Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction by Terry Compton

anywhere close to those space ships, let alone inside of them.
    Tik felt completely discouraged.   What were they going to do now?   She started moving back toward the door she had come in.   Some Bugs went out and she followed as closely as possible.   She slunk back down the passageways that she had just moved down with such high spirits and hopes.   She couldn't even concentrate enough to send a thought transfer back to her waiting pals.   She was so deep in her fog she almost missed the robot coming at her.   At the last moment, she spotted it and jumped to the side to let it pass.   She reached the stairway door and slipped in.   It took her a lot longer to go up the stairs than it had when she came down.   She finally got back to her level and sneaked a look out in the passageway.   It was clear so she headed back to her cell.   What was she going to tell her cell mates?   Would Gus do something crazy?
    Tik sent a thought that she was opening the door and coming in.   The door swung in and she hurried inside.   Gus was there to push the door shut.   Tik turned the cloak off and slowly took it off.   She took items out of the harness and handed them back to Ron and Gus.   Then she took her mini-computer out and took the harness off.
    "Well, what's the verdict?   Can we get out using either of those ships?" Gus inquired anxiously.
    Tik was almost afraid to look at him.   She slowly said, "The Bugs have guards in there with blasters.   There is a turret in the ceiling that looks like it can spin 360 degrees and it can cover the entire hangar."
    "How was the turret controlled?   Were there Bugs manning the blasters or do you think they were controlled by the computer?" Ron quickly asked.
    "I couldn't see from where I was at.   Here, let me show you what I filmed," Tik said as she pulled out her mini-computer.
    She turned it on and showed what she had filmed.   The three looked it over and then Ron had her replay it again.   None of them could see a way to get into either of the space ships.   They kicked around some ideas of creating a diversion but they had no idea what response the Bug guards would have.   They all felt really low.   Their first idea didn't look like it would work at all.   Ron suggested they all go to bed and look again tomorrow.   They might have some ideas that would come later and they could do a little more research.
    The next morning they went to work as usual and all three were preoccupied with the escape plan.   None of them did much work and almost caught Wurden's attention.   Ron saw it first and quickly sent out a thought transfer.   The other two picked up enough to stay below Wurden's radar.   When they got back to the cell, the planning started again.   Tik researched and the other two tried to come up with something.   Everywhere they turned they seemed to run into a brick wall.   It was the same routine for the next week -- work during the day and try to find an escape.   Finally, they were just about ready to admit defeat.
    The next morning Ron was working on a damaged robot when Wurden came to his work station.   He said, "Follow me.   We want you to look at something else."
    He led Ron beyond the ancient space ship to the far wall of the hangar.   Ron had never been over here so he covertly looked everything over.   They stopped in front of a rack of a dozen rockets.   They were about 12 feet long and were about a foot in diameter with a very thin shell on the outside.   There were triangular fins on the base of the rocket and smaller steering fins about two-thirds of the way to the top.   There were 1-inch diameter nodes evenly spaced around the circumference of the rocket just behind the nose.   There were matching nodes just forward of the tail fins.   The sides appeared to have a door in them that would open outward, but no hinges were visible.   There was a round six-inch circle in the middle that looked like it could be a port or