"No, it's too risky. We'd better stay invisible, at least until we can learn how to fly this ship," you say.

"Yes," Kim Lee replies. "I understand the main controls, but I'm not sure I can safely steer our course."

The two of you study the dozens of strange instruments. "This ship is automated," Kim Lee explains. "You need only feed the computer a general idea of what you want. For instance, this panel is gravity-sensitive. It will cause us to approach the nearest object that has a strong gravitational pull."

"That would be Earth. That's the way we can land!" For the first time you have some hope of returning home safely.

Kim Lee moves her hand along the oblong panel of floating light. A moment later you feel the ship slowly accelerating, and you hear the hum of unseen power. The UFO is descending. The acceleration increases. Your body is pressed against the wall. The force increases still more. It's more than you can bear. You're losing consciousness!

Slowly, you awaken. The terrible pressure of the acceleration is gone. The chamber is brightly lit. The air smells fresh and sweet, like a newly mown meadow in spring. Real sunlight and cool air stream through an opening at the end of the chamber. Kim Lee is already standing there, looking out. She turns and beckons. You spring to your feet, and stumble from the force of gravity.

From the opening, you look down at a cornfield about thirty feet beneath you. This incredible machine from a distant planet has obeyed your command. It has taken you through a hundred thousand miles of space. Now it hovers silently only thirty feet in the air. Its great computers seem to know everything except that, maybe, thirty  feet is too far for you to jump.

"Look!" Kim Lee is pointing to the far edge of the field. You had already noticed a herd of cows grazing in the adjoining pasture, but now a man and a boy are running toward you. They stop about fifty feet away, afraid to come closer. Then a small pickup truck lurches over the rise. A man and a woman get out and stare at the sight before them.

"What should we do now?" asks Kim Lee. But you are lost in thought. You're only dimly aware of her question, and of the men, women, children, and barking dogs now assembling at the edge of the field. You barely hear the police siren in the distance.

You are thinking how strange it is that the all-powerful U-TY masters have evaporated like a mist in the morning sun. And that, when a ship from outer space finally lands, you are on it.

For the next hour, you and Kim Lee sit at the doorway of your spacecraft, looking out over the field, watching the crowds gathering, the police roping off a football-field-sized area around you, a police helicopter landing, then army helicop-ters, TV crews and trucks, fire engines, then army trucks. Finally, even a tank!

"Are they going to shoot at us?" asks Kim Lee.

"They are afraid of aliens," you answer, "but I don't think they'll shoot us. I hope they'll bring a ladder and let us down. Everyone will watch it on TV. Scientists will  this ship so that Earth people can build one like it.

"Kim Lee listens intently as you talk. Then she says, "I'm eager to see Earth again and see my country, but I'll miss this ship, because for 475 years it's been my home!"

"Will you miss the U-TY masters?" you ask. Kim  Lee shakes her head. "The U-TY had no more intelligence—no more soul—than slimy, gray snails."

"But they built this miraculous spaceship," you say. "It is miraculous," she replies, "like a beautiful sea shell left by a slimy, gray snail."

/ENDING Nº14/