by Mari Wolf
you."
"Oh, her." Alice touched the tip of the iron to the solder filled pin,worked the wire down into position. "What can she do? Pete doesn'tgive a damn about her."
"He's still living with her, isn't he?" Lois said.
Alice shrugged.... _What a mealy-mouthed little snip Lois could be,sometimes. You'd think to hear her that she was better than any ofthem, and luckier too, with her Joe and the kids. What a laugh! Joewas probably the only guy who'd ever looked at her, and she'd hookedhim right out of school, and now with three kids in five years and herworking nights...._
Alice finished soldering the first row of wires in the plug andstarted in on the second. So old Liverlips thought she wasted time,did he? Well, she'd show him. She'd get out her sixteen plugs tonight.
"Junior kept me up all night last night," Lois said. "He's cutting atooth."
"Yeah," Coralie said, "It's pretty rough at that age. I remember rightafter Mike was born...."
Don't they ever think of anything but their kids? Alice thought. Shestopped listening to them. She heard Pete's voice again, husky andsending little chills all through her, and his face came between herand the plug and the white green wire she was soldering. His face,with those blue eyes that went right through a girl and that littlescar that quirked up the corner of his mouth....
"Oh, oh," Alice said suddenly. "I've got solder on the outside of thepin." She looked around for the alcohol.
Riuku probed. Her thoughts were easy enough to read, but just try totranslate them into anything useful.... He probed deeper. The plugsshe was soldering. He could get a good picture of them, of the wires,of the harness lacing that Coralie was doing. But it meant nothing.They could be making anything. Radios, monitor units, sound equipment.
Only they weren't. They were making a weapon, and this bit ofelectronic equipment was part of that weapon. What part? What did the731 plug do?
Alice Hendricks didn't know. Alice Hendricks didn't care.
The first break. Ten minutes away from work. Alice was walking backalong the aisle that separated Assembly from the men's Machine Shop. Achance, perhaps. She was looking at the machines, or rather past them,at the men.
"Hello, Tommy. How's the love life?" He's not bad at all. Real cute.Though not like Pete, oh no.
The machines. Riuku prodded at her thoughts, wishing he couldinfluence them, wishing that just for a moment he could see, hear,feel, _think_ as she would never think.
The machines were--machines. That big funny one where Ned works, andTommy's spot welder, and over in the corner where the superintendentis--he's a snappy dresser, tie and everything.
The corner. Restricted area. Can't go over. High voltage orsomething....
Her thoughts slid away from the restricted area. Should she go out forlunch or eat off the sandwich machine? And Riuku curled inside hermind and cursed her with his rapidly growing Earthwoman's vocabulary.
At the end of the shift he had learned nothing. Nothing about theweapon, that is. He had found out a good deal about the sex life ofGenus Homo--information that made him even more glad than before thathis was a one-sexed race.
* * * * *
With work over and tools put away and Alice in the restroom gleefullythinking about the red Friday night tag she was slipping onto her IDbadge, he was as far from success as ever. For a moment he consideredleaving her, looking for another subject. But he'd probably not beable to find one. No, the only thing to do was stay with her, curldeep in her mind and go through the Shielding boost, and later on....
The line. Alice's nervousness.... _Oh, oh, there's that guy with themeter--the one from maintenance. What's he want?_
"Whaddya mean, my shield's low? How could it be?" _... If he checksthe tag I'll be fired for sure. It's a lot of nonsense anyway. Theenemy is everywhere, they keep telling us. Whoever saw one of them?_"No, honest, I didn't notice anything. Can I help it if.... It's okay,huh? It'll pass...."
Down to fifteen per cent, the guy said. Well, that's safe, I guess.Whew.
"Oh, hello, Paula. Whatcha talking about, what am I doing heretonight? Shut up...."
And then, in the midst of her thoughts, the pain, driving deep intoRiuku, twisting at him, wrenching at him, until there was noconsciousness of anything at all.
He struggled back. He was confused, and there was blankness aroundhim, and for a moment he thought he'd lost contact altogether. Then hecame into focus again. Alice's thoughts were clearer than eversuddenly. He could feel her emotions; they were a part of him now. Hesmiled. The Shielding boost had helped him. Integration--much morecomplete integration than he had ever known before.
"But Pete, honey," Alice said. "What did you come over to the gatefor? You shouldn't of done it."
"Why not? I wanted to see you."
"What if one of Susan's pals sees us?"
"So what? I'm getting tired of checking in every night, like a baby.Besides, one of her pals did see us, last night, at the bar."
_Fear. What'll she do? Susan's a hellcat. I know she is. But maybePete'll get really sick and tired of her. He looks it. He looks mad.I'd sure hate to have him mad at me...._
"Let's go for a spin, baby. Out in the suburbs somewhere. How aboutit?"
"Well--why sure, Pete...."
Sitting beside him in the copter. _All alone up here. Real romantic,like something on the video. But I shouldn't with him married, and allthat. It's not right. But it's different, with Susan such a meanthing. Poor Petey...._
Riuku prodded. He found it so much easier since the Shielding boost.If only these Earthmen were more telepathic, so that they could becontrolled directly. Still, perhaps with this new integration he couldaccomplish the same results. He prodded again.
"Pete," Alice said suddenly. "What are we working on, anyway?"
"What do you mean, working on?" He frowned at her.
"At the plant. All I ever do is sit there soldering plugs, and no oneever tells me what for."
"Course not. You're not supposed to talk about any part of the jobexcept your own. You know that. The slip of a lip--"
"Can cost Earth a ship. I know. Quit spouting poster talk at me, PeteGanley. The enemy isn't even human. And there aren't any around here."
Pete looked over at her. She was pouting, the upper lip drawn underthe lower. Someone must have told her that was cute. Well, so what--itwas cute.
"What makes you think I know anything more than you do?" he said.
"Well, gee." She looked up at him, so near to her in the moonlightthat she wondered why she wanted to talk about the plant anyway."You're in Final Assembly, aren't you? You check the whatsits beforethey go out."
"Sure," he said. No harm in telling her. No spies now, not in thiskind of war. Besides, she was too dumb to know anything.
"It's a simple enough gadget," Pete Ganley said. "A new type of forcefield weapon that the enemy can't spot until it hits them. They don'teven know there's an Earth ship within a million miles, until_Bingo_!..."
She drank it in, and in her mind Riuku did too. Wonderful integration,wonderful. Partial thought control. And now, he'd learn the secret....
"You really want to know how it works?" Pete Ganley said. When shenodded he couldn't help grinning. "Well, it's analogous to the fieldset up by animal neurones, in a way. You've just got to damp thatfield, and not only damp it but blot it out, so that the frequencyshows nothing at all there, and then--well, that's where thoseCorcoran assemblies you're soldering on come in. You produce thefield...."
Alice Hendricks listened. For some reason she wanted to listen. Shewas really curious about the field. But, gee, how did he expect her tounderstand all that stuff? He sounded like her algebra teacher, or wasit chemistry? Lord, how she'd hated school. Maybe she shouldn't havequit.
_... Corcoran fields. E and IR and nine-space something or other.She'd never seen Pete like this before. He looked real different. Sortof like a professor, or something. He must be real smart. Andso--well, not good-looking especially but, well, appeal
ing. Real SA,he had...._
"So that's how it works," Pete Ganley said. "Quite a weapon, againstthem. It wouldn't work on a human being, of course." She was staringat him dreamy-eyed. He laughed. "Silly, I bet you haven't understood aword I said."
"I have too."
"Liar." He locked the automatic pilot on the copter and held out hisarms. "Come here, you."
"Oh, Petey...."
Who cared about the weapon? He was right, even if she wouldn't admitit. She hadn't even listened,