Mari Wolf

“ No Earthman nearby, no force fields, nothing. You've got to find out why." Those ships just disappeared.
Riuku forced his way up through the erotic dreams of Alice Hendricks. "I know a little," he said. "They damp their thought waves somehow, and keep us from spotting the Corcoran field."
"Corcoran field? What's that?"
"I don't know." Alice's thoughts washed over him, pulling him back into complete integration, away from Nagor, into a medley of heroic Petes with gleaming eyes and clutching hands and good little Alices pushing them away—for the moment. ”

“ Nagor looked out through the ports of the spaceship, which didn't in the least resemble an Earth spaceship, any more than what Nagor considered sight resembled the corresponding Earth sense perception. He frowned.
"What about the research scientists? We know who some of them are. The supervisors? The technicians?"
"No," Riuku said flatly. "They're shielded. Perfectly I can't make contact with a single mind down there that has the faintest inkling of what's going on. We never should have let them develop the shield." ”

“ Don't they ever think of anything but their kids? Alice thought. She stopped listening to them. She heard Pete's voice again, husky and sending little chills all through her, and his face came between her and the plug and the white green wire she was soldering. His face, with those blue eyes that went right through a girl and that little scar that quirked up the corner of his mouth....
"Oh, oh," Alice said suddenly. "I've got solder on the outside of the pin." She looked around for the alcohol.
Riuku probed. ”

“ Alice Hendricks cried.
"Why, let me get my hands on you...."
"Riuku!"
Riuku prodded. Calm down, you fool. You're not gaining anything this way. Calm down, so I can get out of here....
Alice Hendricks stopped yelling abruptly.
"That's better," Susan said. "Pete, your taste in women gets worse each time. I don't know why I always take you back." ”

“ Defeat. The long, interstellar search for another race, a race less technologically advanced than this one, and all because of a stupid Earth female.
"Not yet, Nagor," he said. "Her boy friend knows. I'll find out. I'll make her listen to him."
"Well," Nagor said doubtfully. "All right. But hurry. We haven't much time at all."
"I'll hurry," Riuku promised. "I'll be back with you tonight."
That night after work Pete Ganley was waiting outside the gate again. Alice spotted his copter right away, even though he had the lights turned way down. ”

“ What did the 731 plug do?
Alice Hendricks didn't know. Alice Hendricks didn't care.
The first break. Ten minutes away from work. Alice was walking back along the aisle that separated Assembly from the men's Machine Shop. A chance, 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 could influence them, wishing that just for a moment he could see, hear, feel, think as she would never think. ”

“ 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 all that. It's not right. But it's different, with Susan such a mean thing. 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 be controlled directly. Still, perhaps with this new integration he could accomplish the same results. He prodded again.
"Pete," Alice said suddenly. "What are we working on, anyway?" ”

“ Alice finished soldering the first row of wires in the plug and started 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 a tooth." ”

“ No, the only thing to do was stay with her, curl deep in her mind and go through the Shielding boost, and later on....
The line. Alice's nervousness.... Oh, oh, there's that guy with the meter—the one from maintenance. What's he want?
"Whaddya mean, my shield's low? How could it be?" ... If he checks the tag I'll be fired for sure. It's a lot of nonsense anyway. The enemy is everywhere, they keep telling us. ”

“ Well, so what—it was 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 moonlight that she wondered why she wanted to talk about the plant anyway. "You're in Final Assembly, aren't you? You check the whatsits before they go out." ”

“ Alice's thoughts calmed, swirled away from Susan and what am I going to do and why didn't I pick up with some single guy, anyway? A single guy, like Tommy maybe. Tommy and his spot welder, over there by the Restricted Area. The Restricted Area.... ”

“ Nothing about the weapon, that is. He had found out a good deal about the sex life of Genus Homo—information that made him even more glad than before that his was a one-sexed race.
ith work over and tools put away and Alice in the restroom gleefully thinking about the red Friday night tag she was slipping onto her ID badge, he was as far from success as ever. For a moment he considered leaving her, looking for another subject. But he'd probably not be able to find one. ”