The Gates of Winter - Mark Anthony [74]
Jay let out a crowing laugh. “See, Travis? I told you old Sparky was a nut.”
“What are the aliens talking about now?” Marty said, his brown eyes serious.
Sparkman bent his head over the receiver, listening. “I'm not certain. This seems to be some sort of encoded data transmission.”
Travis's mouth had gone dry. He knelt beside the wheelchair. “If they communicate in code, how do you know they're the ones who are abducting people in Denver?”
“This receiver is rather low power,” Sparkman said. “It's range is quite limited, so I know the aliens can't be more than a few miles away. What's more, I've been able to understand some of what they say. They must have collaborators here, because often they speak in English, though even then they use code words in their alien tongue. Still, I've heard enough to be certain the aliens are the ones behind the abductions.”
Travis wanted to tell Jay and Marty it was time to go, but before he could speak muffled voices emanated from the receiver.
Sparkman's eyes lit up. “Here we go! Listen.”
He turned a knob, and the words grew clearer. “—and have been ordered back to base. Report there as soon as you can. I believe we're to receive new—” The man's voice was lost in another crackle of interference.
“There,” Sparkman looked up, smiling. “Did you hear that?”
Jay rolled his eyes. “Hear what? Half of that was gibberish. Did you understand it, Marty?”
The tall man shook his head. “Only a little. They used words I've never heard before.”
“That's their alien language,” Sparkman said, nodding.
Travis stared at the receiver. If half of that had been spoken in an alien tongue, why had all of it made sense to him? He dug into his pocket, pulled out the silver half-coin, and set it on the ground.
Jay frowned at him. “What are you doing, Mr. Wizard?”
“Turn it up,” Travis said.
Sparkman fiddled with the knobs. Again static phased into words, only this time Travis didn't understand all of them.
“—and heading to the taldaka location now.”
Another voice, a woman's, replied. “Any indication that the senlath has—?”
The words were lost in a low hiss. However, it had been enough. Travis picked up the half-coin and slipped it into his pocket as he stood. He hadn't understood the non-English words; he hadn't made an effort to learn the language, unlike Grace. Yet even without the magic of the half-coin, they had sounded familiar—familiar enough to know they were Eldhish. But who would use Eldhish words on Earth?
You heard Sparkman. They're using the words for a code. And what better code than a language from another world? No one would ever be able to decipher it.
Only Travis was certain the voices didn't belong to aliens. They belonged to people from Earth. They had sent operatives to the Dominions; surely they had learned much about the culture and language there.
It's Duratek, Travis. They're the ones Sparkman has been hearing. They're the ones who are abducting people.
But that didn't make any sense. What would a multinational corporation need with a bunch of homeless people? Besides, no matter how smart he was, Sparkman was surely crazy. Travis tried to think, but before he could Marty spoke.
“We should go to the shelter,” the tall man said. “If we don't go now, they'll run out of breakfast.”
Jay pawed at the sleeve of his jacket to bare a Timex watch, its face barely visible beneath the fogged crystal. “Damn, we've got to go. Come on, Travis.”
The idea of food made Travis's stomach churn, but he didn't have the energy to resist as Jay tugged at his sleeve. “What about you, Professor Sparkman?” he said.
Sparkman reached into his pocket and pulled out a bagel. “I'm all set. And look.” He stuck a finger though the hole. “It's just like the missing