Heiser-The-Facade - Sparkling Eyes

now emerging behind the tarpaulin.Kevin's pace slowed, and finally stopped. He stared, mouth agape, at the perfectlyround silver craft resting atop a small tapered platform at the heart of the restricted area."Kevin," Dr. Bandstra nudged him gently. "You need to keep going; we don'twant to put too much distance between us and the rest of the team.""Yeah . . . right," he murmured, remembering the Colonel's warning, and began tocatch up."This is awesome, Neil," Brian said enthusiastically as they continued."I hope you feel that way in a few hours," his friend replied, somewhat grimly."This is just part of the show. What you'll see after this is why I asked for your presenceon the team.""What's that?"He sighed and, head down with hands in his pockets, walked a few more pacesbefore responding. "When I saw them, I was compelled to believe," he answered. "Youwill be too. Afterwards, my mind went back to your paper. I insisted you be brought on."Brian's mind raced as the group arrived at the slit that allowed access through thetarpaulin. A middle-aged Asian man emerged through the opening, and handed theColonel a clipboard, the con-tents of which he proceeded to inspect."Good afternoon, everyone," he said jovially, his round face beaming, as heplaced his pen into the lapel pocket of his lab coat. "It's so nice to have some outsiders.""You mean earthlings?" quipped Malcolm. Several of the members laughed, butthe Colonel greeted his jest with only a scowl. "You'll have to get used to Dr.Bradley.""Now, now, Colonel," the scientist interjected. "You must all excuse the Colonel,"he added, turning toward the team. "He's under a great deal of pressure, much of which isunfortunately caused by my-self. We can be notoriously slow.""He means meticulous," the Colonel offered, his countenance brightening slightly,"and we wouldn't have it any other way—in fact we can't allow it to be any other way.""You look familiar, sir," Kevin remarked, peering through the small crowd. "I'mKevin Garvey have we ever met before?""Not personally, Dr. Garvey. You may have seen me during your graduate workat Cal Tech. I taught there before coming here a few years ago." Kevin noddedpleasantly."This is Dr. Michael Yu," the Colonel began his introduction, "formerlyemployed, as you just heard, at Cal Tech. Dr. Yu's Ph.D. is from MIT ""Awright!" Malcolm interrupted over the Colonel's voice. "—Where his specialtywas particle physics. He's in charge of propulsion systems here.""And back-engineering alien technology?" Mark asked seriously."Not much," Dr. Yu admitted. "Most of that was before my time. I'm standing onthe shoulders of giants.""Nazi giants," Deidre grumbled in Father Benedict's direction in a barely audibletone. His glance told her and the others nearby that he didn't consider that the worstpossibility."You're far too modest, Mike," Neil contradicted him with the compliment."I know you're ready," the Colonel said to Dr. Yu, getting the business at handrolling. "What about the other group?"130