Saucer

get all sweaty. My God, kid, where have you been? There are still people in America who think evolution should not be taught in schools. Darwin will rot impressionable little minds, destroy their faith in religion, bring civilization crashing down around our ears, et cetera and so on.'

'Do you believe that?'

'Doesn't matter what I believe. What matters is that the bigwigs in the government believe it.'

Major Stiborek dozed some during the heat of the day. He did it sitting up, with his head back against one of the poles that held up the shade tarp. It didn't look comfortable, but he snored a bit.

Stiborek awoke when the Aussie, Sharkey, brought Professor Soldi back to the camp and helped himself to some water. After he had a long drink, Soldi grunted at Dutch and Bill, then went into the sleeping tent and lay down on one of the cots.

Sharkey tried to make conversation with the Air Force officers. He gave that up after a few minutes as a waste of time.

When Sharkey wandered back toward the saucer, Rip went over to where Stiborek was sitting on one of the camp stools.

'Captain Pine says you're a pretty good engineer.'

Stiborek merely grunted. He didn't even look at Rip.

'Bet a good aeronautical engineer like you has that saucer all figured out, huh?'

'What do you want, kid?'

'Just trying to be nice, Major, get acquainted. Let bygones go by the by.'

'What do you want to know?'

'How does it work?'

'Amazingly enough, it burns hydrogen. Cracks water into hydrogen and oxygen in some sort of electrolysis process.'

'Ever see anything like that?' Rip asked casually.

'It's an extraordinary engineering triumph.'

'What holds it up when the hydrogen engines aren't going?'

'That's the mind-boggling part. It uses a force field of some type to modulate the earth's gravitational field.'

'Does Charley know that?' Rip asked with a glance at the female pilot, who was sitting at least fifty feet away, well out of earshot.

'She was there when we discussed all this.'

'I see.'

Mike Stiborek frowned, glanced at Charley Pine, then studiously ignored her.

'Think the reactor is intact?' Rip asked.

Stiborek laughed. 'You do the dumb kid act very well. Have I told you anything you don't know?'

'What about the reactor?'

'We brought a small radiation detector with us, and as near as we can tell, the reactor is still a sealed unit.' Stiborek shrugged. 'Can you believe it? A flying saucer?'

'Whoever flew it here, why did they leave it?'

Stiborek took his time before he answered. 'I don't know, kid. I really don't. I don't think the answer is in the saucer. It looks like it was parked there yesterday.'

'But it wasn't,' Rip replied. 'I dug away most of that rock myself. That's real sandstone.' He took a small piece from a pocket and passed it to Stiborek, who gave it a cursory glance and rubbed it between his fingers.

When Stiborek passed it back, Rip pocketed the stone, then asked, 'Could Charley fly it?'

Stiborek laughed. 'Now, I never even thought about that. That woman can fly anything. But, no. There isn't a chance that saucer is airworthy. Or spaceworthy. Whatever. Not a chance in a zillion.'

'Why?'

'My God, man. Everything deteriorates over time. Metal crystallizes, dissimilar metals react to each other, corrosion eats on everything… Entropy in a closed system increases over time — that's the second law of thermodynamics. Time has taken a toll on that ship, even if the toll isn't readily apparent to our eyes.'

'If it could fly, I mean. Could Charley fly it?'

'Kid — what's your name? Cantrell? Well, Cantrell, if elephants had wings, car windshields would be made of bulletproof glass and it would be dangerous to walk around outside. 'If' is the biggest word in the English language.'

'Okay.'

'All those systems in working order, after a hundred and thirty thousand years? Whoever made that thing was good, I'll grant you, but not that good.'

'One hundred forty thousand.'

'Give or take. What's ten thousand years among friends?' Stiborek picked up a small rock and tossed it a few feet. After a bit he added, 'The reactor is the critical unit.'

Rip looked puzzled. 'You said you guys checked the reactor. Isn't that a radiation counter there?' Rip pointed to a small battery-operated device lying on the sand near Stiborek's feet.

'I made a cursory check,' Stiborek acknowledged, 'with a battery-operated unit that is used only to ensure personnel safety. We found only background radiation. Which proves nothing.'

'At least — ' Rip began.

'Insulation — that ship probably has several hundred thousand miles of wire in it. If the insulation has come off a wire in just one place, you got a short, maybe a fire.'

'The insulation looked okay to me,' Rip murmured. 'In the places I could see.'

'Kid, you don't know what you're talking about. Let's look at one more example, just one. If you try to fire off that reactor and something critical breaks, that ship will melt down. If there is no explosion — and there might be — the whole ship will dissolve into a puddle of molten-hot radioactive goo. You won't care because you'll have already been fried.'

Stiborek tossed another pebble. 'Anybody who tries to fly that thing has found a flashy way to commit suicide.'

'Just thought I'd ask. A theoretical question.'

'Go away, kid. Leave me alone.'

'How come you and Charley are on the outs?'

Stiborek frowned. 'Did she say we are?'

'Oh, come on! Give me a break. I've got a mother and a sister and have even had a couple girlfriends through the years.'

Stiborek looked glum. 'She's going to move to Georgia, be a test pilot for Lockheed Martin. I tried to talk her out of it, but she's made up her mind, she says.'

'Does she have a reason?'

'Says this UFO team is a career dead end.'

'Maybe it used to be, but it isn't anymore. You two are about to become famous.'

Stiborek made a rude noise, then picked up another rock and threw it out into the desert.

In late afternoon Sharkey left his experts in the saucer and settled in to interrogate the Air Force officers in the sleeping tent. Colonel West was his first victim.

West was still in there when the sun set. Dutch passed around cold food to his people and the Air Force crowd.

The Aussie's men ate food from a cooler they carried from one of the helicopters, which hadn't moved all day.

When Red Sharkey finished with Colonel West, he sent for Major Stiborek.

Darkness came quickly in the desert. Rip went around lighting the lanterns, checking that they had enough propane.

A small breeze came up, easing the heat of the day.

Most of Sharkey's troops were gathered around their choppers, eating and talking loudly and laughing, when Rip rooted in his bags for his passport and wallet. Then he made his usual pilgrimage to the portable outhouse. He