friendships between the paired couple and other people.
'What's this all about?' Nick said. The moment he spoke the entire projected tableau vanished. All of the children, the dance, and the music disappeared in an instant. Carol was surprised to find that she was disappointed and even a little angry. 'Now you've blown it,' she said.
Nick looked at his companions' stern faces. 'Jesus,' he said, holding up the cradle, 'such a greeting. I bust my butt to go retrieve this damn thing and you guys are pissed when I come back because I interrupt a movie of some kind.'
'For your information, Mr. Williams,' Carol replied, 'what we were watching was no ordinary movie. In fact, those kids in that dance are the same species as the ones in your trident.' Nick looked at her skeptically. 'Tell him, Troy.'
'She's right, Professor,' Troy said. 'We just figured it out while you were gone. That thing you're carrying is the seed package for Earth. Some of the zygotes in there are what Carol calls superhumans. Genetically engineered humans with more capability than you or me. Like the kids we just saw.'
Nick lifted the cradle to eye level. 'I had figured out myself that this thing was a seed package. But what's this shit about human seeds?' He glanced at Troy. 'You're serious, aren't you?' Troy nodded his head. Troy nodded. All three of them stared intently at the object in front of them. Carol kept glancing back and forth from the trident to where the image of the superchildren had been. 'It still doesn't seem possible,' Nick added, 'but then nothing else has for the last '
'So what did you forget, Nick?' Carol interrupted. 'And why did you bring that thing back?' There was no immediate response from Nick. 'By the way,' she smiled, 'you missed the show of a lifetime.'
'The trident was what I forgot,' Nick answered. 'It occurred to me, while I was studying the gold objects in the cylinder, that our trident might be a seed package. And I was worried that it might be dangerous ...'
The sudden sound of organ music flooding down the corridor from the large room behind them stopped their conversation. Nick and Carol looked at Troy. He put the bracelet up to his ear as if he were listening to it and cracked a large grin. 'I think that's the five-minute warning,' Troy said. 'We'd better make our last touchdown and clear out of here.'
The trio turned and walked back down the corridor to the room with the cylinder. When they arrived. Carol and Troy were astonished to see a figure in a blue and white wetsuit on the opposite side of the room. He was kneeling reverently right next to the cylinder.
'Oh, yeah.' said Nick with a nervous laugh, 'I forgot to tell you. Commander Winters came back with me ...'
Commander Winters had felt quite comfortable in the water even though he had not been down on a dive in five years. Nick had gone freestyle, swimming right beside the commander and using the emergency mouthpiece connected to the air supply on Winters' back. Despite his sense of urgency, Nick had remembered that Winters was basically a novice again and had not rushed the first part of the dive. But when Winters had refused several times to follow Nick up close to the light in the ocean, Nick had become exasperated.
Nick had then taken a final deep breath from the ancillary mouthpiece and grabbed Winters by the shoulders. With gestures, he had explained to the commander that he, Nick, was going to go through the plastic stuff or whatever it was in front of the light and that Winters could either follow him or not. The commander had reluctantly given Nick his hand. Nick turned around immediately and pulled Winters into and through the membrane that separated the alien spaceship from the ocean.
Winters had been completely terrified during his tumble on the water slide inside the vehicle. As a result he had lost his bearings and had had great difficulty standing up after he landed in the splash pool. Nick was already out of the pool and anxious to find his friends. 'Look,' Nick had said, as soon as he could get the commander's attention, 'I'm going to leave you now for a few minutes.' He had pointed at the exit on the opposite of the room. 'We'll be in the big room with the high ceilings just on the other side of that