Page 13 (1/2)

I wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger, walk on the un, teleport across galaxies I&039;ve done a lotplaces where no o Still, that love of spacemen and rockets re for a spaceship, I fill with exciteh the , it&039;s into a large room of concrete walls, boxes stacked neatly to the sides, fluorescent lights overhead There&039;s a sarden in the rumble "Spaceships arehow ridiculous that sounds Spaceships in ht be like that But in the real world, built by beings of another planet, why should they be?

"Precisely," Raz says "This is a ate the vastness of space It is the size of a city, ho ago and have sailed a the stars ever since

"Now eat"

"Eat what?" I ask, looking around

"Anything," Raz says "The crates are packed with nutritious substances And there are bottles of liquid in those" He points at the boxes to my left

"Won&039;t anyoneside of short-tempered aliens

"These are excess supplies Nobody will notice"

I shuffle over to the crates and lift off the lid of the nearest box There are large plastic bottles inside The liquid in thereen color The stench, when I snap the top off, is vile

"Are you sure this is safe?" I ask

"Yes"

"Why aren&039;t you drinking any?"

"I don&039;t need it"

Skeptical, I raise the bottle and take a sip It&039;s disgusting! I spit it out and grimace, then reluctantly drain a mouthful and swish it around The taste doesn&039;t iulp, then lower the bottle and wait to be sick When nothing happens, I drink so to sinkas the liquid, but it fills me up When lance at Raz

"Done?" he asks

"Done," I confiro on a quick tour?"

"Can I?" I ask eagerly

"I know you want to I can disguise us to look like natives"

"Great! Let&039;s do it"

Leaving the storeroo corridor, then take an elevator to an upper level It looks remarkably like the elevators on Earth

"You shouldn&039;t be surprised," Raz says "We sowed the seeds of intelligence as, and the rest were assisted by those we first helped There are many similarities between species"

The elevator comes to a halt and the doors slide open I step out into a noisy street that could be any of Earth&039;s busier cities Buildings like ours, vehicles that look like cars, streetlamps and power cables The only difference is that instead of a sky, there&039;s another level overhead Otherwise it&039;s unnervingly familiar

The same can&039;t be said for the people They have no hus Their faces, which are in the loopy eyes set in a semi-circle around a small, toothless mouth No ears or nose Each is afreely as they pass Smaller creatures feast on the obble it up, keeping the paths clean

I stare for a long tilance at Raz and ht you were going to disguise us"

"I haven&039;t altered our bodies," Raz says "I&039; the visual sensors of those around us, so that to their eyes we appear as they do Yes," he adds with a grin before I can say anything, "that is pretty cool"