Deena

by James Warner

“What is it, Captain Merry?” David asked.“I don’t know. The ship’s sensors are all around the place. We can’t get a fix on the size or the composition, or even the configuration,” Merry answered.“I’ll go look,” I said, and I teleported out of the ship. There before me, was something I can only describe as another ship. It was from my vision. It was an eerie turquoise, as if illuminated from within by some kind of light. It was probably about a mile long, with a gigantic sphere in the center. But the sphere was not solid. It was made up of plates that orbited around a central something. The plates were curved pieces and no two were alike in shape or size. And they were in several layers in smaller and smaller orbits. It looked like at least three layers that I could see.It reminded me of an atom with a spear plunged through the middle. The sharp front and rear pieces made up most of the length, and each came to a point. The funny thing was, although this was obviously a construction of some kind, and since it was here, was probably a space ship, for the life of me I could not figure out what it was for. I took a holo of it with the EV suit’s camera and teleported back into our ship. I broadcast a mental image of it to everyone I could reach, including all the Parent stations.“Well, Captain Deena? What is it?”“It’s some kind of structure, some construction, and since it is in this impossible place, it must be a starship of unknown origin, but I have no idea what it is or what it’s for or who built it or why it’s sending out signals. Basically, it’s big and pretty, it transmits old fashioned radio signals, but that’s about it.”

440 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 12, 2011