Pirates of the Thunder Read Online Free PDF Page B

they are shielded.”
    There was a tiny bit of play, and they tried moving the module first this way, then that, pushing down slightly as they did so. They were just beginning to decide that perhaps they had the wrong one, after all, when Raven accidentally jiggled the top as he shifted position, and the module sank down just a bit in the socket and seated itself firmly.
    “Hey! It’s in!” the Crow shouted, staring in wonder at the thing. “But nothin’s happening!”
    Suddenly there were strange clicking, whirring, and beeping sounds through their intercom sets.
    “It’s on all frequencies! Radios off for now!” China yelled over the din. “Count to a hundred and check each hundred until it’s quiet again!”
    It was eerie enough to be in the ghostly dark bowels of the strange ship, but in silence it was even worse. Hawks took some comfort from seeing Raven and Raven’s light, but he couldn’t help wondering about China. Deaf and dumb because of this, like the others, she was also blind and now completely cut off.
    At each check the horrible sounds were so painful that none could stand to keep his or her radio on for more than the briefest moment. The number of hundred counts seemed to go on forever.
    Outside the hatch, China waited in a world of silent darkness, hand in hand with Cloud Dancer and Silent Woman on either side of her, that touch the only reality she had other than the breathing sounds from her suit. She had never felt so totally helpless, and her complete dependence on the others was only now being driven home to her. She didn’t like the feeling at all. Worse, she could not understand what was happening, or why. Nobody, not even the researchers who’d theorized all this, had actually touched one of these ships. Nine centuries had passed since humans had been even cargo on this ship; no human being had ever set foot in here as an independent agent.
    Suddenly a million possibilities presented themselves to her mind. A power mismatch. Inverted circuitry that would cause a loop and ultimately a burnout. Or, perhaps, the great ship and its complexities was simply too much for Star Eagle to handle or comprehend, much as his mind was actually alien to hers.
    Keeping hold of China’s left hand, Cloud Dancer turned to look back into the darkness of the immense cavity. Suddenly she gasped and squeezed that hand tighter, then tried to poke one of the others. Koll, finally, turned and saw what Cloud Dancer saw.
    Behind them a snake of lights was growing, writhing, twisting, going ever outward, upward, downward. It took them a moment to realize what was happening.
    All the floor lights on the catwalks were being illuminated, section by section. The ancient cavity that had transported uncounted thousands or perhaps millions was soon lit up like a festival, dimly but beautifully, as far as any eye could see.
    They tried their radios. There was still a lot of static and odd background noise, but the sounds were no longer unbearable.
    “Anybody on?” Reba Koll called. Her voice crackled a bit, but it carried all right.
    “I’m in!” Hawks’s voice sounded even worse.
    “We are here!” the Chow sisters chimed in. “Is it not beautiful?”
    “All of us are going to die,” Carlo Sabatini wailed.
    Cloud Dancer kept nudging China until the girl finally let go and activated her radio. One by one they all checked in.
    “Still nothing much down here,” Raven reported worriedly. Cloud Dancer told them about the lights.
    “Nothing like that here, but I’m feeling something. A low vibration ,” Hawks told them. “What about up there?”
    “Faint. Very faint,” China responded in a voice that sounded curiously unlike her. The sharp edge, the confidence, was gone, Hawks thought. She’s been badly scared. It was almost a relief to discover that she was human after all.
    A strange voice cut them all off. It was quite high at first, then went down a scale as if it was testing each note to find one it liked.