Read Close Encounters for Free Online Page B

go up with a mixture of awe and curiosity.
    When they were done, I had two huts side by side, with a connecting partition between them that I used for storage. Each section of hut had a door with a porch roof covering it. Most of the complicated lab work would be done by Max, but the back hut was equipped with instruments so I could work on my own.
    The front hut would be my living quarters. It came with its own lav, kitchen, and bedroom, and Max controlled the climate through remotes. When I tried to coax Junior inside for a look around, his eyes widened, and he backed up a step. I suspect he thought that any building that could go up so fast all by itself might come down the same way, and he wasn’t going to take any chances on being inside when it did.
    But at least he seemed to be over his hesitancy where I was concerned. He helped me unload the rest of my supplies without a quibble and then made himself comfortable near one of the porches.
    As a reward for his assistance, I made him dinner after Max did a medic scan and assured me the Buri physiology was compatible with human rations. It took some mimicking on my part, and finally taking a bite myself before he’d try the food. And he didn’t seem too fond of the vegetables sautéed in lemon wine, making faces with each swallow. But at his first taste of amberberries covered in chocolate sauce and topped with whipped cream, total rapture lit his features. It didn’t take a fluent command of Buri to understand his meaning when he shoved the empty bowl at me and growled.
    With a smile, I zapped another packet of the dessert in the heating unit and refilled his bowl. Even when you’re dealing with an alien species, the way to a man’s heart was apparently through his stomach.
    I just hoped it would be this easy with the big guy. If I wanted to be accepted by the Buri, he was the one I had to impress. But I suspected I had my work cut out for me.

CHAPTER 3
    M y first night on Orpheus Two turned out to be a long one. Junior was still working on his second dessert when his replacement showed up. He gave the new Buri with light gray hair and silvery eyes a meager taste of the sweet, and I ended up fixing yet another bowl. Apparently this earned me Ghost’s undying gratitude, because he spent the rest of the night guarding my door, keeping me awake with his shifting and turning.
    Crigo had vanished with first dark, but that didn’t surprise me. He was itching to explore, and I’d seen him eyeing a herd of grazers that looked like a cross between the buffalo and gazelles I’d seen in the Centaurius Zoo. They were elegantly built with long legs and spiral horns, but furred with a woolly coat of dark brown curls. They also had a hump on their backs, long beards, and broad, heavy faces.
    It was during one of Ghost’s tossing-and-turning periods that I awakened from a light doze with a strange thought. What if the Buri weren’t posted outside my hut as guards? What if they thought they were protecting me from the Dynatec crew?
    The idea was so odd I couldn’t believe it had even occurred to me. My eyes opened and I blinked twice before sliding out of bed and into a robe. Moving silently, I padded to the front of the hut and gazed through the transparent door at Ghost. Had I picked up something from him?
    It didn’t seem likely. He was leaning against the wall, head tipped back, gentle snores parting his lips.
    Trying not to wake him, I opened the door and stepped outside, letting my gaze scan the surrounding jungle. Something or someone was out there. I could feel a presence in the tingle that ran down my back and lifted the fine hair on my nape.
    I was on the verge of querying Max when a slight movement caught my eye. It wasn’t much, just a shimmer of moonlight on inky hair, but it was enough to tell me who my watcher was.
    The big guy was back.
    Shifting slightly to my right, I walked to the edge of the porch. We were within touching distance when I stopped. Close