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know that,” Sally said. “But I have to bluff with conviction. If I don’t, Adam and Watch will never escape.”
    â€œYou don’t know that for sure. A gentle approach might be better.”
    Sally shook her head. “Look who we’re dealing with. These aliens land on our planet and immediately whip out their guns and kidnap our friends. We have to meet force with force. It’s the only way.”
    â€œDid it ever occur to you that the aliens in the other ship have a thousand times more experience in interstellar combat than we do? What if they blow us out of the sky?”
    Sally nodded. “I thought of that. That’s why I hit them hard first. I’m hoping we’ve already disabled their weapons system.”
    Cindy pointed to the large viewing screen above. “You better pray as well as hope. They’re coming around. And from the green glow around their perimeter, it looks like they’re getting their weapons ready.”
    Sally spun on the aliens with a gun in her hand. “How do we raise our shields?” she demanded.
    The aliens looked at each other with their huge insect eyes. They shook their heads slightly. They trembled as they did so, and hugged each other close. They had earlier communicated telepathically, but now they seemed too scared to send a clear thought.
    â€œI think they’re saying we don’t have any shields,” Cindy said.
    â€œWe have to have shields!” Sally shouted. “This is a spaceship. They always have shields in the movies.”
    A hard blast, thick as a fist, struck their ship. Sally and Cindy went flying and hit the floor. For a moment their lights failed and they were plunged into total darkness. It was terrifying; they couldhave been floating in empty space without a ship around them. Fortunately an emergency system came on, flooding the interior with a sober red light. Sally and Cindy crawled to their knees. Cindy felt a twinge in her right ankle. In all the excitement she had almost forgotten she was still injured.
    â€œThey’ll pay for that,” Sally said bitterly. She reached for the control panel, the firing button. “We’re taking no prisoners.”
    Cindy stopped her. “Wait a second. I hear something.”
    â€œWhat?” Sally demanded.
    â€œA telepathic message. Listen, here it comes again.”
    â€œPush the green button. Then the purple one.”
    â€œDid you hear that?” Cindy asked.
    â€œYeah. So what?” Sally pointed to the two quivering aliens, whose big black eyes seemed to be ready to burst from their heads. “They’re just giving us instructions to blow ourselves up.”
    Cindy got to her feet. “They’re more afraid of dying than we are. The thought’s not coming from them. It must be coming from the other ship.”
    Sally was disgusted. “Like we’re going to listen to an order from them? Are you out of your mind? Isay we return fire. If we lose Adam and Watch then at least they died in a good cause.” Once again she reached for the firing button. “I’m locking on all our weapons. I’m going to maintain fire until one of us explodes.”
    Cindy stopped her again. “That’s insane. We’re not killing Watch and Adam, and you know it. You’re just raving.” She suddenly paused and went still. “This thought feels different from the others. The person sending it seems to want to help us.”
    Sally threw her arms in the air. “The person sending the message is an alien! We can’t trust it!”
    Cindy spoke firmly. “And we can’t just keep blasting away. I say we give this message a chance. I know that sounds insane but I trust it somehow.”
    Sally turned away in disgust. She glanced up at the ceiling. The other ship was coming around again. Sally could see them energizing their weapons.
    â€œIf you’re going to respond to it, then you better do it