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  "I couldn't sleep, so I went through the diaries again,” Delmar said. "Something just keeps gnawing at me."

  "I'm not surprised,” Robert said. "I warned Agnes this would happen."

  "So what's on the agenda for today?"

  He knew he’d have to steer the conversation away from himself to keep Robert unaware of his contact with Ert.

  "Just the usual chores. I think that would be the safe thing to do."

  "What do you mean safe?"

  "I suspect we’ll have a visit from RoseMary sometime today,” Robert answered. "I wouldn't want her to catch us doing anything that Agnes might not approve of."

  "Good idea,” Delmar agreed.

  Robert brought the food to the table. After praying, both had barely gotten their first bites into their mouths when a ground vehicle pulled into the driveway.

  "Well, that was quick,” he said and opened the door for Daren, RoseMary, and little Del-Robert. Delmar stood as the family filed in.

  "Thought we'd drop in and see what you two were up to," Daren said. “But don't let us interrupt your breakfast.”

  Robert poured coffee for the adults and milk for little Del-Robert.

  "You probably think Agnes asked us to keep tabs on you two,” RoseMary began.

  "Of course,” Robert freely admitted. "But I didn't expect you until later today."

  "A good spy never shows up when you expect them,” Daren replied with a smile. "But we're not exactly here to spy on you."

  "So to what do we owe this visit?" Delmar asked, his curiosity piqued.

  "We just wanted to come down and let you know that we're basically on your side,” RoseMary answered.

  Delmar looked puzzled, so she continued.

  "With Agnes not here, you might be tempted to go do crazy guy things,” she said. "And if it isn't too outrageous, it won't be on the official Agnes report."

  “You mean no cowboy shootouts or running naked through the cornfield?” Delmar asked. “That sort of guy thing?”

  Robert looked at Delmar and grunted.

  "You make it sound like you're expecting us to do some pretty unusual stuff,” Robert said. "I had planned on us doing safe things like chores and such."

  "We won't hear of it,” Daren said firmly. "In fact, we insist you two go have some sort of fun."

  “Mom will notice if the chores aren’t done."

  "Don't worry about that,” RoseMary replied. "We'll watch the farm while you're gone, and if you leave us your chore list, we can tackle some of those too."

  "Sounds like an offer we can't refuse,” Robert said with a smile toward Delmar. Delmar's grin reflected his agreement.

  ∞∞∞

  With his briefcase in his right hand and an armload of student assignments under his left arm, Yohan Nashar pushed the key into his office door just when he heard the phone ring inside. He’d learned long ago that it did no good to rush to answer a phone, and he refused to carry a cellular. But there was one universal truth in the academic, if he didn’t answer, whoever it was would always call back.

  "Hello?" he said after reaching the annoying instrument. He managed to successfully pile the student papers on a table.

  "You all right?"

  “Pete?”

  “Of course it’s Pete. Who else would call you this early?”

  "It's just been one of those mornings."

  “Look, I know you're busy so I'll keep it short. Can you meet us at the field after work?"

  "Sounds good to me,” Yohan answered. "But two questions. Who are we and what are we planning?"

  "The who are Mark and me,” Pete answered. "The what is to see how serious he is. I plan to putter around the plane while giving him the opportunity to sign up at the flight school."

  “Whew, that's a relief,” Yohan said. "I was afraid you might want me to be his instructor."

  "And scare my kid to death?" Pete said. "Not on your life. I just thought our presence might help nudge him a little."

  "Ok, I'll meet you there,” Yohan agreed. "Just make sure it’s only a nudge. Too much pressure would probably backfire on you."

  "Understood,” Pete replied. “I'll even buy you dinner at the burger burner."

  "This is sounding better all the time.”

  Hours later, Yohan pulled up in front of Pete's hanger at the airport. He saw Pete inspecting the flying wires on his biplane.

  "Where's the junior birdman?"

  "Already down at the flight school,” Pete said, sounding slightly miffed. He bent down and started checking the lower connections on the wires.

  "What's wrong?" Yohan asked. "Didn't your little plan work out?"

  "The kid beat me to the punch. Had me drop him off at the flight school first."

  "I guess that confirms his seriousness about all this,” Yohan said with a chuckle. "Did he ask you to pay for it?"

  "He even beat me to that,” Pete answered. "I was thinking of helping him out when he firmly reminded me that he was going to be working part of it off as the school's line boy."

  "Another famous tradition!" Yohan said with a laugh. "Sounds like Mark is one jump ahead of you."

  "That's what worries me. Makes me think I might be getting old or something. How did you put it, fifty Earth years?"

  Yohan cringed. He hasn’t forgotten about my slip of the tongue.

  ∞∞∞

  Eaton eagerly watched his detector screen as he approached the planet. So far, he had not been hailed, and orbital traffic movements indicated that no one had spotted his rapidly approaching ship.

  This thing works too well, he thought. If the Red-tails ever get hold of this technology, they could be on us without us ever seeing them. He made note to add this bit of information to his report. But he wasn’t here to make out a report. He was here to have fun.

  Grinning to himself, he adjusted the controls to slow the Blackhawk to enter the atmosphere. One aspect of the new Optiveil system was that it didn't prevent atmospheric disturbances. There were some laws of physics even the best scientists couldn’t overcome. He didn’t want to leave a contrail across the sky.

  Further slowing his ship, Eaton consulted one of his surface maps. After a moment of setting a new vector, he angled the ship according to several prominent landmarks. Flying along slowly at several thousand feet, he followed a two-lane road up the large valley.

  Since he wasn't sure of the exact location for his touch down, he used the magnifier system of the detector screen to scout for any open areas. He was amazed at all the open land. His own home planet was primarily industrial, so this much open land was an unusual treat. At last, he found the farm he was looking for. He noticed several adults and a child out near a large barn.

  Eaton brought the Blackhawk down in an open area between the barn and the house. Except for a slight swirl of dust, no one appeared to have noticed his landing. Cackling to himself, he waited patiently.

  ∞∞∞

  "So you're still having trouble with that door track?" Daren asked while they all looked at the barn. "I thought you had that solved."

  "I did, but it didn't last,” Robert admitted. “The weight of the door keeps twisting the track out of true."

  "I'm not sure I follow,” Daren said after puzzling a bit.

  "I'll make you a sketch,” Robert offered. "Delmar, would you go get a note pad?"

  "Sure,” Delmar said and turned toward the house. Walking briskly, he started toward the back porch while he pondered all the chores they were leaving for Daren and RoseMary to do.

  Robert had just looked up when he saw Delmar suddenly stop and fall backward to the ground.

  "OW!" Delmar exclaimed, rubbing his forehead. Attracted by his cry, the others ran to him.

  "What happened?" Robert asked, helping Delmar to his feet.

  "I was walking along and it felt like I ran into a wall or something,” Delmar answered. Before anyone could speak, little Del-Robert put his hand out.

  "It right here, Mama.”

&nb
sp; RoseMary ran up beside her young son and reached forward. Sure enough, she felt something but couldn’t identify it.

  “There’s something there. I don't know what it is, but it’s sure there.”

  Delmar reached out until he felt it too. A static charge tingled his fingertips. He couldn’t see it, but he thought he recognized it from his earlier flight school training.

  “It feels like a ship repulsion field.”

  "Give that man a cookie,” an amplified voice said out of nowhere. They all looked around for a moment. Then the air began to shimmer. Everyone stepped back as a FAR scout ship materialized in front of them. They remained speechless. The hatch popped open and Eaton stepped out.

  "Surprise! Mind if I drop in?"

  "How..? What..?" Delmar managed to blurt out as he grasped his friend's hand.

  They all stood in awe of the apparition that had appeared before them. Delmar recognized the FAR configuration right away. It was an exact duplicate of the Cabbage Patch. But how had Eaton masked it? What kind of incredible technology had someone developed that could hide an entire ship?

  "What've you got here?" he asked.

  "It's a new experiment,” Eaton said proudly. "It's called the Optiveil."

  "So this is why we haven't heard from you in a while,” Delmar said after regaining some composure. "Waldon and I suspected that you might be up to something."

  "Something is right,” Eaton agreed. "Those eggheads at Research and Development have kept me bottled up for months with this experiment."

  "So what are you doing here?"

  "Field trials!" Eaton replied enthusiastically. "Someone up high got them to turn me loose to test it. Figured if I couldn't break it, no one could. Come on inside and I'll show you around."

  It didn’t take long for him to finish the walk-through tour of his ship. The actual Optiveil equipment wasn't much to look at, but Eaton seemed proud of it anyway.

  "Are you saying it attunes the field effect of the drive to make the ship disappear from visual detectors?” Daren asked.

  "It doesn't just disappear from visual, but it isn't picked up by any detector system they could think of,” Eaton said. “And as you can witness, it’s invisible to the eye as well.”

  "But if it attunes to the field effect of the drive, wouldn't it fail if the drive is shut off?" Robert asked.

  "Normally, yes. But they engineered a backup system to operate if the drive is off. That way a scout ship could sit out there indefinitely with no one the wiser. You should have seen their eyes pop when I materialized in the landing bay of our mothership!"

  "That sounds like something you'd do,” Delmar said with a grin.

  "Does it also mask your trail?" Robert asked. "We've traced many a ship by that."

  "Apparently it does,” Eaton answered. "The attuning of the field seems to minimize any trail. I do have to be careful entering a planet's atmosphere. If I go in fast enough, I leave a vapor contrail."

  "How far out does the effect extend?" Daren asked. "I mean, if someone came out the hatch, would they be visible?"

  "The Optiveil effect extends only about twenty feet from the hull,” Eaton replied. "About the same distance as the normal repulsion field effect."

  "Does it compromise the repulsion or defensive fields?" Delmar asked.

  "As far as we can tell, no,” Eaton answered. "But we still haven't tested it against a Red-tail ship."

  Robert sat in Eaton’s control chair. “This technology could give us a definite advantage getting in close to a Red-tail ship.”

  “Yes sir,” Eaton said.

  “How many other ships are equipped with this veiling capability?”

  Eaton wondered where Robert’s line of questioning was going.

  “As far as I know, only this one and an old freighter, the Cahill Express captained by a space trader named Ian Cahill. He ran across a planet called Vogel a couple of years ago that developed the technology to the extent that it could veil their entire planet.”

  Robert considered darker implications of the incredible technology.

  “I wonder if they thought about what could happen if the Red-tails were to capture a ship equipped with this technology and reverse engineer it to their systems?”

  Delmar and Eaton exchanged wary glances.

  “They could send a whole fleet through one of their transit tubes and be on us with devastating results. We’d be defenseless against it.”

  Chapter Seven

  For the fourth time, Sherry Sender pressed up against the window of the terminal and stared into the sky.

  "She won't get here any faster from your worrying,” Jake Sender said.

  "I know,” she admitted. "But I've been looking forward to this for months."

  "Don't let your desire for a break get you so worked up you can't enjoy it,” Jake said kindly. "I want you to get away too. Your clients are covered. So relax and enjoy yourself."

  "You’re right as usual,” Sherry said. She gave Jake's hand a squeeze.

  "And knowing you, you'll start worrying about me instead as soon as your ship lifts,” Jake said with a smile. Sherry rewarded him with a frown.

  "It's normally you boys headed off somewhere,” Sherry said. "And we girls have to follow along and pick up the pieces. Now it's our turn to go have some fun."

  "And it's our turn to worry,” Jake replied. "I hope you and Agnes are happy." Sherry saw movement outside.

  "Here it comes!" she said excitedly as Jake rose to join her.

  "It's got to be Agnes' ship.” Jake glanced at his watch. "It's early. She must have inspired them."

  Before Sherry could reply, the announcement system barked out the arrival.

  "You go ahead and join the crush,” Jake said, eyeing the gathering crowd. "Metal Mike and I will stay safely back here.”

  He tapped his cane against his artificial leg. He sat back down while Sherry followed the crowd pressing around the arrival gate.

  In short order, the transport's passengers began to appear through the opening. Since he couldn't see the passengers individually, he watched Sherry for a clue of Agnes' arrival. After a minute, she started waving frantically. Jake smiled. He was glad Agnes had come so she and Sherry could go to the reunion together. Although fast friends, living on separate planets, the two women hadn't had nearly enough time together in recent years. Now they were having a holiday to themselves.

  Jake saw Sherry leading Agnes through the crowd and rose to his feet.

  "Greetings,” he said to Agnes as he bowed at the waist.

  "Oh, cut the baloney,” Agnes said and gave him a hug. "It's been too long for that kind of thing."

  "If you two are finished, how about we get out of here?" Sherry said.

  "After we get my bag,” Agnes said. She released Jake and started toward the baggage claims area.

  "Always taking command,” Jake said. He and Sherry turned to follow.

  ∞∞∞

  "Our feature story tonight is about Unidentified Flying Objects,” the voice said from the television. "Are they real? We'll even talk to a person claiming to have seen one just last weekend. But first, these messages!"

  Yohan looked up from his paper and frowned at the television. He usually found such stories amusing, but lately they had begun to annoy him. He waited impatiently through the dozen commercials for the show to come back on.

  "Tonight's question is about UFOs,” the announcer began. "And for a historical perspective, we turn to our science editor, Abbot Lincoln. Abbot?"

  "Thank you, Mit,” the science editor began. "Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs, have been reported throughout recorded history."

  The background graphic behind the science editor shifted to a series of artist renditions.

  "Ancient observers noted many phenomena in the heavens for which they could attach no explanation. As you see behind me, we have a few early drawings and paintings depicting their observations."

  Yohan chuckled to himself as he watched the
various drawings appear. None bore any resemblance to the spacecraft he had seen or worked on during his years in space.

  Far away in a military office, another set of eyes watched the same television segment. The general grunted as the science editor rambled on about the drawings. His aide, a lieutenant, silently refilled the glass at his side.

  "Those drawings get wilder every time,” another man, a colonel, commented.

  "Just so they tickle the public's fancy,” the general said.

  "I think you mean tickle their pocketbooks,” the colonel said. "It never hurts when it’s budget time on Capitol Hill."

  "Just so they never get hold of the truth,” the general added.

  The two officers grew quiet as the science editor continued his story of strung-together fantasy and unconfirmed reports.

  "In recent years, we've had the availability of film and video cameras to record the various sightings.”

  A series of film clips appeared behind him that had been collected over the years.

  Yohan chuckled when he saw once again the film of what could only be a child's toy or a pie pan. Other film clips were also lacking in imagination. Several were just lens glare and ventricular clouds.

  "Those are very interesting, Abbot,” the announcer said when the camera cut to him.

  "After these breaks, we'll hear from an actual witness of a sighting just this past weekend."

  "You'd think these crackpots could come up with something original,” the general said as he took a sip from his drink. "I mean, with all the special effects available for movies these days, I'm sure someone could come up with something better."

  "I agree,” the colonel said. "But it keeps the heat off of us. In fact, wasn't that third film clip something we leaked about five years ago?"

  "Sure was,” the general answered. "We thought it was better to throw them a false lead than to let them keep sniffing around. It was so clearly bogus, and the press officer did such a good job of making the press think we honestly believed it to be genuine, that the news coverage fell off almost completely."

  "Good timing,” the colonel said. "Here we go,” he added as the science editor reappeared on the television screen.