The lights outside began to settle into a flickering pattern and then even the lights slowly began to fade, leaving a dense darkness behind.
It reminded him of the darkness that had seemed to enclose the entity. Were they inside it? But how and why? And if not that, then what?
These kinds of questions were ones he usually left to his captain, or others higher up in the chain of command. His skill set consisted mostly of breaking things, shooting things, and flying things.
He became aware of an easing in the darkness, a different kind of light beginning to grow. It had a dark center, surrounded by shades of green and yellow.
No, it was two lights. It stopped closing on them and then a shutter came down over the lights and lifted again.
“I think,” Riina said, her voice shaky, “those are…eyes.”
He hoped she was wrong, but he feared she wasn’t. In his experience, Riina was mostly correct in her deductions.
“I believe you are correct.” Veirn’s voice was a quiet contrast with the pounding of Tim’s heart. He’d almost forgotten the AI fragment was on board, it had been quiet for so long.
“Eyes!” Drun’s voice rose in pitch as if each letter were a single sound.
Fred made a sound that Tim felt could be interpreted as unhappy. He’d have made one, too, if his throat hadn’t dried so completely.
The eyes did appear to be very large.
The eyes tilted, or the head that housed the eyes tilted to one side. If it was a head, it was a large one. Tim thought he saw a darker shadow below the eyes that could have been nostrils.
Then a gap appeared below the nostrils, and sound emerged.
Amazingly, the ship’s translation program converted the words. Or it thought it had. How could they know?
“What is it?”
The original eyes eased back, and two more eyes came into view. It was still so dark that Tim couldn’t see much detail beyond the eyes, possible nose, and mouth.
“It is a ship.”
“But where from? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
This voice was different. So, Tim’s eyes didn’t deceive him. There were two aliens regarding them. Them? Or the shuttle? Tim wondered, a little vaguely, how the group in the rear of the shuttle would process these aliens? He kind of hoped he never found out. Hopefully they could resolve this without that happening.
“A ship would be carrying something.”
“Yes.”
Riina reached forward, her hand hesitating over the broadcast control, then she flipped the switch.
“Hello.”
Hopefully the ship would translate this acceptably. If it didn’t, things could go south very quickly.
Both sets of eyes blinked.
“Did it speak?”
“I believe it did.”
The eyes moved closer to them and appeared to be studying them, if the up and down movement of the eyes were a correct indication.
“We are inside the object you are looking at,” Riina said. “We are life forms.”
One of the eyes came closer, until it was almost pressed up against their forward view screen. It blinked several times before it retreated.
