weapon?"
"Oh, No sir. There was no radiation or EMF, sir. We don't know what it was."
Nedcam was working furiously to set up his transfer-ring. The four men were too close together for him to pick the president off alone, no matter how he angled a ring and no matter where he started and stopped its travel. The flash from a ring big enough to get them all would crisp the remaining occupants of the room.
Ah, two of the group of four stepped away to a 2-D viewscreen on a side table and then the president stepped very close and began talking quietly into the ear of the uniformed man. Nedcam could take them both with the 1.5 meter transfer-ring. There! He had it lined up and ready to track. Waiting, waiting, everyone in the room was starting to look away toward the big display screen at the end of the table. Now!
There was a loud bang and a blast of air that blew every paper off the table. Even though they were all looking away, the men in the room were temporarily blinded by a brilliant flash of light. When they turned back, the carpeted floor had a 1.5 meter “crop circle” of closely trimmed fibers where President Rayland and General Price had been standing. A small oval of brown leather from the sole of the president’s right shoe curled up and rocked back and forth just off center. For a moment everyone blinked and stared.
Then alarms began to ring.
GUNNERY/TRANSFER ROOM—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—COMETARY EARTH ORBIT
0915 EST
The president dropped a sudden inch, then stumbled to the side in the lower gravity. A blast of higher pressure air from the ship eddied little curls of carpet fiber around his feet. He and the General found themselves on a small pedestal in the center of a 1.5 meter ring that lay on the floor between two vertical rails. He could feel heat still emanating from the ring that appeared to have been the source of the blinding flash. He looked about, seeing that he was in a room with several similar rings of different diameters, all of them also on rails.
The computer translated for Lt. Snellen and synthesized her voice speaking English. "President Rayland, I’m Lt. Snellen of the DNA humaniform spaceship Exceltor. I apologize for this rude abduction, but it’s necessary that we move quickly. Please put on the mask you see on the table in front of you. The air pressure on board this ship is quite high compared to your planet’s, so we need to supply you an altered mix containing helium in order to keep you safe."
The president felt a wavering sense of unreality about the whole thing. His entire worldview reeled. For a few seconds he’d feared that he might be going to pass out, but apparently the sensation of lightness he felt was because his weight had truly diminished. The hard evidence of his senses was incontrovertible. He was awake. He’d just been moved to a completely different location and environment in a flash of light.
For his part, General Price took a few steps toward the bulkhead door, then returned uncertainly to stand next to his commander in chief.
Snellen’s voice came on again, “Sirs, please. We need you to put on the breathing masks so I can equalize the compartment’s pressure to the ships’ and take you to the captain.
Neither of them said anything. Then President Rayland reached out, picked up the mask and put it on his face. The general frowned, “What if they’re poisoning you?”
Rayland snorted, “It’d be a lot easier to just shoot me, wouldn’t it?”
General Price hesitated another moment, then put on his own mask. With a whooshing sound the pressure started going up.
The president and his advisor began vigorously cracking their jaws as they tried to adjust to the painfully higher air pressure in the ship.
Rayland said, “Damn! My ears hurt. I was never any good at diving to depths more than a few feet.”
Not knowing that a port in the mask supplied their breathing mixture, Price had been wondering if the masks really did
"Oh, No sir. There was no radiation or EMF, sir. We don't know what it was."
Nedcam was working furiously to set up his transfer-ring. The four men were too close together for him to pick the president off alone, no matter how he angled a ring and no matter where he started and stopped its travel. The flash from a ring big enough to get them all would crisp the remaining occupants of the room.
Ah, two of the group of four stepped away to a 2-D viewscreen on a side table and then the president stepped very close and began talking quietly into the ear of the uniformed man. Nedcam could take them both with the 1.5 meter transfer-ring. There! He had it lined up and ready to track. Waiting, waiting, everyone in the room was starting to look away toward the big display screen at the end of the table. Now!
There was a loud bang and a blast of air that blew every paper off the table. Even though they were all looking away, the men in the room were temporarily blinded by a brilliant flash of light. When they turned back, the carpeted floor had a 1.5 meter “crop circle” of closely trimmed fibers where President Rayland and General Price had been standing. A small oval of brown leather from the sole of the president’s right shoe curled up and rocked back and forth just off center. For a moment everyone blinked and stared.
Then alarms began to ring.
GUNNERY/TRANSFER ROOM—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—COMETARY EARTH ORBIT
0915 EST
The president dropped a sudden inch, then stumbled to the side in the lower gravity. A blast of higher pressure air from the ship eddied little curls of carpet fiber around his feet. He and the General found themselves on a small pedestal in the center of a 1.5 meter ring that lay on the floor between two vertical rails. He could feel heat still emanating from the ring that appeared to have been the source of the blinding flash. He looked about, seeing that he was in a room with several similar rings of different diameters, all of them also on rails.
The computer translated for Lt. Snellen and synthesized her voice speaking English. "President Rayland, I’m Lt. Snellen of the DNA humaniform spaceship Exceltor. I apologize for this rude abduction, but it’s necessary that we move quickly. Please put on the mask you see on the table in front of you. The air pressure on board this ship is quite high compared to your planet’s, so we need to supply you an altered mix containing helium in order to keep you safe."
The president felt a wavering sense of unreality about the whole thing. His entire worldview reeled. For a few seconds he’d feared that he might be going to pass out, but apparently the sensation of lightness he felt was because his weight had truly diminished. The hard evidence of his senses was incontrovertible. He was awake. He’d just been moved to a completely different location and environment in a flash of light.
For his part, General Price took a few steps toward the bulkhead door, then returned uncertainly to stand next to his commander in chief.
Snellen’s voice came on again, “Sirs, please. We need you to put on the breathing masks so I can equalize the compartment’s pressure to the ships’ and take you to the captain.
Neither of them said anything. Then President Rayland reached out, picked up the mask and put it on his face. The general frowned, “What if they’re poisoning you?”
Rayland snorted, “It’d be a lot easier to just shoot me, wouldn’t it?”
General Price hesitated another moment, then put on his own mask. With a whooshing sound the pressure started going up.
The president and his advisor began vigorously cracking their jaws as they tried to adjust to the painfully higher air pressure in the ship.
Rayland said, “Damn! My ears hurt. I was never any good at diving to depths more than a few feet.”
Not knowing that a port in the mask supplied their breathing mixture, Price had been wondering if the masks really did
Similar Books
