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  The shuttle arrived and discharged a single Tholtaran. The alien looked very much like a 138 centimeter tall vulcanized version of a Human with large ears. Their leathery skin and deeply inset eyes acted to protect them from the harsh ultra-violet light of their homeworld's sun.

  Ken welcomed the Tholtaran aboard then turned his attention to his departing guests. He made sure he shook each individual's hand and bid each one a safe journey home. He watched until the docking portal had closed, then, turning to the Tholtaran representative he said, "The science team is waiting for us in the conference room. Please follow me."

  The conference room was packed with 23 people when Ken arrived. Most were members of the science team and were standing together at the back of the room. The murmur of a dozen conversations slowly dropped off as Stricklen took his place at the head of the oval table.

  "Thank you for waiting," he began. "This is science advisor Bronack of the Tholtaran republic. I have asked him here as a courtesy to the Tholtaran fleet which will be providing the area security during our stay here. I will not delay you any longer — Falnath, please proceed."

  The dragon-like body of the Rouldian scientist was positioned in an out of the way corner of the room. A computer keyboard had been placed in front of her. She entered commands and the room lights dimmed. A hologram of the derelict ship appeared in the center of the conference table. As Falnath spoke, the image constantly shifted apparently in response to verbal cues which she had instructed the computer to follow.

  "For the last twelve hours we have subjected the derelict to an extensive series of tests. During this time we have learned a great deal. Some of the results have been amazing. I will start with the ship itself. Extensive testing has confirmed that the ship is roughly 44,600 years old. The margin for error is plus or minus 300 years. Multiple methods have yielded the same age and we are confident that this is an actual derelict and not something designed to appear as such.”

  "The general construction of the ship is roughly equivalent to the technological level of most Alliance spacecraft of about 20 years ago. We have not learned anything new from the ship itself but we have found several modifications which were made to the ship that are of a technological level superior to ours. These modifications were not easily found and would have been overlooked during a cursory examination of the ship. We are still looking into exactly what these modifications do.”

  "The object in the cargo bay is not of the same technological level as the ship but is far beyond even our abilities. Based upon the evidence, we believe that a technologically superior race was using the ship from an inferior race to transport the object. This would explain the modifications made to the ship and the presence of the object in the cargo bay. We have no meaningful explanation as to why an advanced race would use an inferior race's spacecraft as a cargo ship although several theories have been proposed.”

  "We have concentrated most of our efforts on the object in the cargo hold. As you are all aware, the ship was originally discovered when the Komodo Dragon detected a strange pulsating gravitational field. It is now known that a single device is the source of those gravitational waves. Until very recently, the entire object was shielded in such a way as to have prevented any detection even upon close examination of the ship.”

  "Recently, within the last forty-five days or so, a small asteroid, traveling at a high relative velocity apparently impacted the ship, penetrated the armor plate, and inflicted minor damage to the object in the cargo hold. Part of the shielding system was damaged along with an additional shielding system for a device which I will describe in a moment."

  Falnath turned and looked toward Ken as she continued, "Captain Stricklen, you have seen this shielding system up close. It's the shimmering force field you found so fascinating. A tiny section of the force field emitter has been damaged. This resulted in a leakage path for gravitational energy and, since the ship was slowly spinning, the Komodo Dragon detected this as a pulsating gravity field."

  An overhead view of the object in the cargo bay appeared on the large display screen at the front of the room. The entrance was near the center of one side. Directly in front of the entrance was a control console. The right side of the object contained box-like equipment racks. The left end was taken up by the large glowing, shifting, ball and was surrounded by still more equipment. The entire back wall consisted of a single large machine. As Falnath spoke, the various areas she was referring to were highlighted.

  "We have identified the equipment to the right of the chamber to be mostly monitoring devices. They are operating and, as far as we can tell, are functioning normally. The large box in the far corner is a computer of extremely advanced design. Most of its internal systems appear to be in some sort of low power standby state. At present, we do not believe we can fully activate it."

  "I would think that doing so would be unwise," the Dragon's security officer interrupted.

  Falnath ignored the comment and pressed on. "The control console is of a very complex design and its purpose is still being researched. The object behind the console is a power reactor."

  Falnath lifted herself up until her head was nearly at ceiling level. She scanned the room slowly then continued. "Our instruments show that this reactor is currently generating a continuous power output of 120 terra-watts."

  The reaction Falnath expected was instantaneous. "Impossible!" several people shouted at once. A babble of voices clashed and then subsided until a single quiet voice won out. The Dragon's chief engineer said, "That kind of a power plant would be tremendously huge and, assuming we could even build one, would consume enormous quantities of fuel each second. Where is it getting the fuel? How is it controlled? And most importantly what is demanding that much energy?"

  Falnath surveyed the room until she found the person she was looking for. "Mr. Demu, would you care to answer."

  The indicated individual, who was seated at the table, stood up and glanced around the room. Mr. Demu was a Shandarian, a race of people that from a distance could very easily be mistaken for a Human. Similar in form and size the only differences between the two races was the noticeably smaller nose and mouth and the fact that the Shandarian eyelid moved horizontally instead of vertically.

  "We have not completed our analysis of the reactor," Mr. Demu said in a surprisingly deep voice. "However, we believe the ultimate source of power is based on matter/anti-matter reactions. At its current power output level the reactor is converting over 4.8 kilograms of mass to energy each hour."

  Pointing to a structure on the screen the scientist continued. "The fuel is being supplied by these two globular structures near one end of the reactor. These structures contain an extremely dense form of matter which is still being analyzed. Our readings are being hampered by some sort of shielding.”

  "The bulk of the power is being fed into the large device at the far left of the chamber. This is the device where we have focused virtually all of our research efforts. It is generating a powerful, spherical gravitational field. The field structure is very complex and we have detected other fields embedded within the sphere itself.”

  "We have also been able to determine that there is a null area of about seven meters in diameter within this sphere. The surrounding fields of energy consist of a complex mixture of gravitational fields and others, some of which closely resemble those generated by a stardrive."

  "Stop!" Bronack said loud enough to cause everyone in the room to look in his direction. The Tholtaran got out of his seat, placed both arms on the table in front of him, and leaned as close as he could toward the hologram. The room was silent as he seemed to examine the contents of the chamber more closely.

  After a moment Bronack turned to Falnath and said, "This is rubbish! What kind of joke are you trying to pull? Stardrive fields cannot exist within an area of space permeated by gravitational fields. You are saying that this device is using a combination of gravitational and stardrive fields to perform its function? What you are
saying is impossible."

  Waving his hand in the direction of the screen, the Tholtaran's tirade escalated. "You also claim that this device is powered by a reactor of unimaginable power. You say that this power is derived from a matter/anti-matter reaction, yet it is common knowledge that anti-matter is too difficult to manufacture in even minute quantities to be a useful power source. Again what you are saying is impossible. Explain!"

  Falnath looked at the Tholtaran. Stricklen could not decipher the Rouldian's expression. She reached out to her computer console and commanded the room's lights to full intensity before shifting her attention toward Bronack. A low hiss came from her throat before she replied. "I am presenting the facts as we have discovered them," the vocoder translated. Ken could barely make out her native language but he thought it sounded a little raspier than normal. "If you dispute the facts then I will be glad to discuss the matter with you at a later time. For now I wish to continue with this briefing."

  "I agree with Falnath," Stricklen said. "Please return to your seat. You may meet with her after the meeting if you still have questions."

  Bronach seemed to hesitate for a moment then, muttering something under his breath, sat back down.

  "Please continue," Stricklen said to the now silent room.

  Falnath visibly calmed herself before continuing. "We have theorized that the combination of fields within the device has created a unique condition within the null region of the sphere. Tell me captain, during your initial search of the ship did you find any evidence of the crew?"

  Stricklen was caught off-guard by the question. "Um — no, we did not."

  "Have you wondered where they might be?"

  "We assumed they had left the ship after it was damaged. For some reason they never returned to tow it back to a space-dock."

  "I submit to you," Falnath said in a slow, measured tone. "That the crew are still aboard the ship and have been for the last 45,000 years. There is only one theory that explains the existence of a hyper-gravity field in combination with stardrive-like control fields. It is my theory that the object you have discovered is nothing less than a time-stasis machine and that the crew are inside the null point of the sphere in a state of time-suspension."

  As pandemonium broke out Stricklen's jaw hit the floor. He sat stunned as everyone in the room tried to talk at once. So great was the noise that he almost did not hear his private com-link when it signaled an incoming message. "Captain, this is Commander Raferty on the bridge," the tiny hearing aid like device said. "The Mobius reports that one of its outlying sensor drones has picked up a very small object heading this way, possibly a probe. Drive wake signature is unknown. Distance — 0.69 lights. Speed — 1,250c. A class 4 HK has been dispatched to intercept. Time to intercept 2.5 hours."

  Stricklen reached down and clicked one of the buttons on his wrist-com thus telling the bridge that the message had been received. He then stood up and motioned for silence. It took almost five minutes before order was restored.

  "Falnath, would you please explain your reasoning for this theory of yours?" Stricklen asked.

  Falnath had remained passive during the entire episode. In response to Stricklen's question she said, "My reasoning is based mostly upon the research data which we have obtained. I am sure that nobody in this room understands continuum calculus so I am unable to present an accurate explanation. I will, however, try.”

  "It is common knowledge that a hypergravity field will affect time. In the presence of a hypergravity field, time will dramatically slow down. A gravitational field, however, also has other very undesirable effects which would normally render its use as a time stasis mechanism useless. The largest factor would be the tidal effects which would destroy any object near enough to have its time affected.”

  "The alien device uses a combination of hypergravity fields and space-warping fields that are very similar to our stardrive fields, only of a much higher level of complexity, to achieve a state of time-stasis within a null-point inside the sphere. The exact amount by which time has been slowed cannot be determined with our instruments."

  "That might explain the device," Scarboro said. "But why do you believe the crew are inside the sphere? What was this thing doing on that ship in the first place? Whoever built the supposed stasis device must be very technologically advance — more advanced than any member of the Alliance is now. The level of technology of the ship and that of the device are hundreds, if not thousands of years apart."

  "We don't know for certain why the stasis device was on the ship," Falnath replied. "We do know that the reactor has enough fuel to enable it to run for at least an additional 8,000 years. I have a personal theory concerning the presence of the device on the ship and the crew being inside the stasis device."

  "I would like to hear this theory," Bronach practically sneered.

  "Consider this — Let us assume for a moment that my race is technologically superior to all other races in the Alliance." At this statement Bronack huffed out a short burst of air which Falnath ignored.

  "In fact, let's assume that we are so far advanced that we are capable of doing what most other races would consider as the impossible. Despite our advanced level of technology we are non-aggressive and we try to live in harmony with the other races of the Alliance but we do not share our technology. How would Humans and the other members of the Alliance react in this case?"

  Scarboro considered the question for a moment and was the first to reply. "There would be many that would want to have your technology for themselves in order to give them a technological edge against their enemies. If you were unwilling to share it, your ships and people would be harassed or worse, attacked, in order to get the technology."

  "A most accurate conclusion," Falnath replied.

  She shifted her considerable bulk out of the corner of the room to a position closer to the conference table causing several people to scramble to make a path for her. "The end result would be that our race would have no choice but to either flee the area or eliminate all other inferior life-forms in order for us to live in peace. Being as advanced as we are, the second alternative would be rejected.”

  "The first alternative is equally difficult because no matter where we tried to go the other races would pursue us. A better alternative would be to either hide our existence or flee in secret using the ships and technology of the inferior species around us. I believe that this is what happened to the builders of the stasis device.”

  "My belief is that the device was being transported to another location and something happened to damage the ship. If a distress signal had been sent, there would have been a good chance that a member of another race might respond and find the stasis device. It would make more sense for the crew to enter the stasis chamber and wait. When the ship did not arrive at its destination, another would be sent to investigate and thus a member of their own race would eventually arrive to rescue them. This, for reasons we can not determine, did not happen and the crew are still in stasis."

  "Why would such a race need to transport a stasis machine anyway? What purpose would it serve?" Skip asked.

  "I cannot answer your question," Falnath replied. "A stasis device would allow an individual who has been injured to be transported to a more advanced facility to receive care, or to store a sample of some short lived material while it is being moved to a research lab. There are many potential uses for such a device. This device, however, is capable of maintaining the stasis for thousands of years. If I were to make a guess I would say the device was meant to be used to place something or someone in stasis for many centuries. To what purpose I will not attempt to guess."

  "Sounds like a plausible explanation to me," Scarboro said. "How do we go about verifying it? Do we know how to turn the thing off?"

  "That is still being looked into. Simply interrupting the power to the device could do it. There are other scenarios, however, which predict that interrupting the power could result in a catastrophic shutdown resulting in
an explosion of quite titanic proportions. We are dealing with a technology which we do not even dimly understand yet. Eventually we will have to try something because as long as the device is operating we cannot move it to a better research facility."

  "Huh?" Stricklen said. Then remembering he corrected himself. "Oh — I understand. The gravity field is preventing us from forming a stardrive field. That means we are stuck here until we figure out how to turn it off. That could be a problem because we might have some uninvited company soon."

  "What do you mean?" Falnath asked, swinging her head in Ken's direction.

  "The Mobius has picked up the drive wake of a small unidentified ship, most likely an alien probe heading this way. My guess is that it has already informed whoever sent it that a large gathering of ships is just sitting out here."

  "Great!" exclaimed Doug. Turning to Falnath he said, "If that probe is from our friends who attacked Mintaka you had better find a way to turn your time stasis machine off or we may just have to leave it here."

  "You will not," an authoritative voice announced. Stricklen looked around and, following the stares of the others in the room, located the speaker. He appeared to be a Lamaltan as he was enclosed within a bulky environment suit and had been standing along the back wall of the conference room.

  Lamaltans could not survive in an oxygen atmosphere but instead required a mixture of methane and ammonia at a temperature of several degrees below zero. They were one of the more bizarre life-forms making up the Alliance.

  The figure stepped forward and, to the horror of the crowd, unsealed his suit. Poisonous, frigid gas did not, as everyone expected, pour into the crowd. Instead of a Lamaltan, a darkly metallic clad figure stepped out of the environment suit. He stood 173 centimeters tall and, except for his face, appeared to be completely encased within black armor. A special issue blaster was magnetically clamped to his left side.