The Cresperian Alliance Read Online Free PDF

don't even know who those three survivors are, whether they are a family unit or not, and I may not even know them at all other than perhaps having met them in passing in a corridor somewhere. Our ship was very large, as much city as transport. Anyway, that's not important and I'm sorry, for I strayed from the topic. Our job is simply to rescue them. I use the term ‘rescue’ deliberately. I believe they will come with us willingly."
    Bangler stood up. She nodded at him. “What do we do if they don't want to come?” he asked, blunt.
    "We are to bring them anyway.” She looked down at the floor then back up. “I don't necessarily approve of forcing persons into actions unwillingly, but I firmly believe that if any of them do refuse to come it will not be their right minds speaking. Anyway, the issue is settled so let's move on. That,” she pointed to the screen again, “is a native Cresperian. Now take a look at me."
    Bangler laughed with the rest of the men and the few women in the room. He and the other younger men laughed the hardest, he noticed. Hell, who wouldn't want to look at her? he thought. And he'd be willing to bet not a few would be willing to do more than look. Would he? Probably, he thought, so long as she continued to act like a human and not a BEM, some monster from the stars.
    Sira continued, interrupting Bangler's train of thought. “So far as any of us know at present, we are stranded, the few of us who survived when our starship was wrecked. We possess what we call a perceptive sense, which allows us to tap into the quantum foam, and in turn assume not only the form but the actual genetic substance of another species, either male or female. Cresperians do have genders, as I mentioned, and of course we reproduce, but we have nothing remotely comparable to your sexual unions. You'll learn much more about us later. For the present, there are a number of things I can do to help your mission. Let me enumerate a few of them.
    "I can wipe out short term memories from up close. I possess a fully charged disintegrator with a range of fifty feet or so. I have learned to speak with several different British accents including cockney. I can sense when others of my kind are near, even through walls and from some distance away. I can sense when humans are near, to a lesser extent, without seeing them. I can become completely invisible through use of a simple little device I carried in my survival kit. I can—"
    "Sira, may I interrupt for a moment?” Chadwick said from his seat up front. Bangler even found that the Colonel wasn't easy to remember simply because he was so average looking and average sized, with nondescript brown hair.
    "Certainly, Colonel. Go ahead."
    "We have just managed to duplicate the Cresperian cloaking device, and a Cresperian fabricator that came with the survival kits has manufactured some of the more complicated parts, enough so that a few of you will be equipped with them. I'm sorry there won't be time to train with them beforehand but we'll try to get some training in on the plane. We do NOT need you shooting each other because you can't see the ones using the device."
    Bangler was again astonished. An invisibility cloak, like in Harry Potter? Wow! he thought. How easy would missions be if you're undetectable? But only a few for this one. I wonder if I'll get one.
    "Thank you, sir,” Sira remarked. “I'm very glad to hear that. Just a few of the devices could help, especially getting into the compound. In that case, it's possible that one group might provide a diversion while I and the others with the devices go in, but that's your decision."
    "Yes, it is,” Chadwick grinned, “but you won't be going in first. I know you can detect the presence of your fellows from some distance away and also communicate with them. Maybe you weren't listening, Sira. WE are the ones who are protecting you and the other Crispies, not the other way around. We take as much risk as required. You take