The Second Ship Read Online Free PDF Page B

imagine. What if the owners are still around? Do you think we should be attracting their attention?”
    Mark paused. “I doubt we’d still be alive if they were around. I explored this cave a bit before you guys got down here. It looks like the ship crashed right into the side of the ridge here, melting its way in as it hit. From what I can tell, the impact didn’t even scratch the hull, but there’s something you should see.”
    Signaling for them to follow, Mark led the way around the right side of the ship, staying under the outer edge of the hull where it curved up away from the ground. The three ducked down, squeezing between the cavern walls and the hull of the ship. After about ten feet, the space widened to where they could all stand once more.
    Mark pointed upward. “Something sure did more than scratch it.”
    In the otherwise symmetrical hull, a perfectly cylindrical hole had been cut upward through the ship’s interior, all the way out the top side. Punctures should show bending, spalding, or melting effects on the surrounding materials. This hole showed none of these. It was like a cookie cutter had punched through dough, leaving behind clean, bright edges all the way through, level after level, all clearly visible in the magenta glow.
    “It looks like they came out on the short end of an encounter with something.”
    Jennifer moved up beside them. “Three guesses for what did this.”
    Heather’s eyes went wide. “The Rho Ship.”
    Mark nodded. “That would be my guess. Here, give me a boost up.”
    “Have you completely lost your mind?” Jennifer asked. “For all we know, we’ve already received a deadly dose of alien radiation.”
    “Then it won’t matter if I get a little more. Come on, give me a leg up.”
    “Now just wait, Mark. For just once in your life, think a minute before you charge in.”
    Mark rolled his eyes. “Okay, Sis. I’m listening.”
    “This is too important to just go poking around by ourselves. We need to report this to someone so the government can investigate it. This is a scientific find of historic importance.”
    “So? The government already has a ship.” When Jennifer’s glare darkened, Mark rolled his eyes. “Sis, do you know what the government’ll do when we tell them about this one? They’ll take this ship and haul it off for study. While that may all be very well and good, it will mean that this is the closest we’ll ever get to looking inside something from another world. Are you really willing to give up that chance? How about you, Heather?”
    Heather shook her head. “Jen, I want one good look inside before we give it up.”
    Jennifer’s frown deepened, but she nodded reluctantly. “I guess a look won’t hurt anything.”
    As Mark’s exultant whoop echoed through the cavern, Heather’s gaze drifted up to the hole five feet above her head. As badly as she wanted to peek inside, a small spider of worry skittered across her mind. Breathing a prayer that her worry was nothing, Heather linked hands with Jennifer, boosting Mark up so that he could grasp the edge of the hole. With a powerful heave, he pulled himself inside.
     

Chapter 6
     
    After several seconds, Mark’s head reappeared in the hole, looking down at them. “Heather, jump up and grab my hand so I can pull you up.”
    “What about me?” Jennifer asked.
    “Don’t worry,” said Mark. “Once she’s up here, Heather can hold my legs and I’ll lean down to grab your hands.”
    With her rock climbing experience, Heather swung up into the opening with ease, and together they soon hauled Jennifer up as well.
    They found themselves in a curved room, what must have been the entire lower deck of the ship. An odd assortment of translucent tanks and long tubes, filled with glowing, iridescent gasses, lined the walls.
    The interior walls, floors, and ceilings of the craft were of a different material than the outer hull, something that felt more closely akin to plastic than metal. Here