the baby. In such little matters, Zainal always considered her and Zane.
Scott, Beggs, Fetterman, Yowell and Coo were in the office and Scott waved
Zainal over urgently.
"A full orbit already, and it's not large. Not small enough to be a
programmed orb, but moving too fast for us to get an accurate picture of its
dimensions or shape." 'That,' and Coo pointed to the trail left by the
orbital, 'is not heard. Something landed." He spoke with more force than a
Deski usually did. He'd probably been repeating it to Scott.
Now Coo stabbed his spidery finger at the Farmers' Command Post, the one which
Kris, Zainal and the others had investigated well over a Botanical year ago:
where Dick Aarens had deliberately activated a homing device.
"Then what . . ." and Scott irritably followed the course of the orbital
with one finger. Just then its track shifted to a north/south orientation.
Even as they watched, it completed several whip-rounds the large globe of
Botany. '. . . What is that?" 'We will know . .
." Zainal paused, eyes watching the progress of the orbital on the screen '.
. . about now."
They felt the tingling zap of a scan and he chuckled.
"Oh migod,' said Fetterman, sitting down as if his legs had given out.
Kris had felt it course through her and Zane squirmed slightly against her in
his sling. She stroked his cheek, wondering if the scan could have been too
much for so small a body, and then felt Zainal's reassuring touch to her back.
"I will volunteer to go,' Zainal said.
Kris barely prevented herself from saying, 'Oh, no, you won't,' before
Scott lifted both hands in a refusal, his eyes not moving from the screen.
The comunit bleeped and he toggled it open.
"We were just scanned?" It was Beverly's voice.
"Coo says they landed at the Command Post."
"Nothing's showing up there,' said Beverly.
Coo nodded emphatically, reaffirming his report.
"Fek agrees,' Beverly went on. 'Haven't we established they use matter
transmission?"
"Oh, oh,' Yowell said, and he stumbled backwards to collapse on the nearest
stool, his face a study of conflicting emotions: hope, fear, anxiety and
confusion.
Coo's head turned towards the office door and he rose to his feet, lifting one
arm to point straight ahead.
"They're here?" Scott asked.
Kris gulped, her arms automatically tightening on Zane. But, as soon as
Zainal moved she was right behind him, ahead of the others who had hesitated
just that split-second longer before acting. If their destiny was coming to
them, she wanted to see it.
As they left the office, she glanced over at the KDL and saw Fek's
Page 119
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
unmistakable shape in the hatch, then Balenquah's stocky frame silhouetted
briefly in the hatch light, followed by Worrell's slightly stooped figure, the
tall erect one that was probably Rastancil, the slight frame of a woman whom
she didn't recognize, and Slav. From Baby came Mitford, Easley, Yuri and
Judge Iri.
They converged, forming a semi-circle facing outwards.
What happened before their eyes did not resemble anything from a Star
Trek programme. No coloured lights, beams or columns; nor any other special
effect Kris remembered from just about all the science fiction films and
videos she'd seen. And yet it was. Something was out there, forming a solid
mass which moved towards them, a nimbus around a darker interior. Something
which even by the dawn light looked larger than the tallest of the waiting
humans.
Then it wasn't taller and seemed to spread out, and she recognized the
distinctive spider-legged form of a Deski. Beside her, Coo gurgled once and
stiffened. With her free hand, Kris reached for Coo's long fingers and
gripped them; she had Zane's face shielded with the other. Zainal had shifted
his body so that he overlapped her in partial protection.
But most of the forms that coalesced out of the mist - only it wasn't mist -
were human in appearance as the details of face and appendages became obvious.
"They're shape-changers,' she whispered. 'They're changing nto us?"
Coo sucked breath in, a slow sound - terror? Apprehension?
Defensive? Kris tightened her grip, not knowing if she was giving or seeking
support.
"Shape-changers?" Scott hissed, eyes never leaving what was in front of his as
he leaned slightly in her direction.
"There's a Deski and a Rugarian, and the rest are humans. But not as many of
them as there are of us." When the transformation was complete, and there was
no doubt that these visitors showed representations of the three species
facing them, each group regarded the other.
"There's no Catteni." Kris's comment was barely audible, but the omission
caused a little giggle to escape her which she hastily suppressed. If these
were the Farmers - and every evidence pointed to that assumption, for who else
could have lifted the Balloon? - then they weren't all-seeing and perfect.
Somehow that gave her a lift of confidence. But no-one was saying anything
and the tension was mounting.
So, if the visitors weren't showing immediate aggression, maybe they should be
treated like visitors, all eight of them. We outnumber them, she thought,
though 'outnumber' is all we do, considering what they just did. It was so
silly to just stand there, looking at each other.
"Hello,' she said, making the word friendly and inquiring. She stepped around
Zainal and inadvertently pulled Coo with her, just as Judge Iri
Bempechat took a step forward. She knew she had a silly smirk on her face as
she looked at the Judge for what to do next.
Whether she was impertinent or not, she never did find out, but the judge
grinned fleetingly at her - so she felt she hadn't done anything really wrong
- and he held out both hands, the galactic indication (she hoped) of being
unarmed.
"We have hoped that we would meet you, and explain our presence on a planet
which you have clearly used for many thousands of years,' he
said, inclining his upper body slightly forward in a gesture that was as
dignified as it was hospitable. 'I realize that you do not understand what
I'm saying, but I hope the sincerity with which I speak will be apparent. We
do realize that we have trespassed on your property, but we were brought
-
here against our volition and cannot return to our own worlds." As the judge
Page 120
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
spoke, Kris felt the very slightest of pressures against her forehead, and at
the back of her neck. Zane gave an odd little movement and she jiggled him
gently, stroking his back m a reassurance that usually quieted him.
"We moved to this continent because you are not farming it now.
We did not wish to interfere with your installations here.
We wish to stay . . . with your permission, if it is at all possible, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]