The shuttle drew steadily closer to the Folly. Inside, the crew of ten people were mostly seated in their acceleration chairs. The pressure suits had been left near the door as they had entered, so everyone wore only their jumpsuits. Some of them were dozing, while the others talked quietly together. The pilot, Ensign Niamura, was strapped in at the helm.

"Take a look at that thing, Nation," said Riggs as he floated away from the window and extended an arm to draw Wendy nearer. She caught at the hand-hold, but Riggs failed to let go of her when he saw that she wasn't going to float away. Some of the crew members noticed and smirked at each other knowingly.

Wendy slapped at his hand and gave him a stern look, and Riggs held both hands up innocently and immediately started to float backwards. Wendy giggled and pulled him back in.

"Oh Wendy, you're my hero," he said in a nasal tone.

Wendy was fascinated by the sheer enormity of the Folly. It was bigger than the Earth by far, much closer to half the size of Jupiter. The thing had no distinguishable features other than several randomly placed windows in what must be observatories. The rest was a shiny, sheer silver that was so smooth it looked just like a ball-bearing.

Riggs scooted Wendy over so he could look again, at least in pretense. His actual intent was apparently to brush against her, since he stayed there once he had managed to do so. Wendy slapped at his hand when he tried to put his arm around her.

"Hey, don't you two know how to act like adults? You're giving me a headache," said Ensign Niamura grouchily. He rubbed the tension out of his temples and forehead. "I don't think you want me to pilot this shuttle with a headache, do you?"

"Oh, sorry Niamura," Riggs apologized contritely. "I just haven't seen her for a long time."

"There's a spare compartment in the back nobody's using," Niamura suggested.

"Yeah, right," Wendy huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and kicking away from the wall. She started to drift back towards her acceleration couch. Suddenly, the shuttle began to shake and her feet hit the floor. She was bounced right back into Riggs. He caught her and held on tight, and this time she didn't slap him for it.

"What the hell was that, Niamura?" barked Captain Edwards as he flopped his magazine against one knee and held it there so it wouldn't float away.

"I don't know, sir," he said, and checked a few gauges on his console. "It looks like the Folly is emitting some kind of force field. I'll back off a bit and attempt to override it."

"Very good," Edwards said, lifting the magazine again. "Everyone get into your seats while he backs out."

Riggs and Wendy were the only ones who weren't in their seats, and they went quickly back to them. The acceleration couches were arranged along the walls of the circular cabin, and Riggs and Wendy's couches were side by side just behind and to the right of the navigation console, which didn't make Niamura too happy as he watched them solicitously helping each other get strapped in. He rolled his eyes and turned back to his work when they were finally situated.

"Executing burn--now," said Niamura. A loud whine hurt their ears for about fifteen seconds before the shuttle was able to back away at full power.

"Sir, it looks like there's an energy field set up around the entire EVA lock area. We'll have to find the right frequency to deactivate it," Ensign Niamara reported after a few moments. "Can you remember what frequency was prevalent back then?"

"Nope, you're on your own, Ensign." Captain Edwards let his magazine go and drifted over to the console to help him try a few ideas.

"Looks like somebody went to an awful lot of trouble to keep people from going back inside these things," said Captain Edwards after the two men were huddled together for about fifteen minutes. "Corporal Savant, get on the ops console and see if you can pick up any readings of an electronical nature. If there's a force field, there has to be a computer generating the thing somewhere in there."

"Yes, sir," said Savant, making her way over to the console.

"Maybe we should just go back to the ship and forget the whole thing," said Private Post. Wendy glanced over at the young man in the centermost seat and smiled.

"Where's your sense of adventure? Don't you like to sit around listening to all the technical talk? This is the most fun we've had all journey."

"Speak for yourself," said Sergeant Banks, grinning at Ensign Segal conspiratorially. Segal, who was sitting right beside him, hit him in the head and turned beet red, and everybody laughed.

"You guys know he's making it up, right?" Segal asked, mortified, and they laughed even harder.

"The computers appear to be fully operational, sir," Savant reported. "I just can't seem to convince the things to give me any data. Looks like somebody put one hell of a lock on them, too."

"Great," said Riggs. "We're walkin' right into some kind of trap. As soon as we go in there, assuming we ever do, we're all gonna die in painful agony. Wendy, looks like you'll be needin' my lovin' arms soon."

"In your dreams, fly boy," Wendy snapped.

"Every night, you redheaded little wet spot, you," he cooed.

"Ugh! Riggs!" she gasped. "Don't be disgusting."

"Captain, I think I've found it," said Niamara excitedly. "Set frequency one four seven on your end, and let's see if this baby opens its doors."

"Okay, people, let's hope this works," said the Captain as he dialed in the setting.

"Why is everyone so tense?" Wendy asked Riggs.

"If he does it wrong, we might activate a defense mechanism and get blown up," Riggs said. "If that doesn't happen, he could also have the exact opposite frequency of the one he needs, and using it would give us a big push in the wrong direction and we might not be able to execute a big enough burn to get back to the Reliant. In effect, we would be stuck out here until somebody on the mother ship bothered to rescue us."

"Oh, thanks for enlightening me, I feel much better knowing that," Wendy muttered glumly. Her stomach began to tense up, and she wondered for a moment if she was actually going to be sick. She readjusted the strap holding her in her acceleration couch just in case--in case of what, she didn't know, since if they blew up it wouldn't do her much good.

A yellow sensor light suddenly began to flash on Niamura's display, and Wendy grabbed Riggs's hand and shut her eyes tight. "Tell me when it's over," she whispered.

Riggs laughed and squeezed her hand. "It already is, honey. That light was the all clear."

Wendy opened her eyes and drew her hand away. "I knew that, I was just testing you," she lied, trying not to blush.

"Sir, the shield is down. We can approach for docking now." Niamura wiped sweat from his brow.

"Go right ahead, Ensign," Captain Edwards said. "Let's just hope that was the extent of our problems on this little expedition."

Ensign Niamara brought the shuttle in so smoothly that the crew barely felt the catches, and it was almost startling to hear the locks swing home and seal the shuttle to the EVA lock. "Preparing airlock for entry," Niamara said efficiently as he flipped a few more switches. "I suggest you all get ready to debark."

"Thank you, Ensign Niamara," said Edwards. "We'll be seeing you soon."

"Yes, sir," he said with a slight smile.

"And Niamura," he added. "See if you can work on your people skills while we're gone."

"Yes sir," he said, the smile more wry now. Captain Edwards always teased him about being too businesslike, and sometimes he did it on purpose just to see what his superior would say next.

"You ready, Nation?" Riggs asked Wendy, and pulled her up out of her couch with a gentle tug that sent them both floating toward the door. Riggs bounced off the lock when they got there, first in line. The Captain nodded when he pointed at it, and then Riggs activated the mechanism with the proper number sequence, and the red warning lights began to flash.