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“They probably don’t know we’re here.”
Ben glared at Jane. “Of course they do. God, woman, it’s obvious.”
“Of course I meant that there are people inside the ship. People like them. Use your brains, Ben.”
The tension between Ben and Jane had been escalating for weeks. Harry said nothing. Jane, elected leader of community two, generally was a peacemaker, but not where Ben was concerned.
Getting under each other’s hides. Wonder what that’s all about?
He knew what it was about. For any number of practical reasons, he’d been celibate himself since they left Terra, and due to circumstance, for some time before that. Ben and Jane, along with their medic the only singles among his senior crew, weren’t any more immune than he was. It did make these early morning meetings interesting.
Almost over.
“Willie, any negative indications?”
Wilhelmina Schott, their team lead for science and exploration, shook her head. Harry privately speculated that if there were any negatives regarding their landing place, Willie would single-handedly storm out there and remove them. A large, powerful woman with a personality to match, she was also inclined to be taciturn. Harry was grateful. The potential devastation that Willie on a verbal rampage could leave in her tracks wasn’t something he wanted to contemplate.
“Nope. Everything looks good. Hard to imagine a better environment, in fact.”
“Georges, anything new from the locals?”
Georges Toit, head of security, shook his head. “They watch from the edge of the forest, but there’s been no move to come closer other than to tend their crops. No weapons beyond what we’ve already seen. Changing personnel, with no particular pattern. At first I thought it was different watches, but now I believe they just drift over to stare at us when they aren’t doing anything else. Kids, even.”
“No obvious leader?”
“There’s one woman wearing a green sash over her gunny sack, but she doesn’t seem to command any authority.”
“All right,” Harry said. “Sounds like we’re good to go. Deployment team?”
Elspeth spoke up. “After we’ve made first contact, we’ll have more freedom to explore. If they’re friendly, great, and if they’re not, we make it clear who’s running the show. As planned, we’ll take a small party, including at least one or two senior crew, preferably in uniform. Well armed, and with emergency ingress protocols in place. Ship on full alert. Here’s the final roster.” She brought up a file which displayed on the large wall screens as well as their individual tablets.
Harry’s brows rose. “You don’t want me to go?”
“Sorry, Harry. They should see me as the leader, right from the outset. And we need one of us on the ship, just in case.”
In case it goes belly-up. Harry got that.
“Anything else, folks? Equipment lists ready? Survival packs? Are you taking breathing filters, Elspeth?”
“Not necessary. We’ve sampled the atmosphere every which way. It’s clean.”
“What’s your ETD?”
Elspeth grinned. “The kids usually turn up late afternoon.”
“Safest? Friendliest?”
“Least likely to attack. So, today, sixteen hundred hours.”
“Taking any of our kids with you?”
“Are you joking? I’m prepared to be friendly, but not that friendly.”
Yes, he’d been joking. The sixty or so children on board were their shared inheritance, all the adults contributing to their raising.
“Assemble your team here half an hour before. May as well do the pep talk.”
“Not to mention reconfirming everything we’ve been drilling into them for a week. The last thing I want to deal with is some overexcited idiot firing on these people.”
“Everyone, be here,” Harry said to the table. “We’ll do a grand send-off.”
“And a run-through of the hand signs.”
The signs had been developed back on Terra, as being the most likely way to communicate with a culture that didn’t speak any of the handful of standard Terran languages.
With a round of assents, the meeting disbanded.
The big day. The fate of their embryonic settlement on the line.
And then he could turn over the reins and settle into a deserved retirement.
Harry left the room with fingers crossed that the afternoon would go well.
~~
HARRY WATCHED ON THE screen as Elspeth led her small band out of the ship, the first time any of them had experienced land in two years. The hatch was a full story and a half from the ground; she moved slowly down the fold-out stairs, clutching the handrail. They had opened the air vents to the outside, so they’d been living in the planet’s atmosphere since lunch, but still, it had to be an emotional moment.
The next five minutes would determine their fate, Harry reckoned.
The usual small band of natives waited and watched from the edge of the forest, perhaps four soccer fields’ distance away. They had changed their stance, sending the children into the woods, nocking arrows into the bows.
Elspeth ignored the implied threat. She stepped down and after moving aside to make way for the next person, she knelt, her head bowed, caressing the rough grass and dirt. Symbolic or part of the show? Harry suspected he’d be tempted to do the same.
Then she straightened and stood, and began a slow walk toward the settlers, her hands slightly out from her sides, visible and empty. The rest of their party stayed back, a few meters from the ship. Among them, Harry detected more delight at being on solid ground than trepidation at first contact with the settlers. They looked around, stretched, talked among themselves. Elspeth had chosen them for their cool, non-impulsive natures. He was fully aware that they were armed; no point in being stupid. But with any luck, no one would be firing anytime soon.
There was discussion among the natives. Several of them left, plunging back into the trees. After a minute or two, a man and woman, both clutching staffs, began to walk toward Elspeth. Behind them several bowmen watched every move.
They met roughly half way. Elspeth smiled. She had clipped a microphone to the jacket of her uniform; Harry heard her say, her voice artificially calm, “Hello.” She held out both hands low in front of her, palms exposed, the agreed-to sign expressing non-aggression.
Would they recognize the greeting as peaceful? Would they respond in kind?
The man stepped forward and said, “Welcome to the Midland.” He extended a hand.
In the control room, Harry straightened. Elspeth said nothing and glanced back at the ship, her mouth slightly open. The words were familiar, but the accent was strange, with echoes of old French from the times before Eurocorp standardized their language. Of all the possible outcomes, they’d never remotely considered the idea that these people would speak a Terran dialect.
Elspeth returned her attention to the man and reached out to accept his hand. He gave her a firm shake, then stepped back. “You speak...” She had been caught flat-footed. Come on, girl, Harry coached silently from the command controls. Use your words.
He’d been hanging out with the kids too much, obviously.
The couple from the inhabitants’ group smiled, as if they were in on a good joke. “We speak as we’ve always spoken,” the woman said. “A Weaver brought word from the east about a pod of visitors from the sky – I suppose that’s what you call that thing, a pod? Are you hungry? We’ve sent for food.”
Others? Pod? Had the exploration pod reached this planet after all? Harry found himself leaning forward, clinging to every word.
“No, I don’t think we’re...” Elspeth’s voice wobbled; she cleared her throat and spoke more firmly. “We have food, but thank you for the offer. How is this possible?” She once again glanced back at the ship. “We didn’t expect anyone to be here. And we certainly didn’t expect to understand you.”
Ask about the pod, Elspeth.
More natives joined the group at the edge of the forest. “We’re back,” someone shouted. “We brought Gwen.”
“I’m Maddie, and this is Jurgen. We’ve been chosen to meet you.” This time the woman stepped forward, offering her hand. Elspeth accepted it.
“Thank you.” She was regaining her poise. “I am Elspeth Gandsdottir, Major in the Eurocorp Expeditionary Force and the leader of our settlement team. This is a ship, not a pod.”
“That name’s a mouthful,” Jurgen said. “What do they call you when you’re home?”
Elspeth managed a grin, perhaps realizing at the same time Harry did how ridiculous their Terran ranks and titles sounded here. The two natives returned the smile, and the woman turned to gesture to the bowmen. “Elspeth’s fine.”
Across the field, the bows were lowered but not released.
“Afore we make you welcome, we need to be sure of your intent. You’ll not do harm to our village.” Jurgen spoke calmly, but it was clear he meant every word.
Maddie chimed in. “The Weavers would help us if need be, should you prove to be a threat.”
Who the hell were the Weavers? The men from the exploration pod?
Elspeth spoke calmly and with assurance. Years of anthropological practice stood her in good stead, Harry thought. The coup of a lifetime. Too bad there was no way to write it up in a scientific journal. “We need a place to live. To build a settlement, plant a crop if it isn’t already too late this year. We have children aboard who deserve a stable home. Our intentions are peaceful, and we would welcome your help. This is new to us, but we’re grateful to feel land underfoot. We’ve been on the ship for almost two years now.”
Elspeth took a deep breath. Harry was pretty sure it wasn’t calculated, unlike the rest of her speech. It was more a simple reaction to breathing pure air, with feet planted on the ground.
Maddie and Jurgen glanced at each other. Maddie turned and trotted back to the group. Jurgen gestured off to the south, beyond the ship. “Best place for another town’s half a day’s walk that away. Near the river, so’s you’ll have water. Good location for a mill.”
“We’ll go have a look. Could you spare someone to be a guide?”
Jurgen chuckled but shook his head. “Oh, no, not yet. We aren’t that confident of your intent, though you seem nice enough. But you walk south, you can’t miss it.”
“Half a day, you say? We’d want to move the ship there. It would be noisy, and dangerous if any of your people were close by.”
Jurgen shrugged. “As soon not have it in our lower pasture.”
Maddie returned, carrying a bag made from the same material as the loose-fitting garments they wore. “We don’t know you yet, and we’re suspicious, see? But in general, when a newcomer turns up, we offer ’em food and drink. This here’s fresh bread and some of the new abricoes. How many be you?” She held out the bag.
Elspeth accepted it “Four hundred thirty-three.”
The number shocked her interrogators; their faces froze, and they both took an involuntary step back. “That’s more than...”
“More than in the whole of the plains, I’d say.” Maddie finished Jurgen’s thought. “How we’ll ever—”
She broke off, wheeled, and made for the gathering on the edge of the forest.
Jurgen nodded to Elspeth and followed.
Elspeth waited until they had rejoined their group before she gave them a wave. The entire party of natives waved back. Then she turned and crossed the field to the ship. As they re-boarded, she asked, “Anthony, you pick up anything?”
“No, ma’am. Not a thing.” A specialist in psychological profiling, Anthony had been tasked with monitoring the inhabitants’ speech and body language. “I doubt they’re that good actors.”
“So your threat assessment is—”
“Low. They’re skeptical, that’s to be expected. But they aren’t out to kill us. They just don’t want us to kill them.”
“Nevertheless, we’ll run this food through the lab before we touch it.”