As Masters had suspected, there had indeed been a crash of some sort of craft into one of the buildings lining the riverfront. Jamie, Masters and the other three scientists were led through moon-lit darkness to the ragged hole, and on past torn masonry and twisted metal into the interior of the structure. The craft, apparently not overly large, had plowed on across the inside walkway and buried itself in the interior of a one time shop.
A faint glow came from within, barely giving them light to see. Cortman halted the group there and beckoned to Jamie. He led him between the crumpled edges of the craft and wall to where an opening irised out. A brighter orange light shone from within. Cortman stepped over the edge of the circular opening, motioning for Jamie to follow.
The interior was not large, and most of it was taken up by the alien. What he presumed to be the head and torso of the thing faced him over a cabinet-like structure vaguely resembling a computer work station. It's body was colored a pale pink over the visible area, fading into ivory where three protuberances like short, fat radishes sprang from the bulbous head. It had a single compound eye, oval shaped, which reflected back tiny images from many facets. There was a slash of a mouth, lipless, which opened and closed regularly as if it were breathing. From the central torso, four appendages played over the cabinet like writhing snakes. A harsh acrid odor saturated the air.
Jamie stood speechless, wondering what to do next. Cortman demonstrated. He placed his hands on the edge of the cabinet and from within, the being drew out one of the small familiar disks and slid it across to him. Cortman grasped it for a few seconds then turned it loose. The alien curled three worm-like appendages around it and returned it to the hidden area beneath the cabinet, then slid another disk into sight. "Take it," Cortman told Jamie. "Think of what you would say and the Great Being will understand. I have told him you are from one of the cities."
Feeling somewhat foolish, Jamie picked up the disk, fumbling momentarily as his gaze strayed to the apparition before him. As soon as he had the disk firmly in his grasp, his body stiffened, not from pain, but surprise. It was as if thoughts were being pulled from his mind, one after the other, as soon as they entered his surface consciousness. He tried to give his thoughts some order, a sensible pattern for the alien to follow, but it was difficult at first. He was just beginning to get the feel of letting his thoughts flow in sequence when the experiment ended. Shaken, he stood motionless and speechless, still holding the now inert disk in his hand.
"Give it back to the Great Being. He will then know your thoughts and return his own. I will leave you now, until he sleeps again." Cortman retreated from the cramped quarters.
Jamie hardly noticed his departure, or anything else for the next two hours while data was exchanged with the alien being. There seemed to be only so much information that could be contained on a disk, but as time passed he found that with intense concentration he was able to convey a large amount of information in a very short period of time.
The disks passed to him from the alien were far more ordered. Jamie became fascinated as it's story emerged. He learned that the alien had been a crew member of a huge generation ship that had left it's planet decades ago, intending to transfer a remnant of their race from a system which was slowly becoming uninhabitable. Their sun, in it's normal revolution about the center of the galaxy, had fallen into the path of an interstellar dust cloud which was slowly obscuring the light from their sun. Ultimately, the race would perish from that lack, even if the dust did not strip the atmosphere from their planet.
During the long voyage their thinkers had conceived a theory which they felt would result in a method of faster than light travel, but the resources of a planetary technology would be needed for the construction of such a ship. As they neared the solar system, hope grew, for earth appeared to be a planet suitable for colonization, where there might still be time to construct a faster than light ship and return to their own planet before the final blackout and save more of their race. At that point, disaster struck. An unknown disease appeared and spread through the confines of the ship, resisting all efforts at quarantine. Most of them perished, just as their hopes had risen the highest. Before their death, the navigation crew managed to get the ship into orbit around Saturn; there was no time to try for earth, nor means to signal to the inhabitants they had deduced to be living there even had they possessed compatible communications, which they did not.
As the healthiest remaining member of the crew, the alien was selected to pilot a landing craft to one of the night-lit cities of earth which they had observed through powerful telescopes, and ask the inhabitants there for help. Unfortunately, as the pilot neared earth, it's sickness deepened. A miscalculation occurred, causing it to crash land far from any Enclave. Fortunately, though, it did crash almost into the center of Cortman's dog/human community and fortunately again, Cortman was more interested than frightened. He managed to begin communications. Desperate and now clearly dying, the alien managed to process a number of thought-disks with a message designed to attract technologically oriented humans to where he lay immobile. Dogs were chosen over humans to deliver the messages, but of all the ones sent out, only Conan had returned.
With the exchange of information, the being now proposed to bestow on Jamie a larger thought-disk, of a different type, containing detailed engineering information for construction of a faster than light spaceship. In return, it asked that the first trip be made back to it's home system in hopes that it's race might yet be saved. The accompanying technology would be freely given, as well as the parameters of the mother ship orbiting about Saturn. For reasons that Jamie never fully understood, the larger thought disk would be attuned to his mind alone. He could share the information, but only his mind would be able to unlock it. He got the notion finally that the difference was somewhat akin to casual conversation and intense teaching; the small disks were used only to convey general ideas and were used by the aliens to instruct domestic animals on their own world; the larger ones must be used for detailed information and were a common teaching method on the home world. The alien slid the large disk across the surface of the cabinet. It had the same blue-green color but was the size of a kitchen saucer. Jamie took it in hand and all surface thought disappeared in a bewildering kaleidoscopic rush of data. He put it down, then picked it up again, ready this time. The information came slower on the second try, entering his mind as he willed it. So long as he held the disk he understood most of what was being conveyed (or at least felt he could pass the concepts on to other scientists), but once turned loose, most of the data was lost to him, incomprehensible. He thought though, after repeated tries, that the more times he accessed the disk, the more information he would retain and the more able he would be to interpret the concepts to others, particularly engineers and physicists. He was astounded at the wealth of information contained in the innocuous little saucer of blue-green metal, and sobered at the thought that he was the sole recipient of it.
Following that thought, he used a small disk to ask if some of the other scientists could be brought in to have similar information disks constructed for them as well; he thought it would be a good idea to have some spares, people as well as disks. The answer came back negative. The large disk had been crafted while the alien was still in relatively good health. It was dying now, unable to convey more than surface thoughts, barely able to get Jamie attuned to them. There would be no more. It only expected to live another day or two. Not only would there be no more information of a technical nature passed on, but when it died, the disk manufacturing device and all the intricate workings of the landing craft would die as well; they were all attuned to the alien mind alone.
Jamie was becoming very tired by this time. It was late and the alien was reaching the limits of it's fading strength as well. It's eye facets were beginning to glaze over and it's tentacles drooped noticeably. Before he could even say good-night or good-by or whatever farewell he could think of, it was too late. The alien slumped into a stupor. He wondered if it would ever wake up again. During the last few exchanges he had caught nuances of unutterable weariness, a wish to sleep and not wake up again now that it's last mission had been accomplished. He felt a sorrow for the strange being, and for it's race, trapped in a blighted solar system, resources for only one great ship now spent, and all hope of racial survival now residing in the mind of a single human being.
Jamie retreated back the way he had come, mind numbed with weariness, to where Masters and the other scientists were still patiently waiting. They clustered around him, all talking at once. He held up a restraining hand. "There's nothing else here for the moment. Let's get back to camp and I'll tell you how it came out, if I can stay awake that long."
The others were disappointed at first that they would be unable to meet with the alien and receive their own thought-disks, but their feelings were helped considerably by Jamie's disclosure of the wealth of data he had received. Masters in particular was pleased; it meant that he could see the successful conclusion of his mission, and the knowledge that his three rangers had not died in vain.
"Well, Da Cruz, it looks like you're the man of the hour now. My only problem is whether to send you back on the first floater available and settle for what we have or to try for more. What do you think?"
"I'll let you decide," Jamie told Masters, past caring. He headed in the direction of the shelters set up along the covered walkway, then found that he had no idea which one Kristi was in. Masters pointed him to the correct location, then left to consult with his lieutenants, except for Kristi, whom he left sleeping. Jamie found Kristi and all the pets in a heap, sleeping as peacefully as if they were back inside the safety of the Enclave. He threw himself down and wormed into a comfortable position among the bodies and was almost instantly asleep.
The sun was shining at a slant down through the arbor and into the shelter when he woke up the next morning. His skin itched and his mouth felt greasy from unbrushed teeth. He dressed quickly and went outside to find Kristi and all the pets near the entrance waiting on him. Kristi looked freshly bathed and cleaned; Woggly was still dripping.
"Good morning," he said. "It looks as if y'all have had a bath this morning."
"We have," Kristi confirmed. "There's a place upstream they use. Want to go?"
"You bet. Has Masters decided whether to send me home today or not?"
"I don't know. He said last night that he would make up his mind this morning after he talked to you again, but I guess you have time for a bath. It's a little early for the floater yet." Kristi turned to Lady. "Fetch the captain, Lady. We'll be down by the river." Her pet scampered off, barking happily with an errand to run.
Jamie fingered the large data disk through the pocket of his coveralls as they walked, remembering the events of the preceding night. "Did Masters tell you the whole story this morning?"
"About the alien, you mean? Yes, he did. That's why we were waiting on you. He told me not to let you out of my sight, and if you'll look behind you, there are four more of us he told the same thing to."
Jamie turned and saw Judy and three other rangers trailing them. "Drat. I don't want to be tailed around like a baby. Is this what it's going to be like when we get back home, too?"
"Quien sabe? Right now you may be the most important man on the planet. I may have to move in with you just to keep your admirers under control." She grinned at him.
"Meow," said Fuzzy Britches.
"Woof," said Woggly. Lady was silent as usual and Conan was not in evidence.
"If you could keep these guys under control, that would be a big first step," Jamie said, returning the grin.
The bathing area was upstream, where a grove of trees had taken root and advanced up the slope for a long stretch, growing clear to the entrances of some of the waterfront buildings. There was no one else present, except for the on looking rangers. Jamie ignored them. He set his pack down and rummaged in it for his toothbrush. He cleaned his teeth, then stripped and bathed in the cold silty water, thinking all the while that if he were to return to the Enclave today he could get a far better bath, but he was unable to endure being dirty any longer. Masters arrived just as he was pulling his clothes back on.
"Jamie, I've decided to send you back with the floater as soon as it locates us," he said without preliminary. "You're too valuable to risk. I wish I dared call in and have them send in another squad of rangers and the other scientists with the first floater but I don't want to take the chance of them not locating us and having to go all the way back. They will be heavily loaded as it is. Besides, the fewer contacts with the Enclave the better until I can get this area defended. I'll just send word back. In the meantime, if that space creature wakes up again I'll see if someone else can get more information from it."
"Sounds good to me," Jamie said. He looked up from where he was pulling on his boots. "Say, there comes the floater now." From between the trunks of the trees and over the top of the low brush he spied the floater pass, then curve back toward the piers for a landing. Another followed in it's path, and behind it, yet more. "Why are there so many of them?" He asked. "I thought there was only one coming out this morning."
Captain Masters took one look and burst into action. "Those aren't our floaters! Kristi, get Jamie out of here! The rest of you follow me! We'll try to lead them away from you!" Jamie stood stupefied, then a rattling of shots broke out along the riverfront. "Move!" Masters snarled. "Get out of here!"
Kristi grabbed Jamie's arm and they began to run, away from the increasing volume of gunfire.