Saucer

It enveloped him, made it difficult to breathe, and he perspired freely.

So did everyone else sitting there under the watchful eyes of the Aussie's friends. Those worthies didn't look like they had seen a bath or clean clothes in quite a while, but their weapons looked well cared for. Russian-made assault rifles, British army web gear, automatic pistols… they were ready to fight a minor war. Fortunately they didn't point the weapons at anyone. The rifles stayed on their shoulders or across their laps, the pistols stayed in their holsters.

Still, they stayed alert. A bit of moving around by the Americans seemed to be tolerated, but two or more people moving brought a curt admonishment.

'Think the prof is telling Sharkey all the secrets?' Rip asked Haagen.

'He doesn't know any to tell.'

'He shouldn't have gone off as pals with that guy.' 'That Aussie was going to look at the saucer with or without the prof. Maybe with Soldi there he won't tear up anything.'

'You are an incurable optimist,' Bill Taggart told Haagen.

'Don't you start grousing again,' Haagen shot back. 'I'm not in the mood. And another thing… '

Leaving those two to squabble, Rip moved over to where Charley Pine was sitting. 'Hot day, huh?'

Pine looked him over, didn't say anything. After a bit, Rip asked, 'What did you think of the saucer?'

'I don't know what to think. I've been sitting here trying to decide.'

'It's really old,' Rip offered. 'Yes,' she murmured.

'Did you see anything wrong with it?' Rip asked softly. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, we were wondering why it came to end up in that sandstone ledge. Maybe there was a malfunction of some kind. What do you think?'

'It's possible. We didn't have time to do more than give it a superficial look last night.'

'I'm sort of curious about what you experts found,' Rip said. 'How does that thing work, anyway?'

'All I could give you are guesses.'

'The thing doesn't have wheels on the landing gear. It must take off vertically.'

Charley Pine looked thoughtful. 'I'd love to fly it someday,' she said.

'You could figure out what all those levers and things actually do?'

'That would be the easy part,' Charley Pine replied. 'It's strange, when you think about it, how vastly different cultures arrive at very nearly the same answers to engineering problems. The controls have to give the pilot control. How the systems work, how it's powered, what the controls operate — it will take weeks or months of investigation to answer those questions.'

'Ever flown a saucer before?' Rip asked matter-of-factly.

Charley smiled. 'No.'

'Have you flown many different kinds of planes?'

'Most of the tactical machines in the Air Force inventory and a half dozen helicopters.'

'Bet being a test pilot takes a lot of education, huh?'

'It's a specialized field. I have a masters in aero engineering too. That's why Mike is so testy at times.' A faint smile crossed her lips.

'I've had a few aero courses myself,' Rip said.

Charley merely nodded and brushed a loose hair from her forehead.

Rip gestured toward the saucer. 'Flying that thing couldn't be too hard,' he suggested.

Charley cocked her head, looked at the saucer as if weighing his comments. 'Shouldn't be all that difficult,' she agreed, 'if all the systems were in working order and we had the manual to study. Everything isn't working, of course. Not a chance in a million.'

'You're serious? You could fly that thing?' 'No. I couldn't. Not unless we have a crew of Martians check it out, repair it, service it, and sign it off as ready to fly. And I would need to read the manual; I don't fly anything without reading the book.' 'Bummer.'

'That's one of the really big rules.' 'That's cool,' Rip said. 'Only two small caveats. I like that.'

Rip tried to envision what it would be like going Warp 7 in the saucer with the controls in your hand.

'The major there,' he said after a bit, I'll bet he's a pretty good pilot.'

'He designs planes, he doesn't fly them,' Charley Pine said, a bit vinegary Rip thought.

He grinned at her. She managed a small grin in return.

'So why did you get out of the Air Force, anyway?'

'My being in uniform was driving Mike crazy.'

'Umm

'It was time… time to move on. I've landed a job with Lockheed Martin that starts in six months. The Air Force asked me to stay with the UFO team until they can order in someone else.'

'I see.'

'Sorry to bore you. My life is a mess.'

'So exactly what does a UFO investigation team do?'

'Learn all we can. Write reports. Debunk the myths.'

'Are there UFOs?'

'That's classified,' Charley Pine said curtly.

'Government's been doing UFO stuff for fifty years or so, hasn't it?'

'About that, I guess.'

'Seems like they could tell us something, after all that time.'

'If the authorities chose, perhaps they could.'

'Must be a lot of flying saucers to justify spending all that money.'

'There certainly are a lot of people who think they've seen one,' the test pilot admitted.

'Have you guys got any other flying saucers lying around? Out there in Nevada or somewhere else?'

Another tiny smile crossed Pine's face. 'Not to my knowledge. Of course, if we did and I told you, I'd have to kill you.'

Rip smiled easily. 'Maybe we oughta call you Charley Manson.'

'Just kidding, of course.'

'You're sorta cute,' Rip told her. 'For an older woman.'

Charley Pine rubbed at the dirt and sweat mixture on her forehead. Sitting in the desert in front of a flying saucer with an amorous kid! She looked at the Aussie's troops with their big flop hats and their rifles and gritted her teeth.

Chapter Five

At lunchtime Bill passed around some freeze-dried fruit sealed in see-through bags. 'This is it?' Rip asked incredulously.

'I'll eat yours if you don't want it.'

As they munched, Rip tried to make conversation with Haagen, who was in a dark mood. He got like that sometimes, and Rip usually tried to avoid him unI'll the mood passed. Today he decided to take his chances.

'What do you think these Air Force types really want, Dutch?'

'They want the saucer, kid. Believe it. So does the Aussie.'

'If the Air Force gets it, this will be big back in the States, huh?'

Haagen ate another piece of dried prune before he answered. 'If the Air Force gets that saucer, you'll never see or hear of it again. The government's position is that saucers don't exist.'

'That's crazy.'

'Why do you think the Air Force has UFO teams? I'll tell you — to rush to the site of any 'unexplained phenomenon' and explain it away, get everybody calmed down. The people who saw strange things are dismissed as kooks.'

'But saucers do exist. There one is!' Rip pointed with his head.

'You know that and I know that, but the powers that be don't want Joe Six-Pack and the Bible thumpers to