannic in origin. It’s designed to detect cloaking fields such as that generated by the belt or the Halo when invisible. A portable unit of that size will have a very limited range—ten to twenty feet, depending on the amount of intervening matter.”

  “What does it do if it detects one?”

  “It vibrates. Even Alaric could figure out that flashing lights and a siren might be counterproductive.”

  I snorted. “Makes sense.” I collected the gadgets into my backpack and placed it in a hidden cupboard that I had built into my workbench in my rebellious teenager phase.

  “May I ask a question?” Sheldon said.

  “Sure, Sheldon. Shoot.”

  “During the Mars trip, I overheard a mention of an incident at MIT that has placed your tenure in doubt. My understanding is that you believe you were set up in some way?”

  “That might not be the right term. I don’t think whoever did it was specifically targeting me. More likely they just needed a patsy—someone’s account to use. I still can’t figure out how they got my password, though. The problem, of course, is proving that it wasn’t me using my account.”

  “Hmm. I have lots of free time while you humans eat, sleep, and defecate. Would you mind if I did some research into it?”

  “Not at all. Anything you can dig up could be helpful.” I yawned, then yawned again. “So, I’m beat. It’s been, you know, a pretty exciting day. I’ll be turning in early. Will you be okay? Need anything?”

  “No, but thanks for asking. I feel a lot safer being under cover.”

  “And listen, as a general rule, if anyone but us comes in, you should float up as high as you can to get out of reach.”

  “Eminently sensible. I’ll do that.”

  “Good. See you tomorrow.”

  Chapter Eight: Next Steps

  Day 4. Monday

  I got up early on Monday and drove the truck out to Duke’s Collision and Repair. My father hadn’t noticed the parking job, and I needed to keep the whole subject of the accident off his radar. Who knew what question or random thought could unravel everything?

  Duke’s wouldn’t be open for a half hour yet, so I went to the McDonald’s drive-through and picked up a large coffee. As I sat parked in front of Duke’s shop, I opened the Notes app on my phone and added some questions to my list:

  •What specifically does the ray gun do at the different color settings?

  •What do the Loranna look like?

  •How exactly are they planning to take over?

  •Possibly related: What is that loophole in the Galactic Covenant?

  •What is the Galactic Covenant?

  •Is there a Federation or something similar?

  •Are the Gen peaceful? Are they a better alternative than the Loranna?

  •Is there anything we can do about the Loranna’s plans?

  •What should we do with Alaric?

  Nat would approve of this list. She’d probably think up several more questions. And that was the problem. Each one answered would probably generate more questions. It would be great if Sheldon would just sit us down and give us the whole story from beginning to end, but Sheldon seemed, well, unmotivated in that area. I couldn’t decide if that was because Sheldon had things to hide, or just didn’t want to confide in us, or literally lacked the initiative. Maybe he wasn’t as self-aware as he thought.

  The fuel question was still outstanding, and that was a relatively important one. Sheldon had mentioned refuelling earlier, so there was definitely some kind of limitation. It could severely restrict what we could do, both in general and in relation to the Loranna. I added it to the list.

  My phone vibrated, and I checked the screen absently. From Patrick. Picking up Nat, will swing by McD. Want something?

  I looked at the coffee in my other hand, then shrugged. I could eat. I typed in, McMuff and hash brown. At Duke’s now.

  A few minutes later, Duke walked up and waved to me as he unlocked the front doors. I got out of the truck and followed him into the front office. I dropped the keys unceremoniously on the counter as he pulled out a file folder.

  “So, Herman tells me you’ve been hunting deer without a permit. Or a rifle.”

  I returned a polite smile. No reason not to go along with the fiction. “Yeah, but it got away. So no venison this week.”

  Duke flipped a form around, and I signed where indicated. A honk outside made me look up. Patrick had arrived. “Thanks, Duke. Let us know when it’s done.” With a final wave, I was out the door.

  Nat scooted over for me as I got in, and Patrick roared out of the parking lot at his usual sedate pace.

  Nat unplastered herself from my side and slid back into the center position. “Cripes, Patrick, ease up.”

  “Where’s my McD’s, by the way?” I said. Nat reached under the seat and handed me a small brown bag with the Golden Arches logo on it. I pulled out the hash brown, which had a half-moon bite taken out of the top. I glared at Nat, and she shrugged. “Handling fee. Want it back?” She started to stick her finger down her throat.

  “No, you keep it.” I made short work of the breakfast and was done by the time we reached Kernigan Food Mart.

  “See you after work, Jack,” Patrick called out as he pulled away. Patrick would drop Nat off at her job at the Harris Institute, then spend the day working at his father’s butcher shop. I would spend the day stocking shelves, cashiering, and carrying purchases out to cars.

  Jim, one of the other employees, waved to me as I put on my apron. “Your father’s got me handling the deliveries today, Jack. I guess you’ll be doing all the cleanups on aisle whatever.”

  “Oh, hah hah,” I replied with an eye roll. He wasn’t wrong, though. Another day just like a million other days, with a million more stretching into my future.

  I sighed with resignation as I looked up at the sign over my family’s store. Life in a small town was an oxymoron.

  Several thousand years later, the workday mercifully ended. I got a ride back home with Dad. The trip was almost completely silent, neither of us yet having figured out how to get past the abrupt end of my engineering education.

  It wasn’t like we were at war or anything. But I had a constant feeling that I needed to explain, and Dad apparently needed to understand my supposed motives. I couldn’t tell if he really believed my protestations of innocence, or if he was just being supportive. It didn’t help at all that my one attempt to explain bitcoin mining to him had been an exercise in futility, almost comical in the level of failure achieved.

  “Thanks for the ride, Dad,” I said as I bolted for the barn.

  “Dinner in half an hour,” my father’s voice drifted back to me. Patrick’s car was already parked by the side of the barn. Doubtless he’d not spared the horses getting here immediately after his day. Probably for a lot of the same reasons.

  I found Nat and Patrick seated at my workbench, with the gadgets already laid out and my secret compartment sitting open.

  “I have to find a new hiding place,” I muttered as I grabbed my backpack off my chair and sat down.

  “So what’s on tap for tonight?” Patrick asked.

  “We don’t have time to go to Saturn on a weeknight,” I said. “Let’s take tonight at least, to try to get some answers. Then we can plan better from there.” I took out my phone and AirDropped my questions to Nat and Patrick.

  “I like it,” Nat said once she’d read the list. She reached forward, grabbed the communicator, and pressed the “on” button. “Hi, Sheldon.”

  “Hello, Nat et al. What’s the plan for tonight?”

  “Just some questions. We need to get up to speed on things.”

  “Oh, goody.”

  “Come on, Sheldon,” Nat said, “this will benefit you as well. The more we understand things, the better we can hide you and avoid any kind of exposure ourselves.”

  There was a pause before Sheldon replied, “That is true. Very well, proceed.”

  “First, a housekeeping item, so to speak. We’ve got Alaric in a freezer in the back of the barn. Security-wise, not ideal. Do you have anywhere you could store him?”

  “Absolutely. We have stasis chambers that will accommodate his corpse.”

  “Huh,” Patrick said. “What are they usually used for?”

  “This very situation. People die on expeditions, or they are so badly injured that they have to be placed in stasis until they can be delivered to proper medical care. As I’ve mentioned, I am designed to operate independently in the field for long periods. This necessitates having facilities for most occurrences.”

  Patrick thought about that for a moment, then nodded. “Going to be a pain getting him up the stairs, though.”

  “I will lower the freight elevator.”

  “You have a freight elevator? Where is it located?”

  “The double-door elevator in the central cylinder is the freight elevator. It extends down to ground level if you press the bottom-floor button.”

  I remembered the mystery button at the bottom of the elevator panel. “Cool. Okay, we’ll take care of moving him later. Next question, fuel reserves. Do you have something like a gas tank? Mileage limit?”

  “I am fueled by antimatter. My reserves are large but not infinite. The only thing that really makes a large dent in them is generating wormholes for FTL travel, and I think we can agree we won’t be doing much of that, at least under current circumstances.”

  “Right,” I said. “Which brings us to the Loranna. You said they were trying to use a loophole in the Galactic Covenant to try to take over. How does that work?”

  “You may want to make sure you’ve taken care of bathroom breaks and gotten snacks. This will take a while.”

  “Ah. Crap. Dinner’s in … ” I looked at my watch and sighed. “Pretty much any minute now.” As if to mock my despair, a text popped up at that moment. Dinner’s ready.

  I stood. “You guys sure you don’t want to join?”

  Patrick shook his head. “Your mom asked, but we got McD’s. Again. We’ll wait for you.”

  “Like hell we will,” Nat said. “What we will do is get the story and give you a synopsis when you get back.”

  “Assholes,” I said. I gave them a wave as I headed for the door.

  I shoveled food into my mouth almost too fast to chew. I was trying to behave as normally as possible, but I was pretty sure I was blowing it, and badly. My mom watched me eat with a shocked expression that clearly said, Where did I go wrong? Dad kept making half-hearted attempts to discuss alternative colleges, but I couldn’t stay focused enough to even feign interest. Meanwhile Barkley, our dog, positioned himself beside my chair, waiting for a forkful to miss my mouth entirely.

  I excused myself from the table as quickly as I could and rushed back out to the barn, where I found Patrick and Nat both sitting silently, staring into space, their expressions vacant. No, not vacant. Something worse. Shock, maybe?

  “Wow, hello pod people. Something happen?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Nat said. “We got the story. We’re in deep shit, Jack.”

  “Deep shit,” Patrick echoed.

  I flopped into my chair. “Fine. Hit me.”

  “Okay, CliffsNotes version,” Nat replied. “They do have something kind of like a Federation of Planets—that was the first thing I asked—which they call the Galactic Covenant or just the Covenant. It acts like a central government by deciding on common sets of rules for members. Membership is voluntary, but there’s a huge economic hit for anyone not in the club. There’s a military force funded by the member species, but for the most part, members do their own governance. Think of it as the UN with teeth.”