Saucer: Savage Planet Read Online Free PDF Page A

you?”
    “What?”
    “That there are facts we shouldn’t know?”
    Egg eyed Deborah as Charley unlocked the car. “I could have stated it better. There are things on this computer that our society is not prepared to deal with now. You know some of the stuff I’m talking about.”
    “He’s right, Deb,” Charley said as she opened the door and got behind the wheel.
    Rip seated himself beside Charley, on the left side of the vehicle, and Egg and Deborah climbed in the back.
    “You’re thinking about the antiaging drug, aren’t you?” Rip murmured.
    Egg nodded. “Our civilization doesn’t have the moral and ethical framework to deal with something like that.”
    “Yet,” Rip shot back.
    “Maybe someday it will, after our scientists take all the baby steps required to discover it for themselves. But not now. And there is the aliens’ concept of God. A lot of people would glom onto that like iron filings on a magnet just because they think the aliens knew more than we do.”
    “Oh boy,” Deborah said. “As if religious fanatics aren’t causing enough trouble on this rock already.”
    “Too bad about the starship, if that was what it was,” Rip mused. “I would really like to know how old that wreckage was. Was it the ship that delivered the Sahara saucer, or did it come later, perhaps to search for them? Guess we’ll never know.”
    Egg kept a firm grasp on the computer case on his lap. “Yes,” he said as he watched the countryside scroll past.
    After a bit, Rip added, “I’d like to know if the aliens are ever coming back,” then rolled down his window and stuck his elbow out.
    “What I’d like to know,” Charley replied thoughtfully, “is what happened to the crew of the Roswell saucer.” The government had told the world no alien spacemen were ever found, an assertion that no one had yet proven untrue.
    Deborah Deehring rested a hand on top of Egg’s. He smiled at her and she returned it. “The computer is a great trust,” she said softly. “You must be very careful with it.”
    “I could use your help exploring its contents,” Egg suggested.
    “I have to get back to the university. I’ve been gone too long already. Perhaps in a few weeks I could visit you for a weekend.”
    They left it there and rode along holding hands. This was a first romance for Egg, a lifelong bachelor, and he was enjoying the sensations. He felt like a teenager.
    *   *   *
    The morning after the trio arrived back in Missouri at Uncle Egg’s farm, Charley awoke before dawn and listened to the breeze whisper in the pines outside the window. The window was opened an inch or so to let the night air in, and the wind’s gentle song. Rip was still asleep beside her, breathing deeply. Somewhere in the house a telephone was ringing, insistently, urgently. Finally it stopped, then began again.
    When she realized there was no more sleep in her, Charley slipped out of bed and pulled on her heavy robe and slippers. She closed the bedroom door behind her and tiptoed down the hall toward the stairs.
    She paused there when she heard Uncle Egg moving around the kitchen. She could also hear the coffeemaker gurgling, the babble of unintelligible voices from the television, and the refrigerator door opening and closing. Egg was busy, busy, busy, as he usually was. The ringing telephone was silent.
    Charley Pine smiled. It was good to be home.
    Home! Now there was a concept new to her. She continued on down the stairs and around the corner into the kitchen.
    “Good morning, Uncle Egg.”
    “Charley!” Egg said breathlessly. “Sit down, please. I’ll get you a cup of coffee.” He turned up the volume on the television as Charley hoisted herself onto a counter stool, then turned back to the pot. “Hope the telephone didn’t wake you up. I unplugged both of them.”
    There was a flying saucer on the television screen. She stared, mesmerized, then realized she was watching video taken last month of her chase of