V - The Original Miniseries (32 page)

 

The admiral took it from her. He scanned it carefully and glanced up at her with some surprise. She smiled. "I thought you'd find it interesting."

 

"Yes," the admiral said as he nodded slowly and examined the ribbon again. "Definitely primitive ... but very interesting."

 

The dark-skinned woman raised one of her thin eyebrows slightly. "Perhaps an opportunity, sir?" He pondered it further, chewing the inside of his lip. "Perhaps." He looked up at her again. "How long ago was it transmitted?"

"We're still trying to determine that, sir. It may have been quite a while. Quite a long while." "Very well. Good work. Keep me closely advised."

"Of course, sir, and thank you." But she had an additional question. "Sir? Would you like to take any immediate action?"

 

"Yes." His eyes met her gaze pointedly, for an extended moment. Then he said slowly, "I'd like to think."

 

The woman smiled knowingly. She nodded and gracefully exited. The admiral looked at the gossamer ribbon again, studying the message it contained. He contemplated the, possibilities. And the dangers. Then he turned his head to look back out the port. He turned only his head, until it had rotated a full 180 degrees on his shoulders.

A shuttlecraft that might have been mistaken for a small meteor was passing close enough outside for the pilot to see her admiral within. His naked back was fully facing the port, but his face atop it peered straight out. His eyes were focused far into the void. His expression was deeply thoughtful.

The pilot continued on her mission. She skirted the admiral's ship, which was gargantuan, asymmetrical, and organic. It looked as though it might have been daubed together by impossibly gigantic wasps.

The shuttle accelerated as it flew downward beneath the bottom of the admiral's flagship, and then the full expanse of the fleet revealed itself to the shuttle pilot. There were scores of other gigantic craft stretching into the far distance against the starry blackness. They were all similar in organic construction, but in various shapes and sizes. Dozens of tiny shuttles buzzed around them like flies. To human eyes the scene would have appeared mind-bending: unsettlingly alien and fearfully forbidding.

But from a far greater distance, the eerie ships with their unusual inhabitants, the strange planet, and even its binary stars were mere pinpoints in the vast, unknown, and decidedly unpredictable universe.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Kenneth Johnson is the award-winning writer, director, and producer of numerous television shows, TV movies, and feature films. He is. the creator of the miniseries V and the author of the sequel novel V.• The Second Generation. Johnson is also responsible for creating such popular Emmy-winning TV series as The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and Alien Nation. He directed the feature films Short Circuit 2 and Steel. He is the recipient of the prestigious Viewers for Quality Television Award, multiple Saturn Awards, and the Sci-Fi Universe Life Achievement Award and has been nominated for Writers Guild and Mystery Writers of America Awards. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Susan.

A. C. Crispin, the author of the original novelization of V and other V novels, has published many science fiction novels, including a number of bestselling Star TrekTM and Star Wars® novels. She also created the successful Starbridge series. She lives in Maryland.

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