In short order, I was loaded up with a carafe, mugs, a pitcher of cream, and some lemon cake. I headed back to the barn, carefully balancing the tray to avoid any spillage.

I set the tray on the workbench and placed the communicator beside it. Nat immediately stuck a piece of lemon cake in her mouth and began preparing a coffee while still chewing.

“Here, Nat, have some cake. How about coffee?” I said sarcastically, and received a middle finger in reply.

But the food and coffee helped to relax me, and seemed to be doing something similar for Natalie. I wasn’t quite sure how the simultaneous application of sugar and caffeine could do that, but I was willing to write it off as one of life’s great mysteries.

Nat finally said, around her second piece of lemon cake, “There’s no point in walking around the industrial park on the weekend, and we might stand out anyway. What about checking out the field?”

“I dunno, Nat. It’s in the middle of nowhere. The only thing anywhere near it is the industrial park, so it’d be pretty obvious that you were going to the field. Not suspicious in the least.”

“What’re they going to do, shoot us?”

“Maybe. But even if they don’t, they’ll know someone is snooping around.”

“Hmph.” Nat sulked for a moment, then brightened up. “What about going invisible?”

“Uh, Sheldon wasn’t sure how well that would work for us.”

“Yeah, well, let’s test it. Sheldon, you said it wouldn’t be dangerous, right?”

“That is correct. And if the effect is less than total, I might be able to adjust the device.”

“Cool.” Without waiting for a vote, Nat jumped up and grabbed the belt off the bench and wrapped it around her waist. However, Gen were not just taller; they were also somewhat broader than your average human, and Nat was what most people would describe as petite.

“Aw, crud,” she said. “Here’s an adjustment … ” She played with the belt for several minutes, but it couldn’t be made small enough to stay on. It fell around her feet with a thump several times before she gave up.

“Fine.” She flicked the belt toward me with a toe. “Your turn.”

I put the belt around my waist. At the tightest adjustment, it was still loose, but at least it wouldn’t fall right off me. “Sheldon, how do I turn this on?”

“The button on the left activates or deactivates the device.”

“What does the one on the right do?”

“It is a force-shield of sorts. It will protect you from minor levels of harm.”

“What? Why wasn’t Alaric using it? It might have saved his life.”