Larissa tugged at my arm. "No time for astonishment now," she said, pulling me forward along the passageway. "There's a small task force of local and state law enforcement on the way, and the federal boys won't be far behind."

"But," I stammered as we reached a ladder that led up through the ceiling of the passageway, "you've only got this one ship, can it really--"

Larissa spun around and put a finger to my lips, her eyes now positively shimmering. "Take a peek up there." She indicated the ladder, and I ascended.

Above was a circular space about 15 ft. in diameter, not unlike the turret of some fantastic tank, except that its shell was transparent. There was an enormous gun fixed in the center, on which was mounted an empty seat. To one side of the turret was a bank of tracking equipment, before which sat Eli Kuperman, carefully monitoring the many readouts. Glancing at the gun again, I noted that it looked somehow familiar; in fact, it seemed a giant version of Larissa's sidearm.

"They're both rail guns," she said, again reading my face as she climbed up, squeezed tight against me on the ladder and drew out her smaller weapon. "It's a simple concept really--the projectiles are propelled by completing a circuit between two conducting bars, instead of by a gas explosion. The electromagnetic field behind the projectiles multiplies the acceleration--you've seen the effect. Now, then--" She reholstered her weapon and gave my face a last touch. "I could stay here talking killing power with you for hours, but Malcolm really is anxious to meet you."

"Look, Larissa," I said, her closeness making me comfortable enough to reveal how uncertain I felt. "What is all this? Why am I here?"

She smiled gently. "Don't worry. All appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, you're in one of the last sane places on earth. And you're here because we need you." She slipped by me and into the turret, settling into the seat on the big rail gun. "Just keep going forward--you'll know the right door when you see it."

Eli Kuperman turned, his face all business. "The first of them is moving in fast, Larissa."

Larissa gripped two hand controls in front of her seat. "Better get going, Doctor," she called to me with another smile. "I'd hate to take your head off so early in our--acquaintance."

She tilted the controls to the left, and suddenly the entire floor of the turret began to rotate--in seconds it would close off the hatchway in which I was standing. I scrambled below, landing on the corridor floor with a jarring bump. Then I pushed on forward, past more wood paneling, more paintings and more doorways until I'd arrived at a portal that I took to be the one of which Larissa had spoken, being as it was more elaborate than the rest and bore a legend painted in elegant gold and black:

Mundus Vult Decipi

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