Read Starbridge for Free Online Page B

best space film ever made ... and the one about the cute little alien with the blue eyes who--"
    "Some other time, Rob," Yoki interrupted gently. "I think everyone's tired."
    28
    The next morning Mahree stood her watch at the communications console.
    For two hours she monitored the holo-tank screen, her eyes searching for distinctive orange peaks and valleys, her ears straining for strange chattering noises.
    Joan and Paul had hooked up a booster to the standard communications equipment, and Desiree was slowly sweeping across the spacial coordinates where the first signal had triggered the Efrequency.
    At first Mahree sat tensely, willing a blip to cross the screen, poised to summon Joan and Jerry to track it down.
    But the hours dragged by, and nothing happened. By the end of her watch, she was glad to relinquish her seat to Rob Gable. "See anything, Mahree?"
    "Not a whisper, not an electronic hiccup. I've been sitting here wondering if we imagined it all."
    "It was real, all right."
    Her smile was grim. "Tell me that at the end of two hours staring at this screen. The line between reality and fantasy blurs fast."
    "Psychologists specialize in what's real and what isn't."
    "All the psychologists I ever met were doing their best to keep themselves afloat." Mahree slanted a look at him. "And not doing much better than the rest of us."
    He pretended to wipe blood away. "Ouch! What's that French word . . .
    touche?"
    Mahree smiled. "Oui."
    "Right. I deserve that for such a snotty remark."
    "It's all right, we're all a little on edge."
    "I know I am." He yawned, finger-combing his tousled hair. "Maybe I should've gotten some sack time last night instead of playing Master of Ceremonies at the film festival."
    "It was fun. Someday I'd like to see the rest of them."
    He swiveled in his seat to gaze out the forward viewscreen, his expression sobering. "Do you think anyone's out there?"
    "I don't know," she said slowly, her eyes never leaving the scanner holotank. "I'd like to think that they are."
    "Me, too. How much time left on your uncle's deadline?"
    "Only twenty hours," Mahree said gloomily.
    Rob gave her a meaningful glance. "This could be our chance, you know."
    Mahree stared at him, puzzled.
    29
    "You remember, what we were talking about before," he reminded her. "The chance to do something really different. Special. This could be it, for us."
    Us? Mahree glanced down, feeling her cheeks grow hot. Don't be silly, he didn't mean anything by that. "After all," he continued, "our situation here is pretty unique."
    Mahree grinned wryly. "It'll have to get 'uniquer' before we'll be able to count our pages in the history texts. Unless we turn up more signals, we won't even rate a footnote."
    Rob grimaced. "Yeah, dammit." He pointed at the holotank. "Light up, I command you!"
    The screen stayed obstinately dark.
    That "night" Mahree went to bed despondently, knowing that in the early hours of the "morning," while she slept, the watch would be called off and Disiree would make the transition back to metaspace. If only we could find something before the time runs out! She lay there, wishing she could physically reach out, sense those strange frequencies, and drag them into range of Desiree's receivers.
    Finally sheer exhaustion made her fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.
    Hours later she started awake, thinking that someone had called her. "Yes?"
    she said, into the darkness. "I'm here."
    But her tiny cabin was dim, and her intercom remained silent. Mahree checked the chronometer, then lay down again, tossing and turning, eyes wide open in spite of her weariness. At last she decided to wander up to the control cabin and keep the last watch company.
    Raoul was not in the control room, but Joan Atwood was there, at the navigation console. Yoki Masuto was standing the communications watch.
    "Hi," Mahree said, sitting down beside the Cargo Chief. "Thought I'd keep you company, since I couldn't sleep."
    Yoki yawned, revealing pearly little