Morgan's Choice Read Online Free PDF Page A

they didn’t. They taught me how to
salute but I wasn’t much good at that, either. They take me as I
come.” And if they didn’t, too bad.
    “Well… you’re not exactly a people person,
are you? But that’s okay. Let me handle the people bit for
you.”
    “The people bit, huh? So what are you
expecting? That we’ll get invited to the officers’ mess for
dinner?”
    “No, of course not. But we’re going to have
to try to fit in—”
    “You’re getting ahead of yourself. You don’t
know anything about these aliens or what they intend to do with
us.”
    “Well, given they haven’t done anything
horrible yet, I figure we might as well try to set up some sort of
rapport with them.”
    She snorted. He must fancy himself as a
diplomat. Idiot.
    Jones frowned. “What are you expecting them
to do?”
    “I don’t know. But we’re still in quarantine.
Better hope they don’t find any exotic bugs and decide to squash
the threat.” She ground the heel of her hand into the table
top.
    He swallowed. He obviously hadn’t even
considered that option. “That isn’t funny.”
    “It wasn’t supposed to be.”
     
    ****
     
    “Party tricks,” Lomandra said as the three
men walked along the corridor toward the ship’s transit foyer.
“Does she really expect us to believe she can’t speak our language?
She was word perfect.”
    He directed a neck bow at Ravindra. “I
recommend we send then to Mahanadi and let the experts at
Headquarters assess them.”
    Ravindra stared at the captain, who had
the sense to lower his eyes. Lomandra had a bad habit of getting beyond
himself.
    “But the decision is yours, of course,
Admiral.”
    “ With respect, Admiral, I do not agree with
the Captain,” Prasad said . “I
want to question them further, discover where they come from, how
they got here, what they intend. Particularly the woman. I wonder
if the strange eyes and the things in her head may have some
significance, that her ability to mimic comes from there. And what
else it may mean. If they can give us more information about
the Yogina , so much
the better.”
    Lomandra glowered but maintained his silence.
As he should. Prasad pressed a button on the control panel next to
the transit doors to summon a car.
    “I see your point, Prasad,” Ravindra said.
“Find out what you can. But they are to remain in isolation until
the doctors release them and then they will go into detention.”
    Prasad responded with a formal neck bow.
“Thank you, Admiral.”
    The car arrived and the doors slid apart.
Ravindra entered the transit car first, the others behind him.
“There is to be no talk of aliens on this ship. We will keep this
encounter to ourselves as far as we can for the time being.” The
last thing he needed was for some news channel to start a scare
campaign.
    “ We can’t keep this incident secret on the
ship, Srimana ,”
Lomandra said. “Too many people were involved. Troopers,
medical—”
    “Have the medical staff sworn to secrecy. Let
it be known that this new ship is one of our own experimental
vessels or something, that the occupants were affected by
radiation,” Ravindra said. “Prasad, I will leave the details to
you.”
    The car stopped and he alighted, leaving
the other two to go about their business. The guards at the
entrance to his suite slammed to attention as he passed. Inside the
privacy of his office he chuckled. She’d repeated Prasad’s words
perfectly. ‘ You will be taken to the kitchens, killed and served for
dinner. ’ With not a
flicker of understanding. He settled in his chair. Two sets of
aliens. Incredible. And yet, when the incredible waves a hand at
you… it must be true. And he was still no closer to understanding
the Yogina .
    When the boffins on Mahanadi heard about his
latest prizes, they’d be clamoring, wanting to conduct their tests.
He’d have to send them. Eventually. But for now, they may just
prove useful in another