The Pipe, continued . . .

It would be easy to block thoughts against Trip, but Kraft and Reema couldn’t hide two alien beings. Reema sent an urgent message to her mother Come!

Kraft, shared Reema’s view of telepathy’s dangers but took a chance that these seemingly intelligent beings could learn. He spoke urgently, “Don’t think of anything! It’s how you shield your mind against intruders.”

Trip surveyed the scene not hearing Reema’s call for help or Kraft’s words to the aliens. He was too surprised by the dark skinned feminine form with the tightly twisted brown ropes for hair. They weren’t the usual tendrils of his people. He attempted to search her mind, but the girl was too primitive. He only sensed a blank emptiness behind her eyes.

Confused, he turned back to Kraft and Reema, Figured I’d find you here. He moved closer to the two aliens who took a step back from the tall, blue haired cadet.

And who are you? He tried again to reach out to the chubby boy with the golden hair.

 “Trip wants to know who you are,” Kraft helped.

 “We came through the tunnel,” said Jiro.

“We fell through,” said Sanaa.

Trip didn’t believe in tunnels linking worlds, but he understood ‘falling through’. That was part of his world. Well, why don’t you fall back through to where you came from. You’ve upset our city.

Before he could pry into their minds, an emergency portal swung open and Reema’s mother, still dressed in her official deep purple security jumpsuit came toward them.

Aren’t you supposed to be on the service deck handling crowd control? Her thoughts seared Trip’s mind. The senior cadet jerked around to face her. Go! She ordered him out of the area. He glared at Reema in anger and turned to leave.

As the portal closed behind him Reema let down her mind shield and ran to hug her mother. Kraft stood at attention and allowed the security officer to search his thoughts. Within moments, Reema’s mother understood her daughter’s concern for the two aliens whose white knuckled hands were locked tightly together. Unpracticed in telepathy, their blank thoughts had crumbled into a torrent of fears. The security officer immediately understood they had found the between tunnel.  Only a few high level officials and top security officers knew of it. Others thought it a legend

You are safe here, but not for long, Reema’s mother informed the aliens directly, The city keepers are coming. I can only divert them for a little while. She smiled at her daughter, whose flowing purple hair was so like her own. She pointed to the exit, Go quickly; and give them a branch from the tree by the road. It will safeguard the portal.

The exit out of the city and into the wilderness slid shut behind the children. With no windows in the space port’s principal bay, no one would see them leave. Reema’s mother knew that telepathic contact would be almost impossible under Alberio’s ultraviolet bombardment, but she trusted her daughter to get safely to the coordinates she had impressed on her child’s mind. It would get the four children back to the mountain tunnel between worlds. While she waited for the onslaught of other officials coming to join her in the spaceport, she worried what to tell them. Instinctively, she strengthened her shield.