Chapter 2.
“A hot shower! Nothing much better in the universe than the feel of hot water running over your skin.” Zuri thought, as she stood naked in the steamy enclosure, arms folded close under her breasts. The warm water seemed to draw tension out of her as it cascaded over her body. She visualized each little care, each worry being drawn up and out through the pores of her skin. Her breathing slowed as her cares fell from her body, circled the drain at her feet, and then dropped out of sight.
With her body reasonably relaxed, Zuri began to sort events out in her mind. Evander had, in his usual way, identified the obvious and had drawn reasonable conclusions. She, on the other hand, needed to go beyond the obvious. In the history of their mission they had never come across an aggressive race. But that did not mean that they didn’t exist. Maybe they were just lucky that they hadn’t encountered one.
And what if they did meet an aggressor? What could they do to protect themselves? True, they did have weapons. But, so far as she knew, they had never been fired. Maybe they’d been tested some time long ago soon after the ship was launched. But would they even work now after so many generations of non-use? Maybe it would be a good idea to test them now, before they got much closer to the object. But maybe the object would see that as an aggressive act. Then what would it do?
The only weapons she knew actually worked weren’t really weapons in the pure sense of the word. These were lasers used to pulverize space-borne objects too large to be deflected by their shields. They had limited range and power. They could handle something a few yards across, but they’d be completely useless against anything larger.
“No!” she said aloud to herself. She would not under any circumstances advocate taking an aggressive posture in this encounter. Anything that might be interpreted as aggressive (or even defensive) could not be of any benefit. The technology represented by this strange new object was most certainly far advance beyond theirs. Evander was right. She really didn’t have many options, and none of them looked particularly good.