More on The Pipe

Neither Reema nor Kraft had ever been drilled to evacuate when the alarms sounded. It wasn’t necessary. Telepathic instructions led them underground. They moved quickly and quietly along the triangular tubes to the underground city below the city. Trip stood at the final gate to check citizens. He smirked as they passed.

Reema spotted her mother and ran to greet her. Kraft joined the other cadets near the launch station. The noise of everyone’s thoughts was everywhere. “What entered the city?” “Did an animal survive the UV bombardment outside?” “Something left and came back; that’s all!” “It’s a false alarm.” “Where’s Jamen? I can’t find him.” The jumble of thoughts, some incoherent with fear, gave Kraft a headache. He raised his shield. The chief gathered the boys and made an announcement, “Police has been sent to the spaceport. Anything intelligent will have followed the spaceship that came in before dark.”

“What if the thing isn’t telepathic,” asked Trip, who had rejoined the group after the gates locked down. He glared at Kraft, whose shield was getting stronger.

“We can talk, if we must,” said Kraft in a matter of fact tone, “Science allows it when necessary, you know.”

  Reema rejoined the group. Overhearing the discussion she said, “I can talk too, if we need to.” She looked around at the other others. Many of them had already lost their ability to voice speak. They were jealous of her. They didn’t need to be. If she had her way, she’d open a special school to help them regain their animal voices.

The cadet master, who had learned long ago that the young people’s minds were more sensitive to telepathy, continued his instructions. “All cadets to the ship’s bay; we will mind group, in case whatever came in has no telepathic ability.”

Reema didn’t need to mind group. As they came closer to the spaceport, she could feel life. It was the same feeling she had when she and Kraft flew above the road on the way into the city.” She was confused, not because of the vagueness of the touch, but because the mind-lock was elusive. It shifted. Could there be more than one intelligence?

“Kraft,” she sent the call, guarding her mind against Trip. “Can you feel it?”

“Feel what,” he asked? He dared not look her way, seeing that Trip was already nosing in.

Like electronic mail, Reema shared her feeling. Krafts tendrils captured it and he instantly protected his thoughts. “There’s two,” he said, moving closer to her. “I don’t know why I didn’t feel this earlier. We’ve got to make first contact. You know adults! Just look at Trip, He’s almost of age.”

Trip ambled over. “Why’s your shield up,” he asked Kraft.

“Not feeling good,” Kraft answered. “Too much noise.”

Trip’s chin went up, “Ah, ha. Alright baby. You’re excused.”

Reema put her arm in Kraft’s and said, “”I’ll help him back to the apartment. You don’t need me anyway.”

“Course not,” answered Trip looking down his nose at the overweight girl.

 Reema sensed his disdain but ignored it. “I know another way into the bay,” she whispered to Kraft using language to keep Trip from breaking through Kraft’s thoughts.

Kraft hadn’t mastered total shielding yet. He was two years younger than Reema, and it would take another year for his abilities to reach full capacity. He followed her to sealed panel in the floor of the narrow triangular hall adjacent to the bay. It was a safety exit. No one took interest in their departure, and Reema touched the panel. It darkened a moment. “You first” she said, leaving her hand on the panel long enough to allow a fall through.

Kraft took the lead, and both children slipped through, landing squarely in front of Jiro and Sanaa.