Heiser-The-Facade - Sparkling Eyes

Colonel resisted the perfectly natural inclination to cry out in terror and take cover."Relax, people," the Colonel said with a grin. "What's the problem?"Mark Chadwick picked himself off the floor and peered cautiously out thewindow. The saucer was hovering silently as before, although this time much closer towhere they'd been seated."Hope you guys have fun scraping the pilots off their wind-shield after that stunt,"Kevin griped, irritated and embarrassed."Completely unnecessary," the Colonel said cockily. "Take a look for yourself."The craft slowly rotated 180 degrees before them, revealing two large, rectangularportals, one above the other. The upper panel slid open to the side slowly as theywatched. Dr. Yu and two pilots waved to the team from where they were seated inside thecraft."How is that possible?" Melissa wondered aloud. "He doesn't even have a hair outof place.""They should have been atomized," Kevin argued. "I don't have a deathwish oranything, but I'm not going to believe this isn't some kind of slight-of-hand stunt until Ifly in one of those myself.""We thought you might say that," the Colonel smirked mischievously, andpressed one of the buttons on the panel next to the phone. A thick pane of glass appearedat the side of the open window and slid slowly across their line of sight."Wait a minute ..." Deidre said apprehensively, " . . . does this mean what I thinkit does?""Mother of God, we're inside one!" Father Benedict ex-claimed in an agitatedvoice, and rose hurriedly from his seat."Please sit down, Father," Neil requested in an understanding voice."But my heart—I'm much older than the rest of you," he said, his breathingbecoming labored."There's nothing to fear," Major Lindsay assured him, coming to his side. "You'llfeel nothing, believe me. The only precaution any of you need take is to keep lookingstraight ahead. Otherwise you may get nauseous. There's no risk of danger.""No risk!" Andrew protested."Easy, Father," Deidre took his arm and led him back to his seat next to her. "Youguys better let him calm down first," she demanded, staring at the Colonel."Of course."Father Benedict sat back in his chair, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. Henodded for the Colonel to proceed after a couple minutes. The Colonel picked up thephone."You're clear for maneuvers, captain."The team members braced themselves for acceleration, but felt nothing happen."Look straight ahead, out the window," the Colonel directed. Suddenly the panorama ofthe hangar changed drastically—up, down, sidewayseach time the visual perspectivechanging in only a fraction of a second, like watching a television while channel surfing.The craft then went into a slow 360 degree circuit, whereupon the team was able to watchthe entire perimeter of the hangar pass before their eyes.As soon as the saucer completed its circumference, the far wall of the hangarappeared to rapidly come into view before their eyes and then disappear, like separateframes of a slide show, albeit one that kept reappearing in alternating sequence over and132