Barbary by Vonda N. McIntyre Page A

skin,
restrained her curly black hair.
    “Welcome to Atlantis, Barbary.” She had a wonderful, soft
accent that Barbary could not place, sort of British, sort of Russian.
    “Thanks.”
    “Are you coming out?”
    “Not this time,” Heather said. “I didn’t bring any suits. I
just wanted to show Barbary how the raft works.”
    Sasha chuckled. “Yes. I saw your demonstration.”
    Heather blushed. “I had to dodge a wrench,” she said.
    “Or a foo-fighter?”
    Heather grinned. “Sure. Didn’t you see it? I bet it was a
spy from the alien ship.”
    “When you see it again, tell those little green people to
stop in for tea,” Sasha said. “Well — Got to get back to work.” She made a
graceful dive to the other side of the raft, where a couple of her co-workers
joined her. Heather extended the arms of the raft. The equipment clanged,
startling Barbary all over again.
    “Thanks, kids,” Sasha said, waving, as she helped tow the
equipment over to the platform. “On the way back, don’t hit any of those little
green pedestrians.”
    Heather turned the raft end-for-end and headed home. Going
back they were upside-down, compared to the way they had arrived, but after a
moment it no longer felt upside-down to Barbary.
    “What’s a foo-fighter?”
    “It’s what pilots used to call UFOs — flying saucers — years
and years ago, before anybody ever went into space. Some people thought they
were alien spaceships coming to contact us, or spy on us, or take over our
world, or give us the secrets of the universe. Or something.”
    “Does that make the alien ship a foo-fighter?”
    After a thoughtful pause, Heather said, “I guess it does.
But nobody ever found any hard evidence that the old UFOs were real. This one’s
kind of different.”
    Heather piloted the raft smoothly into its bay and the
airlock began its cycle.
    “That was fun,” Barbary said. She still felt dizzy — but the
ride had been fun.
    “How long does it take to learn to drive one of these
things?”
    “Anybody can get in one and ride around in it,” Heather
said. “But really driving it, with the computer overridden I don’t know. I’ve
been doing it since I was a little kid.
    “How long does it take other people?”
    “Couple months, I guess. Mostly they just let the computer
do it. It’s more fun to drive it, though. Next time I’ll give you a lesson.”
    “Great.”
    The airlock completed its cycle and the raft slid into the
station. Heather opened the canopy and vaulted from her seat. Barbary followed,
still uncertain in free fall.
    “Thanks, Heather, Barbary,” Yukiko said.
    “Any time.”
    Heather led Barbary from the hub.
    “What do you want to see next?” she asked. “The labs are
pretty neat, and the library — or we could play on the computer —”
    “I ought to go check on Mickey,” Barbary said.
    “Oh, I’m sure he’s okay.”
    “Heather —” Barbary said, exasperated. She stopped for a
second to make herself calm down. “I know you want to show me everything, and I
want to see it. But Mick’s my responsibility. I have to take care of him and be
sure he’s all right. Otherwise I just should have let him loose back on earth
where he’d have half a chance without me.”
    Heather walked along in silence for quite a way. Barbary
felt certain that her new sister was angry at her. She did not know Heather
well enough to know how she would react when she got mad.
    “Yeah,” Heather said, to Barbary’s surprise. “Yeah, you’re
right. I understand. I hadn’t really thought about it enough, but I see what
you mean. You have to protect him. And I’m going to help you.”

Chapter Eight
    Closer to completion, Thea’s contraption sat on the living
room floor. Thea had fallen asleep on the couch. The door to Heather’s room
remained tight shut. Barbary slid it open.
    “Lights,” Heather said.
    “Hey, Mick,” Barbary whispered.
    He made the squeaky-purring sound he always made when he
woke. From the