The tekker blinked its four blue eyes in succession, cocked its head and looked back through the portal for a moment, then shrugged its shoulders and nodded.
"And what it that?" Jarl asked.
"That is a tekker," Carrie said. "Don't you worry; you're safe from it."
"But what's it doing here?"
Lan said, "Probably the same thing we are' wondering what's happening and how to get back home."
"And where the hell are we?" Jarl asked. "And what is this--this thing we went through?"
"We know what it isn't," Carrie said. "It isn't current technology. This is simply incredible. I really don't think it's new."
Jarl hit the wall with his fist. "Oh, sure. This has been around all the time. It's just that no one ever told us about it."
Lan looked out at the alien planet, "keeping a secret is a lot tougher than you think. This is the kind of thing that everyone would know about if anyone knew about it a few years ago. Ellie and Wilby might have discovered this but it's been around a long, long time."
