“Perhaps not,” Jordan admitted. “But for the present, I think our best course of action—perhaps our only course of action—is to play along with them, show them we harbor no enmity toward them, show them that we’re eager to learn from them.”
“And we can offer to teach them our technology,” Brandon added. “After all, they don’t have space flight.”
“They don’t seem to have any transportation vehicles at all,” Jordan said.
“That’s very odd,” said Thornberry. “If they don’t have vehicles of their own, how do they know enough to deactivate ours?”
Longyear piped up. “I’d like to find out how their DNA matches ours. Was there some contact between us and them in the past?”
“But they don’t have space flight,” said Dr. Yamaguchi. “How could there have been any contact?”
“There must have been,” Longyear insisted. “You can’t get identical DNA without contact of some kind. Maybe both our races come from some third species.”
“An interstellar pollinator?” Brandon scoffed. “Like Arrhenius’s panspermia theory? Get real, Paul.”
Longyear frowned.
“Be that as it may,” said Jordan, trying to maintain control of the meeting, “we have an agenda of goals to reach for.”
“We do?” asked Meek.
“Yes, we do,” Jordan replied. Pointing to Hazzard, “Geoff, you check out the ship’s propulsion system. We might decide to leave here right away.”
Hazzard nodded.
“I’ve got to return to the city and tell Adri that we’ve decided to work with him and his people. Who’s willing to join me?”
“Not I,” Meek snapped. “I’m not going to set foot in their city, not willingly.”
“I’ll go,” said Brandon. “And I’ll ask Adri to put me in touch with whatever passes for a geologist among his folks.”
“I’ll go, too,” Elyse said.
Jordan felt mildly surprised. He surmised that she wanted to be close to Brandon, but he had to ask, “What can an astrophysicist accomplish—”
Before he could finish the sentence Elyse said, “You mentioned that they have advanced telescopes. I would like to see them, study them. This could be an unprecedented chance to study a white dwarf up close.”
“I see,” Jordan replied, trying not to smile at her. “Of course.” And he thought, I want to be close to Aditi; she wants to be close to Bran. From the look on Brandon’s face, he saw that his brother wanted to be close to Elyse, as well.
“I want to go,” Thornberry said. “There’s a lot for us to learn, there is.”
“I’ll go, too,” Longyear added, although he didn’t look very happy about it. “You’ll need a biologist, and I want to figure out how their DNA can be so much like ours.”
“Five of us, then,” said Jordan.
Meek wagged his head from side to side. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. I tell you, you’re putting yourselves into the lions’ den.”
“Perhaps so, Harmon,” Jordan replied. “But I seem to recall an old adage, ‘Behold the lowly turtle: he only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.’”
The others around the table laughed feebly. Meek made a sour face.
In the City
As soon as the meeting broke up, Jordan and the four others headed for the city. It was nearly sunset when they left the base camp. The shadows of twilight lengthened as they marched along the forest trail. Jordan realized he didn’t know how to contact Adri with his pocketphone, yet he had the feeling that Adri knew perfectly well that he was coming.
Sure enough, the alien was standing at the edge of the city, on the stone walk that circled the buildings, practically beaming at the five approaching humans.
But Aditi was not with him.
“Welcome, my friends,” said Adri, extending both arms to them.
“We’re here to begin the process of learning to get along together,” Jordan said. In his own ears, the pronouncement sounded slightly pompous.
But Adri’s aged face smiled at him. “Very good. But let’s have dinner first.”
Aditi joined them for dinner, and Jordan felt happy and relaxed at last.
Jordan woke up the next morning feeling truly rested. His bedroom in the city was almost like home to him: he felt comfortable in it, at ease. The room wasn’t spacious, yet it felt pleasantly airy. Its only window looked out on a charming courtyard, colorful with blossoming shrubbery and a stately tree at its center. Even the hummingbird buzzing overhead seemed familiar, friendly.
He hoped that Brandon felt the same way, then wondered if Bran were in his own room or down the hall with Elyse.
Staring up at the high ceiling, he thought of Aditi. Except for that one quick kiss in the rain a few days earlier, Jordan had not made any romantic moves on her. He wanted to, the physical urge was definitely there, but thoughts of Miriam rose in his mind. Her ghost separated them.
For her part, Aditi had seemed pleasant enough through dinner, a warm, happy young woman who laughed easily and sparkled with intelligence. Yet she seemed content to be a friend, a companion, and nothing more. There was a limit to her friendliness, he could feel it, like an electric fence.
While the dessert was being served, Jordan asked her about her people’s customs regarding marriage and family.
“I’ve never been married,” she said, as if surprised by his question.
“But your people do marry,” he pressed.
She glanced at Adri, seated beside her. “Yes,” she said slowly, almost reluctantly. “Marriage is rare among us, though. Our birth rate is so low that there is little need for marriage and child rearing.”
“But you do marry.”
She finally understood. “Yes,” Aditi answered with an amused smile. “But marriage isn’t necessary for a couple to have a sexual relationship.”
And suddenly Jordan felt tongue-tied. He turned his attention to his dessert and hoped none of the others noticed his burning cheeks.
Lying in his bed, Jordan remembered the moment and his embarrassment. Like a pimple-faced teenaged bumpkin, he said to himself. Like a foolish—
His phone chirped, interrupting his musings. He sat up and reached for it on the bedside table.
Geoffrey Hazzard’s face filled the little screen, dark, unsmiling.
“Good morning, Geoff,” Jordan said. “You’re up pretty early, aren’t you?”
Hazzard broke into a sardonic little smile. “You’ve slept pretty late, haven’t you?”
The clock readout at the bottom of the phone’s screen showed it was precisely 8 A.M. New Earth’s spin rate was almost exactly the same as Earth’s, to within a few milliseconds. Another coincidence that seemed too good to be true. But there it was, coincidence or not.
“I’m getting lazy, I admit it,” Jordan said, suppressing a yawn. “How’s everything aboard the ship?”
“That’s what I’m calling about.”
Jordan felt a pang of alarm. “Something wrong?”
“Not with the ship,” said Hazzard. “All systems check out solidly in the green. Nothing wrong with the fusion drive.”
“Then why are you calling?”
“Half an hour ago our sensors detected a major flare on the Pup. It’s putting out a lot of energy. Looks like we’re going to be hit by a major radiation storm.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Could be. I’ve stepped up the power for our magnetic shielding. It’ll stop the protons, they’re the biggest danger, but a lot of gamma and X-ray radiation’s going to zip right through the magnetic field.”
“You’ll have to spend a few hours in the storm cellar, then.”
Hazzard frowned slightly. “More like a couple of days.”