The Ninth Orb Read Online Free PDF Page A

tempting as it was to stay a while,” she responded wryly, “it’s damned uncomfortable and I thought it best to settle the territory as soon as possible.”
    Sarah’s dark red brows rose. “You’re going forward?”
    “Any word from Houston?” Eden countered.
    “Dead air so far, but I don’t expect a response for a few hours yet.”
    Nodding, Eden crossed to stand closer to the viewing screens, studying them. “You’ve been transmitting the images to them?”
    “I haven’t been screening them, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    Eden glanced at her. “It didn’t occur to me that you would. What did you make of the activity when we arrived?”
    Sarah frowned. “Honestly?”
    Eden smiled thinly. “I’d like an honest evaluation, yes. Sugar coating isn’t going to be very helpful.”
    “They looked hopeful and horrified at the same time, if you ask me--assuming I correctly interpreted the expressions I saw.”
    Eden frowned. “That sort of described our own feelings on the matter, but I doubt it was for the same reasons. Hopefulness to see some action, you think?”
    Sarah grinned. “My guess would be not military action.”
    Eden’s reaction was purely feminine. It embarrassed her. She felt her cheeks redden. “I think that’s just wishful thinking on your part,” she retorted.
    Sarah chuckled. “Maybe, but it hasn’t been so long that I’ve forgotten what a man looks like when he has fucking on his mind.” She got up from her seat and crossed the deck to stand next to Eden, pointing. “These here, along the walls--the soldiers didn’t really give much away about what they were thinking one way or the other. The workers, that’s a different matter altogether. Hardly a peep out of them the entire time we’ve been studying them, then your group arrived and all of a sudden they were chattering like magpies. The computer collected a good bit of the speech patterns.”
    Pausing, she turned to the communications officer. “Give us a playback, Rheames.”
    Eden frowned as she listened. It was a relief to discover that the aliens seemed to have vocal chords similar to humans. The words were just so much gibberish to her ears, and yet the patterns and tones were enough like human speech that it might almost have been an Earth language she was hearing. “Any clue yet what they might have been talking about?”
    “The computer hasn’t finished collating the data yet, but it seems certain they realized you were all females. What isn’t clear to me is what they made of it. As I said, they looked hopeful and at the same time horrified.”
    “Maybe because we’re not the same species?”
    Sarah frowned. “Maybe. I got the feeling they felt threatened because it was females--which wasn’t something I would’ve expected. I don’t know why and I’m probably wrong, but I still sensed that.”
    Eden digested Sarah’s comments, trying to decide whether she could place any faith in the woman’s intuition. Finally, she dismissed it. Even if there was something to Sarah’s assessment, neither of them had a clue of why the aliens might feel threatened by them and if they did they were being surprisingly non-aggressive about it. “I assume from that that there’s still been no sign of females among the aliens?”
    Sarah shook her head. “The computer did a count. What you see is all there is--about six hundred altogether--which means they outnumber us about three to one, they’re a hell of a lot bigger physically besides which they seem to be, on average, a good bit stronger than human males, and from what I can see they aren’t far enough behind us technologically to give us a big advantage either. Let’s hope they remain as non-aggressive as they appear to be at this point because I’m not sure the shields would hold against a determined assault from an army like that.”
    Eden merely nodded, trying to keep her grim thoughts to herself. As she watched, the aliens seem to pause almost as one.