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  Her right rear leg had struck a cabinet and was painful to the touch but did not appear to be broken. Several of her scales near the point of impact were cracked and one had been torn off. She ignored the wound which was bleeding slightly knowing that her blood would quickly congeal forming a natural bandage.

  Falnath then turned her attention to Keefer. On her way by the control panel she noticed that it was now fully active with several indicators blinking in different colors. Keefer was breathing slowly and regularly. There was a small bruise just below his left temple where his head had struck the side of the power converter.

  A low thud from inside of the now quiescent sphere startled Falnath causing her to freeze. After about five seconds a second thump was heard followed by a series of loud clicks. A barely perceptible rectangular crack appeared on the surface of the stasis chamber. Falnath hunched down into a defensive posture and continued to watch.

  A rectangular section of the sphere sank into the device to a distance of about half a meter. Then, without a sound, it moved to one side revealing an entrance roughly two meters tall and one meter wide. A dim light came from the interior. A few seconds passed, then a shadow from the inside obscured the doorway.

  "Za too lomara kyrra?" a soft voice spoke from within.

  Falnath waited. She was not afraid but every nerve of her body seemed to be on edge with anticipation. Beside her, Keefer started to show signs of recovery. He groaned and his head rolled forward. Over the sound of the alarm and Keefer's groaning, Falnath thought she heard the muffled sounds of a conversation from inside the sphere.

  A minute passed before the shadow reappeared. From inside the now inactive device one of the occupants emerged. The creature standing before her was constructed along the same basic lines as virtually all member races of the Alliance. It stood on two legs and had the standard complement of two arms and one head with a pair of offset eyes in the front. All visible portions of the creature's body were covered with very fine, short, dense, polychromatic fur.

  The head was supported about 150 centimeters off the floor by a thick body partially covered by a single piece of blue clothing. Two large, round eyes were set in the standard pattern above an almost invisible nose. The mouth was large and set almost flat. No ears were visible. The relatively long arms sported two elbows and were terminated by a hand with six digits.

  The alien's fur reflected light in a constantly shifting multi-colored pattern much like one of Earth's butterflies. The effect was not overwhelming and allowed the underlying primary color (which in this case was a very light brown) to be easily seen. Each subtle movement caused a new color pattern to flow across the alien's body.

  The alien slowly exited the chamber and quickly surveyed the room. Upon seeing Falnath crouching in the corner it made a small sound and froze. Another dressed in an identical outfit and sporting a very dark brown fur exited the chamber.

  Falnath remained still as the two aliens engaged in a short conversation. The first one to emerge pointed to Falnath then toward the control console, spoke a few rapid words, then quickly moved toward the console. The other one turned back toward the sphere's entrance and said something.

  Keefer groaned and stirred again. Falnath shifted her attention to the Human and noticed his eyes starting to open. She adjusted the volume on her vocoder then quietly said, "You have been injured. Please remain still. The stasis chamber has been shutdown and several of the occupants have emerged."

  While Falnath had been talking three more furry aliens had emerged from within the chamber making the small room seem quite crowded. The alarm suddenly stopped as the alien at the control console started manipulating the controls. Falnath noted that the pulsing noise of the reactor had slightly risen in frequency.

  One of them noticed McCallister's limp body and started to walk toward him. Not knowing its intent, Falnath stood up and, in her own native language, said, "Stop!"

  All the aliens seemed to cringe and the one moving toward McCallister stopped and quickly retreated back toward the rest of the group. The one at the controls made a few more quick adjustments then joined his companions.

  Keefer had heard Falnath's warning and had remained quiet while trying to regain his senses. He sat up and rubbed the side of his head. He looked around the room then turned to Falnath and said, "Looks like their afraid of you. What happened? Where's McCallister?"

  "He is in the far corner on the other side of the control console," Falnath gestured toward where McCallister lay. "He is unconscious and has suffered a head wound. I used his shirt to fashion a temporary bandage. I think the stasis chamber created a gravitational wave as it shutdown. You were pushed into the side of the power reactor and hit your head. If you feel up to it I would appreciate it if you would go get some help. I am not familiar enough with your physiology to assess McCallister's condition and I would prefer not to leave the aliens unattended at this time."

  Keefer slowly got to his feet. After making sure he could keep his balance he started slowly walking toward the door. The group of furry aliens watched him as they talked among themselves. One of them had gone to the back of the stasis sphere apparently to survey the damaged area. Keefer caught bits and pieces of their conversation. Their language sounded like a cross between ancient Chinese and Omel; a kind of sing-song speech with short guttural sounds.

  As Keefer was making his way to the door one of the aliens took a few slow steps away from the group toward Falnath. Tapping its chest (the sexual orientation of the aliens was an unknown as they all appeared to be pretty much identical to each other) it clearly enunciated, "Kyrra."

  Falnath tapped herself on the chest and in her own language said something. The word "Rouldian" issued from her vocoder in the language which was standard throughout the Alliance. She then pointed to Keefer who had almost made it to the door and said, "Human".

  The Kyrra who had spoken, slowly walked over to Falnath and examined the vocoder which hung around her neck. Falnath removed the device and handed it to the other. He or she gingerly took it then turned the device over in its hands a few times and handed it back. Falnath put it back around her neck and made a connecting motion between herself and Keefer. The Kyrra seemed to understand and made a swaying motion with its head.

  "We have a problem here," Keefer announced from the doorway. "There's some kind of force field surrounding us. I'm going to go check on McCallister."

  Falnath made sure she had the Kyrra's attention, pointed toward the door then placed two of her hands together to form a spherical shape. Using one of her other hands she mimicked something trying to break through the sphere. In order to emphasize the point that this was unacceptable she let out an ominous sounding hiss.

  The Kyrra in front of her seemed to cringe and quickly retreated back to the comfort of its fellows. "Apparently," Falnath announced, "the force field will remain in place."

  "How the hell did they erect a force field?" Keefer asked making his way toward McCallister. "What's generating it?"

  "They must have used the stasis field generator," Falnath confidently replied. "Based upon what we know of its function I'm quite certain that it could be used to generate an external shield. That must have been what the one that went to the control panel was doing."

  One of the Kyrra had entered the sphere and now returned with a small device. It walked around the far side of the control console, keeping as much distance between itself and Falnath. As it passed Keefer, who was just starting to kneel down next to McCallister, it said something that sounded more like a song than a sentence. It set the device down next to the computer and pulled a short cable out of one of its pockets. A moment later the device was connected to the computer.

  Keefer checked McCallister's pulse and found it to be strong and regular. The bandage Falnath had put on his forehead had stopped the bleeding. Keefer could find no other signs of injury as he carefully positioned McCallister into a more comfortable position on the floor. He reported his findings to Falnath.


  Falnath, in the meantime, had slowly made her way over to the computer trying to be as nonthreatening as possible. The Kyrra at the computer kept a wary eye on her as it keyed an entry into a keypad. "Ta num-pi chio coo narra-am-chura," a voice said from a hidden speaker.

  Without taking its eyes off Falnath, the Kyrra replied, "Muchug glot man'reacha pagtrin kyrra vo dizma."

  The Kyrra then pointed to the device then made the same connecting motion between itself and Falnath. "Man'reacha pagtrin kyrra vo Rouldian," it said.

  Falnath instantly thought she understood. The Kyrra were trying to establish a language translation to allow their two cultures to communicate. The device connected to the computer must therefor be some sort of device that Falnath was to interact with.

  Falnath took a couple of steps toward the device on the floor then stopped in shocked disbelief as the Kyrra put out a hand and pushed on her chest as if to try to stop her. This had probably taken a great deal of courage for the previously afraid Kyrra to do. Falnath stopped and lowered herself into a squatting position in front of the Kyrra.

  Not knowing how to pantomime her next question Falnath simply pointed to the device on the floor and said, "What is it?"

  The Kyrra looked at the device then at Falnath for a moment as if trying to understand. After a moment of thought the Kyrra walked over to the device and put its hand next to it then drew it away while making a waving motion with its hand. It then placed both hands on top of the device and brought them away spreading its arms wide.

  Now Falnath was positive she understood — the device was a transmitter and it was most likely trying to contact the Dragon's computer so a language translation could be established. Falnath noticed a small device on the floor and an idea popped into head. It was a hand-scanner that had fallen off their equipment cart. She picked it up and carefully walked over to the now dull-gray surface of the stasis machine.

  "Mr. Keefer," she talked as she walked, "the Kyrra have apparently connected a transmitter to their computer. I can only assume that they are trying to contact the Dragon's computer so the two machines can work out a language translation. Because of their situation I can't blame them for setting up a force field and I doubt I will be able to convince them to shut it down."

  "The cutter is still attached," Keefer replied after glancing in its direction. "I could trigger it. That would drop the force field."

  "And cause them to mistrust us even more."

  "You could try to bully them. Your race is rather intimidating," Keefer tried another tactic.

  "I'm going to scan the time stasis chamber," she continued, ignoring his suggestion. "Might I suggest that you attempt to convince them to drop the force field by pointing out that McCallister is injured and may require medical attention. Your less threatening physical form may work to our advantage in that regard."

  Keefer glanced down at McCallister and noticed that he had moved. "I'll give it a try but it looks like McCallister might be coming around."

  One of the Kyrra had noticed the device that Keefer had attached to the power conduit and was carefully examining it. After looking it over the Kyrra bent down and began removing it. "Oh well," Keefer thought, "There goes that avenue of escape."

  Keefer located the nearest Kyrra and slowly approached it. He could hear Falnath muttering to herself in her own language as she moved the device over the surface of the sphere.

  Without stopping her scanning, she said, "Unbelievable! This entire surface appears to be a single, massive, micro-electronic fabrication. There are field generators, modulators, control circuits, and sensors all on a sub-micron level. Whoever built this, has created a device that has unbelievably fine control over the field structure in and around the sphere."

  Keefer managed to convince one of the Kyrra to follow him over to McCallister. The Kyrra kept looking in Falnath's direction then, not seeing any threats, seemed to gain confidence. Keefer bent down and pointed to McCallister's forehead then to the blood on the floor. He then pointed towards the door hoping that the alien would understand.

  The Kyrra swayed its head from side to side and said, "Mi'a." It raised its voice and a short conversation took place across the room. The alien then returned its attention to Keefer, bobbed its head up and down and in a low voice said, "Krit'na dran groo, fee."

  "I'm not sure," Keefer told Falnath. "But I think my request was discussed and then refused. This one here," he indicated the Kyrra standing next to him, "apologized — or at least it sure sounded like it."

  Falnath moved away from the sphere and said, "Then I suggest we make ourselves comfortable. We might be here for several hours."

  McCallister stirred and then groaned. Keefer quickly bent down and said, "Take it easy Mr. McCallister. You took a nasty blow to the head."

  Keefer looked over at the Kyrra as if he were sizing them up. "You know, we could easily overpower these guys and force them to shutdown the force field or shut it down ourselves. As a matter of fact, that might not be a bad idea. What if they are hostile? They could decide to kill us and then take over the ship!"

  "Be reasonable!" Falnath scolded. "If these people were hostile they would have emerged from the stasis chamber with weapons at the ready. Keep in mind that they are far more technologically advanced than we are which usually implies they are also sociologically more advanced. My opinion is that once these Kyrra begin to know us they will consider us a threat to their existence."

  "Us? A threat to their existence? The technology their race possesses is so far beyond ours that their defensive and offensive capabilities must be staggering. How can we possibly be a threat to them?"

  "I see no evidence of weapons or aggressive behavior," Falnath countered.

  McCallister groaned again and his hand came up to his head. "Take it easy Mr. McCallister," Keefer tried to comfort him. To Falnath he replied, "Their ship was armed to the teeth."

  "There's evidence to support that the ship was not theirs."

  "We have not proven that assumption," Keefer replied.

  McCallister opened his eyes, licked his lips, then said, "What the hell happened?"

  "Falnath thinks the stasis chamber created a gravitational wave during the shutdown. You bumped your head pretty hard and you've been out for about ten minutes."

  McCallister quickly sat up then closed his eyes and groaned. "Then I was right. The button did initiate the shutdown program."

  "Apparently so," Keefer agreed.

  Keefer stood up and in doing so unblocked McCallister's view of the rest of the room. McCallister opened his eyes and saw the Kyrra. "What the hell! Who are they?"

  Keefer glanced over his shoulder then, extending a hand to help McCallister to his feet, replied, "They call themselves Kyrra. They were inside the stasis chamber."

  McCallister slowly got to his feet. He swayed a bit then seemed to gather his strength. He looked around the room then turned to Keefer and, in a much stronger voice, said, "You said I was unconscious for about ten minutes?"

  "Correct."

  "Why didn't you call for a medical team? Why are we three still the only ones here? Why are the Kyrra wandering around without a marine escort? What the hell did I miss?"

  Falnath decided to join the conversation. "Moments after exiting the stasis chamber the Kyrra erected a force field around us. They have been non-threatening and I believe they have established a communications link with the ship's computer to create a translation matrix. I suggest you find a comfortable place to rest until we can speak to them directly."

  "A force field! You mean we're trapped!" McCallister seemed to lose his balance and Keefer was forced to steady him.

  "I suggest you sit down," Keefer said as he guided McCallister back to a sitting position. "There's not much we can do right now except wait."

  McCallister reluctantly agreed — his head hurt too much to argue. Keefer sat down next to McCallister and made himself comfortable. As he was doing so another thought came to him. "Are you sure
that device is a communications system?"

  Falnath raised her head so she could clearly see Keefer before replying. "The gestures made by the Kyrra seem to indicate that the device was indeed a communications device. I also got the impression that it was being used to establish a way for them to communicate with us."

  "Are you sure? Perhaps they've hooked up a beacon to call for help."

  "If that's the case, then we should continue to remain on good terms with these people," Falnath shot back. "You've seen what their technology was like 40,000 years ago. Imagine what they are capable of doing now. I suggest we make ourselves comfortable and see how this plays out."

  Keefer glanced back to where the power interrupter once was and said, "I guess there's not much else to do."

  Falnath positioned herself so she could observe as many of the Kyrra as possible and settled down to wait.

  * * * * *

  Stricklen had almost finished his rum when the intercom system chimed. He hit the acknowledge button and said, "Stricklen."

  The XO's face appeared on the monitor. "Communications has picked up a signal coming in on low-band," Doug said. "We have confirmed that it is coming from the hanger bay — most likely from the stasis chamber."

  Ken had been idly thumbing through his diary randomly reading what he had written in the past. He closed the diary with a resounding thump. "The force-field must have been altered to allow it to pass the signal. This implies there is now someone inside who understands the operation of the device. What sort of a signal is it?"

  "It's very periodic. The computer believes it may be the beginnings of a language translation interchange. I think we should proceed along this assumption and allow the computer to attempt to establish a common translation."

  "Understood, standby." The captain broke the connection with the bridge then said, "Dragon — present analysis of the signal being received from the hanger bay."

  The ship's semi-intelligent computer system instantly responded. "The data stream consists of a repeating sequence of binary data arranged in words of twelve bits each. There are thirteen words in each group and there are twelve such groups. By arranging the words to form a simple twelve by twelve matrix and using the first word of each group to indicate a binary representation of a number the data-stream forms a series of symbols which have a probability of 94.8% of representing the numbers of a base twelve numbering system beginning with zero. This data stream would therefore represent the beginning of an attempt at establishing a language translation between the originators of the data stream and ourselves."