I felt a moment of satisfaction. Up until now we’d been assuming this was a communicator. Confirmed now.

“First, a question,” I said. “Generally, the V-like symbol means on and the I-like symbol means off?”

“Correct. Or open and close, or activate and deactivate. I assume you are referring to the communicator in this case.”

“Yup. Listen, can you make yourself visible for a second?”

“Is that wise?”

“Doors are closed, parents aren’t anywhere around, and it’s just us here. I want to see you.”

“Very well.” The Halo blinked into view.

I had just enough time to gather an impression of a flattened sphere, or fat disk, when the ship disappeared. “Sheldon, what the hell?”

“Did I misunderstand the meaning of the word second?”

“Jesus,” Nat commented. “It’s like talking to a malicious genie.”

I smiled at her, then spoke into the communicator. “Sheldon, please make yourself visible until I tell you otherwise.”

There was no response, but the Halo again blinked into view. It wasn’t really a saucer shape. More of a very flat, oblate spheroid. No edges, in fact no distinctive features at all, except the landing struts. And with those retracted, it would be featureless—at least topologically. The Gen seemed to have a strong artistic sense when it came to color and texture. The ship was a deep, rich emerald green, shading toward blue at the top and bottom. The effect was striking, and an obvious retaliation against an otherwise utilitarian design.

It was also far too small to hold the spaces we’d seen inside. Even ignoring the two floors we hadn’t visited, there simply wasn’t enough height. Or enough diameter for the second floor.

On a whim, I said, “Sheldon, open two airlocks at opposite ends. Any two. And disable the airlock interlock if you can.”

Two sets of stairs lowered themselves. Nat and Patrick looked puzzled, obviously wondering what I was up to. Smiling, but without explaining myself, I marched up the closest stairway. Carefully counting my steps, I made my way through the ship, around the central cylinder and out the other side.

In moments, I was on the ground, looking across the barn at my friends. As I approached them, I called out, “Almost four times as many steps inside as outside. The ship really is bigger on the inside. That is just so cool!” I spoke into the communicator. “Close it up, Sheldon.”

We stood back and devoured the ship with our eyes for several minutes. “Leaving aside the cool factor,” Nat said, “it is beautiful.”

“The Gen have a good artistic sense,” I said. “Or they’re decadent. Remember the David Lynch version of Dune? Everything all baroque and intricately over-decorated?”

“Ostentation for its own sake?” Nat replied. “Possible, but it doesn’t feel overdone. More like they had the budget to put in some flair.”