John Maddox Roberts - Spacer: Window of Mind by John Maddox Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

was stationed." He favored the Angel's crew with another, barely civil nod.
    "While debating my next move, I saw this In the tank a ship suddenly appeared from outside the viewer's range, headed for what was obviously a landing apron on the ground. All sat up straight, even Nagamitsu, who, Kiril thought, must have seen this holo many times before. The room erupted in muttering and exclamations from her shipmates. Kiril was no expert on spacecraft, but even she could see that this ship was not of any design produced by humans. It was a collection of spheres of varying sizes, arranged in an irregular circle and connected by a system of delicate struts. The whole thing was colored black.
    "Can we get a close-up of that thing?" the skipper asked.
    "Certainly," said Nagamitsu, "but you'll be disappointed." The strange craft froze in position and the viewer zoomed in. As the perspective shortened, the resolution got no clearer. Wavy, shimmering lines interposed to make every feature of the ship unclear and hazy. "As you can see, the ship, like the ground facility, employed a masking device, much like the one Mr. Ng used to avoid detection, but far more sophisticated. Please continue, Mr. Ng." ,
    "There is little more. I saw instantly that not only was this ship not of human design, but it could not be made to land on a full-gravity planet by any stretch of human engineering. I knew that 1 had made a discovery of the utmost importance to humanity. What I had was maddeningly incomplete, and I wanted to try for more data, but Rule One is very specific on this question. Such data as I had, I sent out on subspace in case I shouldn't make it back, and I headed for home. That system requires an unusually great distance from the primary for the Whooppee drive to function, so I only made it back three months ago."
    "Thank you, Mr. Ng," said Pierce. He turned to the Angel's people. "Before we proceed further, have you any questions to ask Mr. Ng?"
    "You referred to that place as a 'colony,' " said Torwald. "Is it certain that it isn't their native planet?"
    "Absolutely," Ng said. "We did a standard scan of the planet, we took atmosphere and water samplings with remotes, all the usual procedures. We found no other settlements, not that that means a lot. For all we know, they might live underground. But the air and water of that world are absolutely unpolluted. Whoever built that ship had a long history of industrial development before they ever got into space, and it would show in the air and water, even if they had progressed to clean industry and energy thousands of years ago. That planet is pristine."
    " How far from that little port did the masking effect reach?" the skipper asked.
    "Approximately six hundred kilometers," Ng said. "It is far more powerful than anything we have. They could be hiding a lot down there."
    "If there are no further questions," Pierce said. "Thank you, Mr. Ng." The Satsurna captain bowed and left the room.
    "Who's going on this expedition?" the skipper asked.
    " The Council debated that point for a long time," Pierce said. "Yourselves, of course, for the reasons already specified. The naval contingent, headed by Grand Admiral Nagamitsu, will represent the military. The diplomatic mission, which I shall be heading, shall also travel in this vessel. The civilian sector shall be represented by a large scientific contingent, traveling in the Satsuma vessel alongside."
    "1 was going to ask about that ship," said the skipper. "Why Satsuma?"
    "The Council was, of course, anxious to maintain a complete separation of the military and civilian missions," Pierce said, "and also wished to impress upon the aliens our considerable technology, as well as our military might. The Satsuma Supernova, I'm sure you will agree, is the most spectacular of our civilian vessels, just as this TFCS is the most impressive in the navy."
    "If they can make ships like the one we just saw, and land them on Earth-type planets," said Torwald,