figure's shadowed head look beyond the control panel as if studying something outside.
Falling back to his original plan, Vic crept along the invisible wall—keeping a respectful distance from the miles-high ledge.
He divided his attention between the aliens on his right and the incredible panorama to his left. Below, cities formed beautiful pools of scintillating lights. As the ship continued eastward, their prevalence increased until there was more city than dark countryside. Then it abruptly ended. White light gave way to the zigzagging black boundary of a dark ocean. "Holy shit," Vic whispered. They were already passing over the Atlantic Ocean.
The ship started a slow rotation. Originally oriented backward, its clear wall had been facing west. Still traveling east, the vessel turned through north. As it slowly rotated to face the oncoming eastern horizon, a carmine sun peeked from behind Earth's curved surface. A thin red beam sliced from right to left across the cabin's dark interior. Rising through the layers of the atmosphere, the orb changed from red to orange and then to yellow. As the vessel continued its clockwise eastern rotation, the sun painted a sweeping mural of shifting colors across the room's left wall.
Having reached the front center, Victor took a deep breath and turned to face the beings. Silhouetted against the eastern horizon's glow, he stood between their apparent control console and the clear wall, feeling naked, exposed. However, the ship hadn't finished its rotation. His hosts remained dark voids in the room's brightening interior. Behind him, the sun continued along its horizontal arc, its brightening rays slowly banishing the ship's internal shadows. Marching inexorably across the ship's interior, the sun's light finally fell across the trio.
Victor froze, unable to comprehend what he saw.
"This doesn't make sense." Confusion morphed into anger. He screamed, "What the hell is going on here?"
Unresponsive, the three perfectly normal human beings simply stared back.
"What are you doing? You nearly kill me and my wingman, you crash my fighter, and scare the shit out of me. What the fuck ?"
Silent and expressionless, they continued to stare at Victor.
He looked around. "Where'd this ship come from, anyway?"
Infuriatingly, they just stared back, mild humor the only detectable emotion.
Finally, the center one answered in a heavily accented language. Victor didn't understand the words. They sounded like Afrikaner, but all wrong.
"What?" he asked.
The apparent leader held up his right index finger in a hold-on gesture. His other hand moved back to the strange looking panel.
A rotating, three-dimensional green hologram of a human brain emerged from its surface. Rising above the control panel, it hovered between them. Victor looked from the hologram to the man with a questioning look. To his surprise, the holographic brain mimicked his head's movements. Thinking it might be a coincidence, Vic turned his head left and right. The green brain did the same.
A vertical stack of holographic cubes streamed through the air to the left of the brain. Each block had a different color and a unique symbol. No longer worried the ship's occupants might be toothy aliens with a taste for human flesh, Victor stepped in for a closer look. He thought the symbols on the boxes might be part of some arcane computer language.
The center man apparently found what he was looking for. He made a gesture, and the cascading cubes rolled to a quick stop. Reaching into the hologram, he tapped a virtual box. To Victor's surprise, the cube moved as if it had mass. As it slid out of the column, a new cube, identical in color and symbol to the one now in the leader's hand, coalesced out of thin air, filling the vacated slot. Raising it to eye level, the man looked at Victor through the semitransparent purple cube and grinned. The holographic brain swelled to the size of a beach ball. Winking at Victor, the man tossed the
Falling back to his original plan, Vic crept along the invisible wall—keeping a respectful distance from the miles-high ledge.
He divided his attention between the aliens on his right and the incredible panorama to his left. Below, cities formed beautiful pools of scintillating lights. As the ship continued eastward, their prevalence increased until there was more city than dark countryside. Then it abruptly ended. White light gave way to the zigzagging black boundary of a dark ocean. "Holy shit," Vic whispered. They were already passing over the Atlantic Ocean.
The ship started a slow rotation. Originally oriented backward, its clear wall had been facing west. Still traveling east, the vessel turned through north. As it slowly rotated to face the oncoming eastern horizon, a carmine sun peeked from behind Earth's curved surface. A thin red beam sliced from right to left across the cabin's dark interior. Rising through the layers of the atmosphere, the orb changed from red to orange and then to yellow. As the vessel continued its clockwise eastern rotation, the sun painted a sweeping mural of shifting colors across the room's left wall.
Having reached the front center, Victor took a deep breath and turned to face the beings. Silhouetted against the eastern horizon's glow, he stood between their apparent control console and the clear wall, feeling naked, exposed. However, the ship hadn't finished its rotation. His hosts remained dark voids in the room's brightening interior. Behind him, the sun continued along its horizontal arc, its brightening rays slowly banishing the ship's internal shadows. Marching inexorably across the ship's interior, the sun's light finally fell across the trio.
Victor froze, unable to comprehend what he saw.
"This doesn't make sense." Confusion morphed into anger. He screamed, "What the hell is going on here?"
Unresponsive, the three perfectly normal human beings simply stared back.
"What are you doing? You nearly kill me and my wingman, you crash my fighter, and scare the shit out of me. What the fuck ?"
Silent and expressionless, they continued to stare at Victor.
He looked around. "Where'd this ship come from, anyway?"
Infuriatingly, they just stared back, mild humor the only detectable emotion.
Finally, the center one answered in a heavily accented language. Victor didn't understand the words. They sounded like Afrikaner, but all wrong.
"What?" he asked.
The apparent leader held up his right index finger in a hold-on gesture. His other hand moved back to the strange looking panel.
A rotating, three-dimensional green hologram of a human brain emerged from its surface. Rising above the control panel, it hovered between them. Victor looked from the hologram to the man with a questioning look. To his surprise, the holographic brain mimicked his head's movements. Thinking it might be a coincidence, Vic turned his head left and right. The green brain did the same.
A vertical stack of holographic cubes streamed through the air to the left of the brain. Each block had a different color and a unique symbol. No longer worried the ship's occupants might be toothy aliens with a taste for human flesh, Victor stepped in for a closer look. He thought the symbols on the boxes might be part of some arcane computer language.
The center man apparently found what he was looking for. He made a gesture, and the cascading cubes rolled to a quick stop. Reaching into the hologram, he tapped a virtual box. To Victor's surprise, the cube moved as if it had mass. As it slid out of the column, a new cube, identical in color and symbol to the one now in the leader's hand, coalesced out of thin air, filling the vacated slot. Raising it to eye level, the man looked at Victor through the semitransparent purple cube and grinned. The holographic brain swelled to the size of a beach ball. Winking at Victor, the man tossed the
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