by Ben Bova
“So naturally you studied it.”
“Naturally.”
“Yet you never developed space flight? No satellites, no astronauts?”
Aditi seemed to think about his question for a few heartbeats. Then, “There are no other planets in our system. And the other stars are so far away.”
“So you were born here, on this planet?”
“I’ve lived here all my life,” she replied, looking directly into his eyes. “I’ve never been anywhere else.”
Jordan realized her eyes were very beautiful, a soft delightful brown.
“And Adri and all the others,” Jordan heard himself asking, almost like a prosecutor questioning a witness, “they were born here too? They didn’t come from another planet, another star system?”
She shook her head. “No. How could they?”
“I … I was just curious,” he stammered.
She glanced up at the sky and Jordan looked up too. The clouds over the mountains were thickening.
“We’d better go back,” Aditi said. “It looks like it’s going to rain.”
Jordan took her arm and pulled her to him and kissed her. Aditi looked surprised, startled even, her eyes wide and searching.
Then fat drops of rain began to spatter around them and, laughing like children, hand in hand, they ran back toward the shelter of the city’s energy dome.
GUILT AND FEAR
Jordan spent the next two days almost constantly with Aditi. For the first time that he could remember, he put aside his duties and left it to Brandon to deal with the people on the ship while he spent every waking moment with the woman he found to be so delightful, so fascinating.
Fully human, he found himself thinking. I wonder how fully human she really is.
And Aditi seemed to enjoy his company. She showed him every corner of the city, and they took long walks out into the countryside.
He found himself unburdening his soul about Miriam.
“It was all my fault,” he confessed one afternoon, as they sat on the grass beneath a spreading shade tree. “I was burning to stop the fighting in Kashmir.”
“You wanted to prevent more people being killed in the war,” Aditi said, very seriously. “Your motives were noble.”
“My motives were very noble,” Jordan answered bitterly. “I saw visions of the Nobel Peace Prize before my eyes.”
“That wasn’t your real motivation,” she said.
“Wasn’t it?” Jordan shook his head at the memories. “Whatever, I dragged Miriam into that hellhole with me, and it killed her.”
“The monsters who used biological weapons killed her. Not you.”
Leaning his head against the rough bark of the tree, Jordan said, “Yes, perhaps so. But I brought her there. I knew it would be dangerous, but I brought her there anyway. I should have protected her, cared for her. Instead…”
He saw that she was waiting for more, her gentle brown eyes focused on him, patiently waiting for him to finish the story.
“I loved her so much,” Jordan choked out. “And she loved me. That was the wonder of it. She loved me. Loved me so much she let me lead her to her death.”
Aditi leaned toward him and patted his tear-streaked cheek.
“The pain,” he moaned. “Those last days … so terrible. I was so helpless … there was nothing I could do.”
“Jordan,” she whispered, her lips close enough to brush his cheek, “you are a good man. A very lovable man. Please don’t be sad. Don’t dwell on the past. Think of the future. Think of what you can accomplish.”
He took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded once again. “We can’t undo the past. But does it ever let go of you?”
“In time it will. In time.”
Jordan’s pocketphone chirped. He flinched at the interruption, thinking that he’d ignore it. Whatever it is, it can wait, he told himself.
Yet he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled the damned phone out and flipped it open.
Brandon’s face appeared on the little screen.
“Time to get back to work, Jordy,” his brother said, a crooked grin on his handsome face. “Hazzard’s bringing the first group down in an hour.”
Time to get back to work, Jordan repeated silently. He looked up at Aditi, who held her hand out to him. Together, they got to their feet and headed back to the city.
* * *
Jordan, Brandon, and Adri walked through the cool forest to the glade where Thornberry would set up the expedition’s prime base. To his surprise, Jordan saw that both rocketplanes that had landed there days earlier were gone.
“Hazzard flew them back to the ship,” Brandon explained before Jordan could ask. “Remotely, from the ship. Meek and de Falla rode one of them.”
Brandon’s phone chirped. As he flicked it open, Jordan looked over his brother’s shoulder and saw Thornberry’s heavy-browed face.
“We’re on our way down to you,” said the roboticist, grinning happily. “Hazzard’s flying the bird in person, he is.”
“Great,” said Brandon. “Jordy and I are here at the glade, waiting for you.”
“Be with you shortly,” Thornberry said. Then the phone’s little screen broke into hissing static and went blank.
“Plasma blackout,” Brandon muttered.
Adri, standing on Jordan’s other side, said, “I would like to invite your friends to stay in our city. We have adequate facilities to take care of them all.”
Jordan smiled doubtfully. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate the offer—and reject it.”
“I don’t see why,” Adri said.
“A variety of reasons,” said Jordan. “Adherence to the mission protocol, for one. Our mission plan made no provisions for finding a friendly native city on New Earth.”
“But surely now that you know we are here, your plan can be altered, adapted.”
Jordan shook his head. “Perhaps later, when the others get to know you better, get accustomed to you.”
“Ahh,” Adri said, understanding dawning on his face. “Fear. That is the greatest reason of them all, isn’t it?”
“I’m afraid it motivates almost everything we do,” Jordan admitted. “Almost everything.”
CAMPING OUT
A double clap of deep thunder pealed across the grassy glade.
“They’ve gone subsonic,” said Brandon.
“There they are!” Adri pointed a long arm. At first Jordan saw nothing, then the swept-wing shape of the rocketplane came into his focus, trailing clean white contrails from its wingtips.
His eyesight must be considerably better than mine, Jordan thought.
“What a beautiful machine,” said Adri, in an awed near-whisper.
Jordan tried to see the rocketplane through the alien’s eyes. Yes, it is beautiful, he realized. Graceful as a swan, purposeful as an eagle.
The plane made a wide sweeping turn as it swooped lower, put down its landing gear, then came in over the trees at the far end of the glade and touched down smoothly on the grass. Jordan watched it roll across the glade, bumping gently on the slightly uneven ground, and finally come to a halt less than a hundred meters from where they stood.
Brandon started running toward the rocketplane, but Jordan called to him, “No rush, Bran. Hazzard will wait till she cools down before popping the hatch.” Turning to Adri, he explained, “The plane will still be hot from its entry into the atmosphere.”
Adri nodded. “The air friction generates considerable heat, I suppose.”
Nodding back at him, Jordan thought, He understands physics. Or at least, aerodynamics.
He saw that Brandon was talking into his pocketphone.
“… outside, waiting for you to pop the hatch and come out,” Brandon was saying. Jordan thought his brother sounded impatient. As usual.
“Give us ten minutes.” Hazzard’s voice.
Brandon turned to Jordan and Adri, a big smile lighting his face. “Elyse is on board. She’s here.”
Jordan suppr
essed a chuckle. Bran wears his heart on his sleeve, he said to himself. Then he thought, Well, what have you been doing the past two days, old boy?
The hatch opened at last and the ship’s ladder extended to the grassy ground. Hazzard was the first one to appear in the hatchway. He hesitated a moment, looked around, then clambered down the ladder in an easy, long-legged jog.
Thornberry came next, then Meek, Longyear, and at last Elyse Rudaki. Brandon rushed to her, as Silvio de Falla and Thornberry’s assistant, Tanya Verishkova, followed down the ladder. Nara Yamaguchi, the last of them, blinked at the lip of the hatch, raised a hand to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight, then started down the ladder.
Thornberry eyed Jordan’s gown with an impish grin. “So you’ve gone native, have you?”
“It’s actually quite comfortable,” Jordan said.
Once all seven of them were standing beside the ship, Adri said in a surprisingly powerful voice, “Welcome to New Earth.”
Meek took one step forward and replied, “Thank you.” Turning slightly to the others, he said, “This is Adri, the, eh…” His face contorted into a puzzled frown. “Eh, just what is your title, sir?”
Adri smiled placatingly and said, “We don’t put much store in titles, I’m afraid. Just call me Adri.”
“But what do you do?” Meek insisted. “What is your job here, your position?”
Spreading his hands slightly, Adri replied, “My task at the moment is to welcome you to this world, and to offer you accommodations in our city.”
“Oh no!” Meek snapped. “No, no, I’m afraid we can’t accept such an invitation. We’re here to build our base of operations right here, at this location.”
Jordan stepped in. “It’s close enough to the city for easy visits back and forth.”
“I see,” said Adri. “I understand.”
“We appreciate your offer of hospitality,” Jordan went on. “In fact, I would like to remain in your city for at least a little longer.”
Brandon smirked at his brother. “Now why am I not surprised at that?” he murmured.
Hazzard strode up. “The second rocketplane’s due in a few minutes. I’ll control it remotely from the bird we came in on.” And he turned and trotted back toward the plane he had piloted.
BASE CAMP
Thornberry stood in the late-afternoon sunshine, his beefy arms folded across his chest, a satisfied smile on his face. Four large hemispherical shelters stood on the grassy glade, eggshell white, interconnected by metal mesh walkways laid across the grass. A half-dozen humanform robots had erected the bubble tents, and were now busily transferring equipment and supplies from the rocketplanes to the bubble tents’ interiors.
Jordan and Adri stood with Thornberry while most of the other humans carried their personal effects into the shelters. They look like a column of worker ants, Jordan thought, intently busy. He noticed that Brandon and Elyse Rudaki walked together, their arms loaded with packages.
At least Bran will have some clean clothes, Jordan thought. He won’t have to wash his underwear and socks in the bathroom sink anymore.
“We’ll be able to live and work here indefinitely,” Thornberry was telling Adri, “with resupplies from the ship, up in orbit.”
“Your ship produces food for you?” Adri asked.
Nodding vigorously, Thornberry said, “Fruits and vegetables from hydroponics tanks, meatstuffs cultured from the biovats.”
“We have extensive farms,” said the alien. “Perhaps we could provide you with a wider variety of vegetable products, if you like. Meat, as well.”
Thornberry glanced toward Meek, who was leading a robot laden with a heavy crate of equipment. “Perhaps later on,” he said. “For now, our mission plan calls for us to stay independent of indigenous potential foodstuffs.”
“I see. Of course.”
“And we’ll be making virtually zero impact on the local environment,” Thornberry added, with some pride in his voice. “All our systems are closed-loop. We recycle practically everything.”
Jordan watched Adri’s spiderwebbed face, wondering if Thornberry’s virtual and practically registered with him.
Meek came gangling up to them. “Well, we’re almost finished. Our prime base is just about ready for occupation.”
“May I invite all of you to dinner?” Adri asked. “A welcoming celebration.”
Meek frowned mistrustfully. “I believe it would be better if we stayed in our own base, for now. Much better.”
“You are suspicious of us, Dr. Meek.”
“Yes, quite frankly I am,” Meek replied. “I have no intention of hurting your feelings, sir, but I feel very strongly that we should follow our original mission protocol and begin to live as independently on this planet as we can.”
Very seriously, Adri asked, “Do you intend to post guards while you sleep?”
Meek blinked at him. “The robots can fill that function, I suppose.” He looked to Thornberry for confirmation.
“Oh, they make wonderful guards, they do,” said the roboticist. “They never sleep, they’re always on alert.”
“Yet they can be deactivated,” Adri said, with just a hint of mischief in his almond eyes.
Meek gaped at him.
Thornberry said, “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that, Adri. How did you shut down me two rovers, back when they first landed here?”
With a wintry smile, Adri said, “I’m afraid I’m not an engineer, as you are, sir. You’ll have to speak with some of our technical specialists about that.”
Thornberry looked decidedly unsatisfied.
Paul Longyear strode up to them. “We’re finished unloading,” the biologist reported. “The base is ready for business.”
“Good,” said Meek.
Jordan raised his voice to tell them, “I’m very proud of you, all of you. You’ve established the first human outpost beyond our own solar system.”
“Well, that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?” said Meek.
Glancing at the westering suns, Adri said, “I’m afraid I must leave you now. I am truly glad that you’ve come here and I hope that you are comfortable in your independent base. Again, welcome to New Earth.”
Jordan said, “I’ll spend the night here with my companions, Adri.”
“Understandable,” the alien replied. “I’ll tell Aditi.”
Jordan felt his cheeks redden. “Yes. Thank you. Please tell her I’ll see her tomorrow.”
“I will,” said Adri. Then he turned and began walking toward the trees and the path back to the city. Jordan saw him pull his pet from his robe and fondle it as he walked.
“Strange fellow,” Thornberry murmured.
“What do you expect?” said Meek. “He’s an alien.”
Longyear watched Adri’s retreating back for long moments, then finally said, “He doesn’t seem worried about our coming here to his world.”
“Should he be?” Jordan asked.
With his dark eyes fixed on Adri’s departing figure, Longyear said, “I don’t know. If an alien starship took up orbit around Earth and a team of aliens came down and started to build a camp, wouldn’t we be worried about them? Suspicious of their motives?”
“For heaven’s sake, they know our motives,” Meek snapped. “They’ve been listening to our radio and television broadcasts for years.”
“Centuries,” Jordan corrected.
“I don’t know,” Longyear said slowly. “He just seems so … so cool about it all. Gives me the creeps.”
“That’s your Native American heritage talking,” said Thornberry. “Adri’s people have never been invaded and conquered by strangers.”
“How do you know?” Longyear wondered.
Jordan said, “I don’t think it’s got anything to do with history or heritages.”
“You don’t?” Meek challenged. “Then what?”
“I think that Adri’s people have a technology that’s superior to ours. Much superior. They have no
reason to be afraid of us because they know that we can’t hurt them.”
Thornberry rubbed his jaw. “Maybe we should be afraid of them.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
The interiors of the plastic bubble tents were divided by two-meter-high partitions into cubicles that served as quarters for individuals, and wider areas for workshops and laboratories. The largest open area was for dining, and all nine of the landing team assembled there at the end of the day.
Jordan looked down the table at the eight of them. Hazzard had returned to Gaia. He, Trish Wanamaker, and Demetrios Zadar, the team’s astronomer, planned to remain aboard the ship.
The dining area felt strangely cold to Jordan. It smelled new, unused. The dome of the bubble tent curved high above, lost in shadows. The tall partitions were bare, undecorated. Well, that will change over time, he told himself. This is our first night; after we’ve been here a while this place will start to feel more lived-in. More like home.
Two robots stood passively against the far partition of the dining area, awaiting the order to begin serving the meal. The nine people around the table were quiet, talking to each other in hushed whispers. They looked pensive, Jordan thought, uncertain, almost frightened.
He got to his feet and raised his glass of carbonated water. “Here’s to our first night on New Earth. The first of many. We have a grand adventure ahead of us.”
All the others raised their glasses, but without any real fervor.
“You may begin serving,” Jordan said to the robots as he sat down. Both machines turned and went through the open doorway to the kitchen.
Brandon, on Jordan’s right, asked, “Is that how you think of our mission: a grand adventure?”
“Why, don’t you? We’re on a new world, we’ve encountered intelligent humanlike people and their civilization. Just think of what’s ahead for us!”
“That’s what I wonder about,” said Meek, sitting a few chairs farther down the table.
“This Adri is a pretty slick fellow,” Thornberry said. “He answers our questions, but the answers don’t seem to tell us anything.”
“Do you trust him?” asked Elyse, who was sitting beside Brandon.