New Earth

Landing

All feeling of weight dwindled away as the winged rocketplane established a tight orbit around Sirius C. Jordan’s eyes flicked from the windscreen to the displays on the control panel while he struggled to keep his stomach from floating up into his throat. Sirius C loomed huge and lushly green outside, sliding majestically below them.

“We’re approaching the night side,” Brandon said. Needlessly, Jordan thought.

“Copy night side,” said Hazzard, from the display screen in the center of the control panel.

The planet disappeared in darkness. Not a light to be seen. Not even the laser, which was over on the daylit side now. It was as if the planet had been swallowed by some monstrous dragon, Jordan thought. Then he realized, There’s no Moon! New Earth doesn’t have a moon, not even a tiny speck of rock orbiting it. That’s a major difference from Earth. Funny I hadn’t thought of that earlier.

For more than half an hour the four men sat in silence while the control panel’s displays beeped and winked at them. Utter darkness outside, as if the planet had disappeared. Then they crossed the terminator into the daylit side. As the blazing star Sirius rose above the curved horizon they stirred into conversation again.

“It’s all forest, from pole to pole,” Meek said.

“That’s what Earth would be like,” said de Falla, “when the full effect of the global warming takes hold.”

“If it weren’t for us,” Brandon said.

Yes, Jordan thought. The human race has altered the face of Earth far beyond nature’s strictures. Even the tropical rain forests that were once thought to be untouched Edens have been shaped and transformed by human tribes for long millennia.

Looking past the curving rim of the planet, with its sliver of bright blue atmosphere, Jordan squinted at distant Sirius, this world’s sun, glaring a hot blue-white against the darkness of space. Not far from the star was a smaller sphere, little more than a brilliant dot, but almost as bright as Sirius itself. The Pup, Jordan realized. Sirius’s dwarf star companion.

“Retroburn in one minute,” said Hazzard, all business.

“Copy retroburn,” Brandon answered, aping the astronaut’s clipped manner.

One of the screens on the control panel lit up to show Thornberry’s jowly face. “Good luck, lads,” he said, his usual grin replaced by utter seriousness.

“Thank you, kind sir,” Jordan replied, trying to mask his own inner tension.

The retrorockets fired and the sudden feeling of weight was welcome. Jordan watched through the windscreen as the heavily forested planet came up to meet them. He remembered the first time he had flown an airplane solo, how suddenly menacing the trees around the airport became.

“Plasma blackout coming up,” Hazzard warned.

They were entering the planet’s atmosphere now, dipping into the upper fringes of the air at hypersonic speed. Lights flickered out there, Jordan saw, dancing little fireflies at first but within moments the ship was engulfed in the blazing reds and yellows of air heated to incandescence. He heard the ferocious roar of wind even through the heavy insulation of the cockpit as the ship began to shudder and buck.

It’s all right, Jordan told himself, gripping the edges of his seat. Perfectly normal. We’re using atmospheric friction to slow us down to a safe landing speed. Still, the craft bounced and rattled as the wind screeched into a long wailing banshee whine. Jordan felt perspiration beading his brow and upper lip. He glanced at Brandon, who sat rigidly, his fists clenched in his lap, fighting the temptation to grab the controls.

The air cleared and the ride smoothed out. No engine noise now; the air rushing past reminded Jordan of the soarplane flights he had taken. The forest was gliding by beneath them, coming nearer, nearer.

“You’re through the blackout,” Hazzard said. The wide smile on his face told Jordan that Geoff had been uptight, too.

“We’re going straight down to the glade,” Brandon said, his smile looking a little forced.

Hazzard nodded once. “Almost. You’ll make one forty-degree turn to get her nose into the wind, and then in you go. No sweat.”

Not much sweat, Jordan amended silently.

“There it is!” Meek called out, his long skinny arm pointing between Jordan and Brandon to the open glade where they were to land.

It looked like a green postage stamp to Jordan. As it grew bigger, closer, he could make out the other rocketplane sitting smack in the middle of the field.

“Wheels down,” Hazzard announced as the sudden rush of air filled Jordan’s ears.

He swallowed hard as the ground rushed up to meet them. Not all that much room for us, he thought.

The ship hit the ground hard, bounced, then settled onto its landing gear and rolled bumpily along the grassy ground. Jordan saw the earlier plane flash past.

“Plenty of room,” Brandon said shakily.

“Braking,” said Hazzard.

Jordan felt his body strain slightly against his shoulder straps. Then everything stopped. No sense of motion. No noise. No vibrations.

“We’re down,” Brandon said, almost in a whisper.

“Copy landing,” said Hazzard. “You stopped eleven point six meters from the calculated stopping point. Not bad for a bunch of amateurs.”

Meek blew out a gust of breath somewhere between a sigh and a snort. De Falla grinned weakly.

“Checking ship’s systems,” Hazzard said. “Nobody get up yet.”

“Everything’s fine,” said Brandon, scanning the control panel. “All green lights.”

After a few seconds Hazzard agreed. “You’re clear to leave your seats.”

Thornberry spoke up from another of the display screens. “The ship’s sensors are sampling the air. Looks grand, so far.”

“Let’s suit up and go outside,” said Brandon.

“By all means,” Meek agreed.

He and de Falla unbuckled, got out of their seats, and headed aft. Jordan thought they made an almost laughably odd couple: Meek bone thin, all gawky arms and legs, so tall he had to bend over; de Falla barely as high as Meek’s shoulder, built as solidly as a little truck.

Brandon swung around and got up from his seat before Jordan could. With a placating smile, Jordan made a sweeping gesture and said, “After you, little brother.”

They clumped down to the cargo hold, where their six-wheeled excursion buggy waited. Two humanform robots, gleaming metal, sat silent and inert on the rearmost seats. De Falla handed out the nanofabric transparent biohazard suits, which looked to Jordan like plastic raincoats that included leggings, booties, gloves, and inflatable bubble helmets. They began to pull them on, over their clothes.

As he closed the neck seal on his suit, Brandon asked, “When do we decide that we can breathe the air out there?”

Meek said, “Not until we’ve done a thorough analysis.”

“The ship’s sensors are sending data up to Longyear,” de Falla added. “He’ll analyze the data and give us a decision as quickly as he can.”

As he picked up one of the air cylinders, Meek said, “It will be far better to be cautious about breathing the local air. Far better to err on the side of caution.”

Jordan took the cylinder from his hands and helped Meek to worm his arms through the shoulder straps.

“Damned inconvenient, these suits,” Brandon complained.

“Better inconvenient than dead,” said Meek, as Jordan connected the cylinder’s air hose to the plug in the biosuit’s neck ring.

“Besides,” said Jordan, picking up another cylinder and gesturing Brandon to turn around, “these suits aren’t all that bad. They’re flexible, easy to move around in. They even smell rather flowery, don’t you think?”

Brandon, his back to his brother, grumbled, “I don’t like them, perfumed or not.”

Jordan helped de Falla get his air tank connected, then let Brandon connect his for him. At last they were all ready.

De Falla scrambled into the driver’s seat of the buggy; Jordan sat beside him while Brandon and Meek took the next two seats, in front of the stolid robots. The rear deck of the buggy was already packed with sensors and field equipment.

While de Falla checked out the buggy’s drive motors, Jordan turned on the communications link. Thornberry’s face took form on the control panel’s central screen.

“All your buggy’s readouts are in the green, Jordan,” the roboticist reported.

“Good,” said Jordan. “Thanks.” Turning to the others, he asked, “Everyone ready?”

“We’re ready!” Brandon exclaimed.

“Mitch, we’re ready to go outside,” Jordan said into the microphone built into his suit’s neck ring.

“Godspeed, lads,” said Thornberry’s tiny image on the display screen.

De Falla pressed a gloved thumb against the keypad that controlled the air lock. The hatch swung slowly open. The four men saw a beautiful green swath of grass and, beyond its edge, tall straight-boled trees swaying gently in a slight breeze. Through the trees, in the distance, rose steep mountains, green with forest growth almost to their bare, rocky peaks. A waterfall tumbled brightly down the sheer flank of one of the mountains.

“Here we go,” de Falla breathed. Then he nudged the buggy’s throttle and the cart lurched forward. It bumped over the edge of the hatch and down the ramp that extended to the ground of New Earth.

Into the Forest

“It’s like a park,” Brandon marveled as they drove toward the edge of the glade. “A beautiful, well-tended park.”

Jordan agreed. The glade was wide and level, no large stones or knolls to mar its smoothness. As if it had been prepared to be a landing field.

Meek echoed Jordan’s thoughts. “Well tended by whom?”

Brandon laughed. “Mother Nature.”

Thornberry broke into their conversation. “I’ve laid out the track of the two rovers on your navigation screen, Silvie.”

De Falla glanced at the screen. “I see it.”

Brandon leaned over the side of the buggy. “I can see their tracks on the grass!”

“Good,” said Thornberry. “Follow them right along.”

“Right,” de Falla said.

The trees looked vaguely like pines, Jordan thought. Tall straight trunks with foliage high above. The kind Native Americans used to build their dwellings. What were they called? Then he remembered, lodgepole pines. Good for construction.

De Falla followed the tracks of the robotic rovers as they rolled into the forest. The way was easy, the trees were spaced widely enough to allow ample passage through them. Not much foliage between the trees, just a few clumps of bushes here and there.

“Butterflies!” de Falla called out. Jordan followed his outstretched pointing arm and saw a dozen or so bright yellow creatures flittering around the bushes at the base of a tree.

“We should have brought a net,” Brandon joked.

“A mature forest,” Meek observed primly. “The trees’ canopies shade the ground, which makes it difficult for smaller shrubbery to grow.”

“There was a war here,” said de Falla. Before anyone could react, he went on, “A war of different forms of plant life, all competing for the sunlight they need to live. The trees won, and the other forms died out.”

“Not entirely,” Jordan said, pointing to a clump of bushes off to their right.

De Falla nodded, but replied, “If we’d been here a few thousand years ago, this whole region would be entirely different. Lots of different species, wouldn’t look anything like this.”

“Life evolves,” said Brandon.

“Ecologies evolve,” de Falla amended.

Meek h’mphed. Jordan smiled to himself: Harmon resents having a geologist making comments about biology. Territorial imperative, academia style.

A massive boulder loomed up ahead. Jordan could clearly see the tracks of the rovers swinging off to the right to get around it. Glancing at the navigation screen, he saw the rovers’ tracks marked in bloodred.

De Falla turned in the same direction to skirt the boulder.

“Look!” Meek shouted. “A squirrel!”

Jordan saw a tiny blur of gray scampering up one of the trees. It stopped, chattered angrily at them, then scooted farther up.

“It couldn’t be a squirrel,” Jordan heard himself say.

“It certainly looked like a squirrel,” Brandon said.

“Convergent evolution,” said de Falla, with awe in his voice. “Similar environment evolves similar species.”

“That’s not what we have here,” Meek said.

With a grin, de Falla replied, “Isn’t it? Sure looks like it to me. Grow a forest and you get squirrels.”

“Stick to your geology, man,” Meek asserted, “and leave the biological questions to those who know something about the field.”

De Falla shrugged good-naturedly.

“Haven’t seen any birds,” Brandon pointed out.

“You will,” de Falla assured him. Then he added, “Probably.”

“They won’t be the same as birds on Earth,” said Meek. “I can assure you of that.”

De Falla looked as if he wanted to argue about it, but he kept his mouth shut.

Meek shook his head. “All the life forms we’ve found in the solar system are completely different from anything on Earth.”

“Different environments,” said de Falla. “None of those worlds is anything like Earth.”

“What about those things in Europa’s ocean?” Brandon asked. “Beneath the ice. Aren’t they like terrestrial algae beds and kelp?”

“Outwardly,” Meek said, “but their biochemistries are very different.”

“Do you think there might be predators in these woods?” Brandon wondered. “You know, something like bears or wolves?”

Before Meek could reply, de Falla said, “That’s why we brought the stun guns with the rest of the equipment.”

“Maybe we ought to take them out and have them handy,” Brandon suggested.

Meek said firmly, “Predators will be wary of us, they’ve never seen anything—”

De Falla tromped on the brakes so hard they all jolted forward in their seats.

“The rovers,” Jordan said, pointing.

The two rovers were sitting about a hundred meters ahead of them, parked side by side among the trees, squat oblong shapes on multiple little wheels. They looked unblemished, factory-new, gleaming in the sunlight filtering through the trees’ canopies high overhead.

“Mitch, are you still there?” Jordan called.

“Right here,” Thornberry replied, his face filling the control panel screen.

“We see the rovers.”

“Yes, I’ve got them on camera.”

Brandon started to get up from his seat. “Let’s go see what’s wrong with them.”

Jordan half-turned and gripped his brother’s wrist. “Let’s scout the area a little first.” To de Falla he said, “Silvio, can you get us a little closer?”

De Falla nodded once and nudged the throttle. The buggy edged forward, slowly.

“I don’t see anything,” Brandon said.

“No footprints,” said Meek. “No sign of tracks in the ground. Except the rovers’ own, of course.”

When they got to about twenty meters’ distance, Jordan asked de Falla to stop. He stood up at his seat, gripping the seat back in front of him for balance, and scanned the ground around the rovers. Meek was right, he saw. The grass was undisturbed except for the tracks of the rovers themselves.

They were flat, ungainly vehicles resting on springy wheels designed to traverse over rough territory. Sensor pods and antennas studded their tops. Powered by a self-contained miniature nuclear electric system, they had a design life of six months. But they hadn’t lasted six hours on the surface of New Earth.

Cautiously, the four men got out of the buggy and approached the rovers. Both were silent, unmoving. Jordan laid a hand on the cover of the nearer rover’s miniature nuclear power plant. Cold. That shouldn’t be, he thought. The power plant should be warm, if it’s still functioning.

Jordan realized he couldn’t get to his shirt pocket for his phone with the biosuit covering him. Feeling slightly annoyed, he trotted back to the buggy and slid into his seat.

“Mitch, the rovers are cold, as if their power systems have shut down.”

“I’ll activate the robots,” Thornberry said. “They’ll do a diagnostic.”

The two robots suddenly stirred to life, got up from the rear of the buggy, and rolled across the grassy ground toward the rovers.

“Now we’ll get to the bottom of this,” said Thornberry’s image.

An hour later, as Jordan sat in the buggy, Thornberry’s face looked bitterly unhappy.

“They’re just dead,” he growled. “As if somebody drained the deuterium out of their reactors.”

“How could that be?” Jordan asked.

“How should I know?” Thornberry snapped.

“Should we fly a pair of new fusion reactors in to replace the dead ones?”

“I suppose so. But I just can’t understand what would conk out their power systems. It’s uncanny, it is. Downright spooky.”

Jordan tried to smile at the puzzled roboticist. “You’ll figure it out, Mitch, sooner or later.”

Thornberry shook his head and began to mutter his mantra, “I am maintaining a kindly, courteous, secret, and wounded silence—”

“Hey! Look!”

Jordan snapped his attention to his brother, who had walked a little way farther among the trees.

Standing again, Jordan called, “Bran, what is it?”

“I thought I saw somebody out there.” He pointed deeper into the woods.

“Somebody?”

Meek and de Falla both strained to look in the direction Brandon was pointing.

“A man, it looked like,” said Brandon.

Contact

All three of them hurried to where Brandon was standing, gazing into the trees.

“A man?” Jordan asked, a little breathless.

“A figure,” Brandon said, still looking. “I thought it was a man. In some sort of a robe.”

“An optical illusion,” Meek sniffed.

“Dammit, Harmon, I know what I saw!”

“You know what you thought you saw,” replied Meek. “The mind plays tricks on us sometimes. I remember once, when I was a graduate student—”

Brandon strode off in the direction he’d been pointing.

“Bran! Wait!” Jordan shouted after him.

“He must’ve left footprints,” Brandon said over his shoulder.

Meek shook his head. “Nonsense,” he huffed.

De Falla flailed his arms. “I don’t know if he really saw a man, but there are surely insects here.”

“Really?” said Meek.

Jordan strode to his brother’s side. Brandon was peering at the ground, searching.

“It was right about here,” he murmured.

The ground looked undisturbed to Jordan. No footprints except their own.

“I could’ve sworn I saw him.”

“It doesn’t seem all that likely, Bran,” Jordan said gently. “Perhaps it was an animal of some sort.”

“Standing on its hind legs?”

Jordan shrugged. “This is all new territory. We don’t know what to expect.”

“Maybe we’d better get those guns.”

“Not a bad idea,” Jordan agreed. The two brothers went back to the buggy and pulled out a pair of slim dart-firing rifles.

“Do you think these things could stop a bear?” Brandon asked, heading back toward the spot where he thought he’d seen someone.

“They do on Earth,” Jordan said, hefting the rifle in one hand. It felt light, more like a child’s toy than a weapon that could protect them.

De Falla shouted, “Look! Birds!”

They looked up as a flock of brightly colored birds swooped past, wings glittering in the sunlight. They certainly look like birds on Earth, Jordan thought, no matter what Meek thinks.

“Squirrels, insects, birds,” Brandon said. “Why not people?”

Turning slowly, Jordan looked all around him. He saw de Falla and Meek gazing at the birds as they flew off into the distance. The two inert rovers, with the robots bent over them. Their own buggy. And Brandon standing beside him with that sullen, stubborn look he’d known since childhood, cradling the rifle in his arms.

“There’s absolutely no sign of intelligent life on this planet, Bran. You know that.”

“I know what I saw.”

Gripping his brother’s shoulder, Jordan smiled and said, “Well, if you’re right, we’ll run into him again, I imagine.”

“You’re humoring me, Jordy.”

“Perhaps I am,” Jordan admitted. “What else can I do?”

“Help me look for him!”

“I don’t think we should get too far away from the others. And the buggy.”

“Keeping your line of retreat open?”

“It’s the sensible thing to do, don’t you agree?”

“Sensible,” Brandon said. “But wrong.”

And he started off deeper into the forest.

“Bran, wait,” Jordan called, trotting after him.

“I saw a man,” Brandon insisted. “A man in a long robe. It was sort of bluish.”

Jordan grabbed for his brother’s arm again and dragged him to a halt. “All right. You saw a man. But there’s no sign of him now.”

“That doesn’t mean—”

“If he exists, we’ll see him again, no doubt. In the meantime, I think it’s foolish to go crashing off into these woods before we know more about what this place is like.”

Brandon stood there glaring at his brother for several silent moments. Then, very deliberately, he clicked open the neck ring of his biosuit and lifted up the edge of his bubble helmet. The helmet deflated into a sagging lump of nanofabric and Brandon pulled it off his head entirely. Jordan was so shocked he didn’t know what to do, what to say.

“There,” Brandon said. “I’m breathing this world’s air. It’s not harming me.”

Jordan had to swallow hard before he could say, “How do you know that? There could be microbes, viruses, all kinds of—”

“Good morning, sirs.”

They whirled around toward the sound of the softly melodious voice. Standing fifteen meters before them was a tall, lean, totally bald, vaguely oriental-looking man in an ankle-length pale blue robe, holding a small furry creature in the palm of one hand and gently stroking it with the other.

Adri

“I am Adri,” the man said, his voice soft, almost a whisper. “Welcome to New Earth.”

Jordan stared at the man, blinked once, twice, then gaped at him again. Standing beside him, Brandon was equally goggle-eyed.

The man smiled gently. “I hope I haven’t shocked you. The question of a first meeting is always very delicate, don’t you think?”

His face was spiderwebbed with age, Jordan saw. He was quite tall, a few centimeters taller than Meek, and appeared to be very slim beneath his long robe. His eyes were almond shaped, pale blue. The hue of his skin was faintly brownish yellow, almost gray. His cheeks were gaunt, hollow. His hands were thin, with long talonlike fingers that slowly stroked the furry thing he was holding.

Meek and de Falla came running up to them.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” said Meek. De Falla said nothing, he simply stared.

“I am Adri,” the man repeated, with a gentle smile. “I hope you’ll forgive the somewhat dramatic scenario we’ve concocted to produce this first meeting.”

“It was a surprise,” Jordan admitted. Then he said, “My name is Jordan Kell. This is my brother, Dr. Brandon Kell, Dr. Harmon Meek, and Dr. Silvio de Falla.”

“You said we,” Brandon snapped, almost accusingly. “There’s more of you?”

“Oh, my, yes. Of course. There would have to be, wouldn’t there?”

Jordan asked, “Who are you? How many of you are there?”

Looking slightly embarrassed, Adri replied, “Oh, there’s a goodly number of us here. I’m afraid we’ve kept ourselves hidden from your orbiting cameras.”

“You look human,” Jordan said, his voice hollow with awe. “You speak English.”

“Yes. We thought it best to make our first meeting as comfortable for you as possible. There’s no way to entirely avoid the shock, of course, but we do want to make it as easy for you as we can.”

“Then you’re not really human?” Meek asked.

“Oh yes, I’m as human as you are.”

“Convergent evolution,” de Falla said, his voice awed.

Adri shook his bald head. “Not quite. It’s a bit more complicated than that.” He slid the little pet into the folds of his robe, then clasped his long fingers together, as if in prayer.

But only for a moment. Pointing to the rifle still in Jordan’s hands, Adri said softly, “If those are weapons, you won’t need them here. There are no dangerous animals in this forest.”

Ignoring that, Brandon asked, “This is your home world? You live on this planet?”

“Yes. Of course,” said Adri. “I would be pleased to show you our community.”

“By all means!” said Brandon.

“Wait a moment,” Jordan said. “We should report this to the others.”

“Your colleagues aboard the ship. Of course. I’ll be happy to greet them.” Adri started toward the buggy, the four men following him. Brandon rushed ahead, dumped his rifle in the back of the buggy, then slipped into the driver’s seat. Jordan heard him speaking excitedly over the communications link.

Jordan moved beside Adri, who paced along leisurely. The glossy-furred animal peeked out from the robe, big round eyes glittering, then ducked back inside again. Meek came up on Adri’s other side, and de Falla trailed a few paces behind.

“By the way,” Adri said, “you really don’t need those protective coverings you’re wearing. There’s nothing in the air here that can harm you.”

Jordan felt his brows knitting. “How can you know that? How can you be so sure?”

Pointing to Brandon, still jabbering excitedly with Thornberry, Adri replied, “He’s breathing the air.”

“He’s an impetuous young man,” said Jordan.

“But he’s unharmed.”

Jordan stared at the alien for a long, wordless moment, thinking, Can we trust him? Does he know what he’s talking about? Is he telling us the truth?

Turning to Meek, Jordan asked, “Harmon, what do you think? Would it be all right to get out of the biosuits?”

Glancing toward Brandon, Meek answered, “Let your brother be our guinea pig. He’s volunteered for the honor.”

Jordan asked Adri to sit beside Brandon so that Thornberry and the others aboard the ship could see him. On the smallish display screen their expressions were almost comical as they crowded around Thornberry: wonder, surprise, open-jawed awe. That must be what I looked like a few minutes ago, Jordan thought.

They were all talking at once. Thornberry began to look irritated as the rest of the team jostled him.

“I am pleased to meet you all,” Adri said, his voice suddenly strong enough to cut through their jabber. “I am delighted that you made the journey here, and I wish you well.”

Literally pushing the others away, Thornberry admitted, “To say that we’re surprised would be a grand understatement.”

“I understand,” said Adri.

Standing outside the buggy at Adri’s side, Jordan wondered, “Why aren’t you surprised? You seem almost to have been expecting us.”

Adri turned to him with his patient smile. “We’ve been observing you for a long time: watching your video broadcasts, monitoring your radio emissions. We detected your ship taking up an orbit around this planet. We projected a laser beacon to inform you of our presence. You quickly grasped its significance and sent your pair of machines here.”

“And you conked them out,” said Thornberry’s image on the comm screen, almost accusingly.

Adri looked slightly embarrassed. “Yes, I’m afraid we did disable them. We wanted you to come here yourselves. Making our first contact through your machines would have been … awkward.”

“Can you turn the rovers back on?” Thornberry asked.

“Oh yes, of course. You’ll find that they are both in perfect working order now.”

Thornberry glanced down; Jordan concluded he was working his console screen.

“Well I’ll be dipped in sheep droppings,” he muttered. “They’re both humming as if they’d never been off.”

“It’s been a pleasure to meet all of you,” Adri said, in his gentle, genial tone. Then he slipped out of the seat to stand beside Jordan. “Now, if you’re willing, I would like to show you our community.” Pointing deeper into the forest, Adri said, “It’s only a few kilometers, in that direction.”

“Why don’t you sit up front, with Brandon,” said Jordan.

“Oh, that’s not necessary. I can sit behind you.”

“No, no. I insist. You know the way. You can be Bran’s navigator.”

Adri seemed to think it over briefly, then made a polite little bow. “Thank you.”

He climbed into the right-hand seat. Jordan stashed his rifle, then sat with Meek in the second row while de Falla climbed into the rearmost row, empty since the robots were still with the reactivated rovers.

As the buggy started up, Jordan marveled at how fantastic this all was. It’s impossible, he told himself. I must be dreaming.

Yet he opened the neck seal of his biosuit and pulled the deflated plastic helmet down off his head.

The City

Brandon drove a good deal faster than de Falla had, pushing through the forest at Adri’s direction along what appeared to be a fairly well-defined track that wound among the trees. Jordan leaned between them and asked for a report from Longyear on the quality of the air.

The biologist’s lean, somber face appeared on the comm screen. “The bio program’s still analyzing the sampling data you’ve beamed up. Nothing toxic, apparently. But the analysis isn’t finished yet.”

Jordan nodded. “Brandon and I have removed our suit helmets.”

Longyear’s dark eyes widened. “That’s premature, Jordan. There could be—”

“We’ve volunteered to be experimental subjects. So far, so good.”

Looking unhappy, the biologist muttered, “What’s done is done.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Jordan said, feeling somehow cheerful, buoyant.

They rode on for another few minutes, and then Jordan saw stone buildings standing among the trees. Large buildings, several stories high, with flat roofs green with lush gardens. A small crowd of people was clustered in front of the nearest building.

“It’s a regular city!” Brandon cried out.

And indeed it was. Adri directed them down a central street, flanked on either side by handsome stone buildings. Brandon drove slowly now, gaping at the buildings and people they were passing. There were animals among the people, too: four-footed creatures that looked vaguely like miniature horses, about the size of a Shetland pony. Apparently they were used as beasts of burden. He could see no vehicles of any sort, not even a bicycle. Most of the ponies were a plain dun color, although a few of them were deeper shades of brown.

At the end of the street, Jordan saw, stood an imposing multistoried structure with a long stone stairway leading to a veranda that seemed to run completely around the building.

How could our sensors have missed all this? Jordan asked himself. All right, the roofs might appear to be natural greenery and the stone is probably local material, so the cameras and multispectral sensors might have concluded it’s all natural formations. But the straight streets? That should have been an immediate tipoff that this is artificial. Straight lines don’t appear in nature. Not gridworks of city streets.

As if he was reading Jordan’s thoughts, Adri turned slightly in his seat and said, “I’m afraid we disguised our little community from your orbiting cameras.”

“How could you do that?” Jordan asked. “And why?”

“We were very fearful of shocking you, you must realize. We wanted our first contact to be as gentle as possible. As nonthreatening as possible.”

“Nonthreatening,” Jordan echoed.

“Despite the guns you were carrying,” Adri chided softly.

The people walking along the streets were perfectly human-looking men and women. Some wore ankle-length robes, as Adri did, but there were plenty of other styles of clothing, some of them very colorful. Small doglike animals scampered among them, apparently free to scurry wherever they wished. Many of the people turned to stare in curiosity at their buggy rolling past, although others seemed to ignore it. New Yorkers, said a cynical voice in Jordan’s head.

As they approached the broad stairway at the end of the street, Adri said to Brandon, “You can stop at the bottom of the stairs.”

Jordan tapped his brother’s shoulder. “Are we beaming all this up to the others?”

Nodding without taking his eyes from his driving, Brandon said, “Automatic feed. Thornberry’s getting everything our cameras see.”

“Good,” said Jordan.

They glided to a stop at the base of the stairs. A dozen or so people were coming down the stairs toward them.

“A reception committee?” Jordan asked as he swung his legs over the side of the buggy and got to his feet.

“A welcoming committee,” said Adri. He got up too, more slowly, stiffly. “We have decided to speak English to you. I hope that is agreeable.”

“That’s fine,” said Jordan.

As Brandon, Meek, and de Falla got off the buggy, Adri went on, “I believe that English is the lingua franca of your people.”

A pun? Jordan asked himself. A multilingual pun from an alien?

The others came down the steps and arranged themselves around Adri and the four men from Earth. Looking them over, Jordan saw that there were six women and six men, their hair and skin coloring ranging from pale Nordic to dark African. It’s as though some politician put together a group to represent every possible type of human being on Earth.

But we’re not on Earth, he reminded himself. These people may look human, but they are aliens.

One of the women, a pretty, pert redhead with short-cropped hair and smiling brown eyes, took a step forward and said, “Welcome to our city. We hope you make yourselves comfortable here.” She was wearing a short-sleeved light tan blouse and dark brown slacks.

“Thank you,” said Jordan, with a suggestion of a bow. “My name is Jordan Kell. You are…?”

She looked puzzled for a moment, then seemed to grasp what Jordan was asking her. “Oh! My name is Aditi.”

“A charming name,” said Jordan. “And may I ask, what do you call your city?”

Again she looked perplexed. Adri said, “We merely call it the city.”

“And this planet?” Brandon asked. “When we first met you, you called it New Earth.”

“Yes,” said Adri. “Isn’t that what you call this world?”

“That’s right. But what do you call it?”

“And how did you know that was the name we used?” Meek added.

Adri smiled placatingly. “This planet’s name in our language is very similar to your term, New Earth.”

Meek’s lean face took on a suspicious scowl. “And just what is your language, may I ask?”

Adri stood silent for a moment, then uttered an indecipherable sound, a combination of a fluting whistle and an undulating low moan. Meek’s jaw dropped open and Jordan fought down an urge to laugh at the astrobiologist’s consternation.

“I’m sorry,” Adri said. “Our language has very different roots than yours. I believe it will be much easier if we communicate in English. At least for the time being.”

“I agree,” said Jordan. “At least for the time being.”

Aditi gestured toward the stairs and said, “Would you like to see our…” She hesitated, looked at Adri.

“Our administrative center,” Adri finished for her.

“City hall?” Jordan asked, with a smile.

“Oh, it’s more than that, Mr. Kell. Much more.”

The Administrative Center

With Aditi on one side of him and Adri on the other, Jordan climbed the steps of the impressive building. He felt somehow eager, excited by these strange yet familiar surroundings. It’s as though I’ve come home, he thought. Home, to a place I’ve never been to before.

Brandon, Meek, and de Falla were behind him, Brandon chatting with the welcoming committee as they made their way up the stairs, while Meek and de Falla kept a guarded silence. Jordan opened the front of his biosuit and fished his phone from his shirt pocket.

Hazzard’s dark face appeared on the tiny screen. “We’re tracking you, Jordan, no problem,” said the astronaut.

“Where’s Thornberry?” Jordan asked.

“He’s running the remote console, packing the rovers into the ship they flew in on,” Hazzard replied. “Wants to move them to other regions now that they’re working okay.”

“And the robots?”

“They’re back at your plane, standing by.”

Nodding, Jordan said, “We’re going into what appears to be their main building. Reception might not be so good once we’re inside.”

Lowering his voice, Hazzard asked, “You trust these aliens?”

Jordan glanced at Adri, climbing the stairs beside him, then Aditi, on his other side. “Yes,” he answered. “I do. At any rate, we won’t learn much by keeping our distance from them.”

“Maybe,” Hazzard granted. “Just stay in touch with me.”

“Of course.” He flicked the phone shut and stuffed it back in his pocket.

Adri said, “I’m afraid I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation.”

Jordan shrugged. “That’s all right.”

“You’ll find that electromagnetic reception inside our buildings is quite clear.”

“Good.”

“I can understand your teammate’s concern. Xenophobia is a survival trait that must have been important in your earlier evolution.”

“I suppose it was,” said Jordan. “But I think it’s time we got past it.”

“Oh yes,” Adri agreed, beaming. “Long past time, I should think.”

Adri led them through an imposing entry, high double doors of some dark wood, and into the building. Out of the corner of his eye, Jordan noticed Aditi eying him curiously. This must be just as exciting for her as it is for us, he realized. And he felt glad of it.

Escorted by the little band of aliens, Jordan and the three other Earthmen followed Adri through stately corridors and large rooms that appeared to be offices where men and women sitting at desks were working away industriously. He felt impressed with the size of the offices and the apparent efficiency of these people.

“Just what are they doing?” he asked Adri.

“Oh … administrative tasks, for the most part. We have a sizeable community here.”

“I can see that.”

They entered a smaller room, where a long table was set with dishes and glassware.

“You must be hungry,” said Adri. “We’ve prepared something of a luncheon for you. I hope—”

Brandon interrupted, “You’ve prepared food we can eat?”

Again that patient smile curved Adri’s thin lips. “You and we can digest the same foods, I assure you. We’re just as human as you are.”

“That’s not possible,” Meek objected. “By all we know of biology, it’s impossible for two species from two different star systems to share identical biochemistries.”

“By all you know of biology,” Adri retorted, patiently. “You are about to learn much more than you currently know.”

Trying to stop an argument from developing, Jordan said, “Well, I’m rather hungry, aren’t you? If Adri says we can digest the food, why not take him at his word and give it a try?”

“That’s a good way to poison ourselves,” de Falla blurted.

Adri extended a hand to his shoulder but the geologist flinched back.

“Please,” said Adri, “we have no wish to harm you. And we do know something of your biology. After all, we’ve been watching and listening to your broadcasts for many years. And your Internet is a cornucopia of information on all sorts of subjects.”

Before de Falla or anyone else could respond, Adri added, “But if you wish, you can have your robots carry the food you brought with you and eat it.”

“We don’t mean to offend you,” Jordan said.

“No offense is taken,” Adri replied. “We understand how strange this must be for you. Strange and perhaps more than a little frightening.”

Glancing at Aditi, Jordan said, “It’s certainly strange. And rather wonderful, actually.”

De Falla asked Jordan, “May I borrow your phone?”

Jordan handed it to the geologist, wondering how the man was going to eat if he remained sealed inside his protective suit.

De Falla walked off to a corner of the room, speaking in low, urgent tones to Hazzard up in the ship.

“He’s not usually so … tense,” Jordan apologized to Adri.

The alien smiled once more. “It’s understandable. What I find remarkable is how you and your brother have thrown caution to the winds.”

Jordan glanced at Brandon, who was in earnest conversation with Aditi. He noticed how nicely she filled the clothes she was wearing. “My brother’s the impulsive type.”

“And you?” Adri probed. “You don’t strike me as impulsive.”

Jordan had to think a moment. At last he said, “I suppose I trust you. I’m hoping that we can be completely frank with one another. We both have a lot to learn.”

Adri’s smile widened. “Yes, that is quite true. A lot to learn.”

Hospitality

Most of the welcoming committee left the dining room, rather reluctantly, Jordan thought. Adri bade the four men from Earth sit at the oblong table, which was set with eight places.

Jordan looked across the room to de Falla, who was still on the phone, deep in intense, serious conversation. Adri, standing beside Jordan, was also gazing toward the geologist. This is getting awkward, Jordan thought. They’ve prepared a meal for us and Silvio’s holding up the proceedings.

But how could they possibly have produced food that we can eat? Jordan asked himself. Adri says our biochemistries are similar, but how similar can they be? We’re from different stars, different worlds. This planet seems very much like Earth, but it can’t be identical. Even the smallest difference could be potentially dangerous, fatal.

With those thoughts whirling through his mind, Jordan excused himself to Adri and walked across the room toward de Falla.

“You’re absolutely certain?” the geologist was saying into the phone, in a tense, urgent whisper.

De Falla glanced up at Jordan as he approached, nodded once, and said tightly, “All right. I’ll tell him.”

He clicked the phone shut.

“What did they have to say?” Jordan asked as he accepted the phone from de Falla.

De Falla’s normally cheerful expression was gone. He looked worried, suspicious.

“They’re all over the place,” he complained. “Longyear says the air’s okay to breathe—he thinks. Thornberry’s sending one of the robots here with food packets from the plane. Hazzard thinks we ought to go back to the plane and stay there overnight. Or maybe go back to the ship in orbit.”

“Is there any reason why we shouldn’t eat the food that these people have prepared for us?” Jordan asked.

“They’re all agreed on that. No way. It can’t be suitable to our bodies. We shouldn’t touch it.”

Jordan said, “They’re entirely right to be cautious.” He turned back to the table, where Adri and the others were seated and waiting for them. Brandon had seated himself beside Aditi, Jordan noticed.

“How long will it take the robot to get here with our food?”

“It’s already on its way,” de Falla answered. “Maybe another fifteen, twenty minutes.”

Jordan gripped the geologist’s arm and started toward the table. “Let’s continue the experiment, then. Brandon and I will try the food they’ve prepared. You and Meek can wait until the robot arrives.”

De Falla looked appalled. “You could be killing yourselves!”

“They don’t look like poisoners to me,” Jordan said, gazing toward Aditi, who was chatting amiably with Brandon.

“They might not want to harm us,” said de Falla, “but if their biochemistry is even an eyelash different from ours…”

Trying to appear unconcerned, Jordan said, “We’ll soon find out, one way or the other.”

De Falla shook his head. “This is crazy.”

“Perhaps,” Jordan admitted. “But no matter what you eat, you’ll have to open your biosuit.”

As the geologist fumbled with his suit seals, Jordan sat down at the empty chair between Adri and one of the other women. At last de Falla took the only other empty chair, down the table across from Meek. A door in the sidewall opened and human servants—at least, they looked like humans to Jordan—began to bring in trays of food and drink.

“I’m afraid we don’t have any intoxicating refreshments for you,” Adri said as the service began. “Only water … or milk, if you prefer.”

“Water will be fine for me,” Jordan said.

“You don’t produce any wine?” Brandon asked.

With a slight shake of his head, Adri replied, “Oh, yes, we do. But we rarely drink it, especially during the daytime.”

Brandon looked puzzled by that, but Jordan thought, Different customs. Our biochemistry may be the same, but our social customs aren’t.

Adri cocked his head, as if listening to something that only he could hear. Then, looking down the table at de Falla and Meek, he announced, “Gentlemen, your robot has arrived with food from your supplies.”

At that moment, the chamber’s main door opened and the humanform robot rolled in, bearing a knapsack slung over one shoulder. It headed directly toward Jordan.

Pointing, Jordan told the robot, “Deliver to Dr. de Falla, please, and Dr. Meek.”

The aliens watched interestedly as the robot brought containers of food and bottles of water out of the knapsack and laid them before Meek and de Falla. Then it rolled back to the door and left the room.

Rising to his feet at the head of the table, Adri said, “Well, now that we all have been served, I suppose we can begin.” Raising his glass of water, he proclaimed, “Welcome to New Earth, gentlemen. May your stay with us be pleasant and instructive, for both of us.”

“Hear, hear,” said Jordan.

The food was excellent, Jordan thought. A salad of greens, a main course that looked and tasted like roast beef. Darkish bread, something like rye. Jordan saw that Brandon ate with relish.

Aditi, sitting between Brandon and de Falla, asked the geologist, “May I try a taste of your food?”

De Falla looked surprised. He glanced at Jordan, who nodded an okay, thinking, Our thin sandwiches aren’t as tasty as their beef. Nutritious, yes, but not haute cuisine.

Sure enough, Aditi took a bite from the half sandwich de Falla had handed her, made a smile for him, and left the remainder on her dish.

As the servants began clearing away the dishes, Meek yelped and jumped out of his chair. “A rat!” he shouted. “Look, it’s a rat! Two of them!”

De Falla hopped up from his chair, too. Brandon half-rose.

Jordan saw a dark furry creature about the size of a rat scurrying along the floor. It dashed under the table and out the other side. None of the aliens seemed in the least bit perturbed, although Adri rose to his feet.

“I must apologize,” he said. “These creatures have been developed to clean the floor. They are not vermin, they are rather like the machines you use to sweep your floors. Vacuum cleaners, I believe you call them.”

Jordan chuckled. “Bioengineered floor sweepers?”

“Yes,” said Adri. “They are not harmful, I assure you.”

Meek and de Falla sat down, shakily. The astrobiologist looked distinctly leery.

Trying to explain further, Adri said, “You see, where you have invented machines for certain tasks, we have developed biological means.”

Jordan remembered that he hadn’t seen any vehicles of any type on the city’s streets: only those horselike creatures.

After everyone calmed down, Adri said, “We’ve taken the liberty of preparing quarters for you. Assuming you wish to stay, that is.”

From down the table Meek said, “That’s very kind of you, but I think we’d better return to our plane.”

Jordan felt torn. He knew that returning to the ship was the safer thing to do, the more practical course. Yet he felt fascinated by this adventure: Intelligent, humanlike aliens, with a city that’s obviously the product of a significant technology. There’s so much to learn! So much to discover!

He realized that everyone’s eyes were on him, waiting for his decision.

Why not carry the experiment to the next step? he asked himself.

“My brother and I will be happy to stay here,” he announced, almost surprising himself. “Dr. Meek and Dr. de Falla will want to return to our plane, I’m sure.”

Meek looked relieved. De Falla looked … angry.

Fears

Jordan walked down the broad stairs with Brandon, Meek, and de Falla. Their little buggy was sitting exactly where they had left it, with the robot that had brought their food sitting obediently inert in the rear row. Most of the aliens had dispersed after lunch, but Adri and Aditi stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for Jordan and his brother to return.

“You’re crazy!” de Falla hissed, lowering his head and hunching his shoulders as if trying to prevent anyone from reading his lips.

Jordan replied, “For god’s sake, man, we’ve made physical contact with an intelligent alien race! I, for one, intend to learn as much about them as I can, as quickly as I can.”

“They’re not going to disappear if you come back to the plane with us.”

“And they’re not going to murder us in our beds if Bran and I stay here overnight.”

De Falla looked as if he wanted to keep on arguing, but instead he pressed his lips into a hard, unhappy line.

As they reached the buggy, Brandon asked Meek, “Harmon, what do you think?”

“Think?” Meek looked alarmed, like a student unexpectedly called on by his professor. “Think about what?”

“About all this,” Brandon said, sweeping his arm in a wide gesture.

Meek ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “I think Silvio is correct. But he doesn’t go far enough. We should go back to the ship.”

“You mean, in orbit?” Jordan snapped.

With a vigorous nod, Meek said, “Why spend the night here when you could be safe and sound, up in orbit.”

Jordan said, “You may be right, both of you.” Before either man could say anything, he went on, “And yet I simply can’t turn my back on all this.”

“I think you’re being foolish,” Meek said. “Emotional.”

Jordan glanced up the stairs at Aditi standing there, waiting. “You’re probably right about that,” he muttered.

“Come on,” de Falla said to Meek. “Let’s get going, before they change their minds about letting us leave.”

He climbed into the driver’s seat and Meek got in beside him, the knees of his long legs poking up awkwardly.

“I’ll give you a call first thing in the morning,” Jordan said.

“If they don’t slit your throats first,” de Falla muttered darkly.

Jordan watched the buggy trundle down the street, then turned and started up the stairs again, Brandon at his side.

“Silvio’s gone off the deep end,” Brandon said. “He used to be a fun guy, but he’s turned hostile.”

“This is a lot for him to swallow,” said Jordan. “A lot for each of us, actually.”

“But it’s turned him into a paranoid.”

“He’ll adjust.”

Brandon said, “Maybe it’s better that he goes back to the ship. I got the feeling he was pretty close to cracking up.”

So much for all the psych testing before we took off, Jordan thought. But then the psychiatrists never expected us to meet intelligent aliens. None of us expected that.

As they approached the top of the stairs, Jordan saw that the sky was darkening. Thick clouds were rolling in.

“It looks as if it’s going to rain,” he said as he reached Adri and Aditi.

Squinting up at the sky, Adri said, “Yes. Rain has been predicted.”

“But it won’t bother us,” said Aditi. “We’re protected.”

“By going indoors,” Jordan said.

“No, the entire city is protected,” she corrected.

“The whole city?” Brandon asked.

Adri replied, “The city lies beneath a protective dome.”

“I didn’t see any dome.”

“It’s not material,” Adri explained. “It’s a dome of energy. That’s why your orbiting sensors didn’t see our city: the dome blocked their view.”

“A dome of energy?” Jordan asked, intrigued.

“Yes,” said Aditi. “We don’t really need these buildings at all. We could live completely out in the open, if we wished. Protected by energy shields.”

Adri pointed out, “The material buildings are more energy-efficient. And, of course, we learned how to build structures long before we learned how to generate energy shields.”

“Of course,” Brandon said, his voice hollow.

Adri gestured toward the building’s entrance. “Would you like to see the quarters we have prepared for you?”

“Certainly,” said Jordan. Then he added, “I presume they’re inside a building.”

Adri laughed. “Yes, yes, of course they are.”

“If you’d prefer to stay outside,” Aditi said, “we could provide energy shelters for you.”

Jordan glanced at Brandon, then answered, “No, thank you. We’re accustomed to living inside structures with solid walls and roofs, just as you are.”

Adri led them back into the building, down its central corridor, out the rear into a long rectangular courtyard bordered with small flowering trees. At the end of the courtyard stood a smaller, two-storied building. Jordan walked between Adri and Aditi; Brandon stayed on Aditi’s other side. The sky above had grown ominously dark, thick clouds scudding past. Lightning suddenly flashed and almost immediately thunder boomed, jarringly loud. Yet no rain fell on them, although Jordan felt a strong breeze gusting through the courtyard, making the little trees sway.

Totally unconcerned about the storm, Adri pointed to the building ahead and explained, “This is what you would probably call a dormitory.” He cocked his head slightly to one side, then added, “Or perhaps a hotel.”

“You must have other cities here and there,” Jordan said. Another flash of lightning and an immediate peal of thunder.

“Oh no, this is our only community. We have no need for more.”

“Farms, factories? That sort of thing?”

Nodding, Adri replied, “Yes, they are all here, on the edge of our city. The farms are enjoying the rain, I should think.”

“Everything we need is here,” Aditi said.

“You mean to say that the rest of the planet is empty?” Brandon asked, unbelieving.

“Not empty,” said Adri. “This world is teeming with life.”

“I mean human life,” Brandon said.

Adri smiled at him. “Our entire human population lives here, in the city. The rest of the planet is for the other living species.”

Jordan thought a moment, then asked, “That means you must keep your own numbers at a stable level.”

“Yes, certainly.”

“We have to,” said Aditi. “Otherwise we would put a strain on our natural resources.”

With a sigh, Jordan said, “I wish our people on Earth were that wise.”

“It is necessary,” said Adri. “We must live in balance with the planet’s resources.”

Brandon said, “Back home we use the resources of the rest of the solar system.”

“And our numbers keep growing,” Jordan added.

“Yes, that may be so for you,” said Adri, “but as you can see, we have no other planets to exploit. We must live within the resources that this single world can provide.”

With that, they approached the main door to the dormitory building. It opened for them automatically.

Visitors’ Quarters

The interior of the building was richly decorated with swirling, colorful abstract murals.

“Each corridor is color-coded,” Adri explained. “The predominant tone in this main corridor is orange, as you can see. Side corridors are in cooler tones: blue, green, lilac.”

“Impressive,” said Jordan. “And delightful.”

“I’m so pleased you enjoy it.”

Brandon asked, “Do you sleep here? In this building?”

“Yes, we do,” Aditi answered. “On the upper floor.”

Adri stopped at an intricately carved door. It slid open at the touch of his fingertip.

“I hope this suite will be comfortable for you,” he said, ushering Jordan and Brandon in with a sweep of his arm. “It has two separate bedrooms connected by the sitting room, here.”

Aditi remained out in the corridor.

“Aren’t you coming in?” Jordan called to her.

She broke into a bright smile and stepped into the sitting room.

Jordan looked around the room. It was handsomely furnished with a long, low sofa, several armchairs, two desks on opposite walls. The walls themselves glowed slightly, a pearly gray. Wall screens, he realized. He noticed a faint trace of a floral scent. Jasmine? he wondered.

“If this is a dormitory room,” Brandon said, grinning, “I can’t imagine what your luxury hotel suites must look like.”

Jordan saw that the doors leading to the bedrooms were both open. The bedrooms looked identical: large, comfortable, attractively appointed. He caught a glimpse of a small gray creature that scurried beneath the bed in one of the rooms. Startled for an instant, he recovered his composure. Vacuum cleaner, he reminded himself.

“You can communicate with your ship,” said Adri, “using the wall screens.”

Aditi said, “The closets contain robes in your sizes. We were uncertain as to what you would prefer for clothing, so we merely provided the robes. I hope they’re satisfactory.”

“Perfectly satisfactory,” Jordan said.

Brandon joked, “I hope whoever’s in the room above us isn’t a flamenco dancer.”

Adri’s expression went so perplexed that Jordan had to stifle an urge to laugh.

“Flamenco dancer?” Aditi asked, also obviously puzzled.

“It’s a form of entertainment,” Brandon explained, and he stomped his feet a few times while snapping his fingers.

“I see,” said Adri, still a bit uncertain.

But Aditi broke into laughter. “It’s a joke! You were being humorous.”

“I was trying,” Brandon said.

Quite seriously, Adri said, “I can assure you, whoever is residing above this suite is not a flamenco dancer.”

Jordan said, “We’re glad to hear that.” And he studied Aditi’s vivacious, happy face, reveling in the sound of her laughter.

Adri said, “If you don’t mind, we’ll leave you two to familiarize yourselves with your quarters and relax awhile. Shall I call for you for dinner in a few hours? Will that be all right?”

“That’ll be fine,” Brandon said.

To Aditi, Jordan asked, “Will you join us for dinner?”

“If you like,” she said.

“I’d be very pleased if you did.”

With a smiling nod, Aditi said, “I’ll be happy to.”

Once they were alone in the sitting room, Jordan flipped his pocketphone open and called Thornberry. To his surprise, the roboticist’s face appeared on the wall screen opposite the sofa, slightly larger than life.

“All is well,” Jordan reported. Swinging the phone slowly around the room, he went on, “As you can see, they’ve set us up in very comfortable quarters. We’ll be having dinner with Adri in a little while.”

“We’ve been monitoring you through your phone,” Thornberry said, his heavy brows slightly knitted. “Glad to get visuals, though. Now what was that business about energy domes?”

Jordan felt mildly annoyed. They’re eavesdropping, he thought. We’ll have to turn the phones off if we want any privacy.

“I’ll ask Adri for more details,” he replied. “When you come down here, perhaps you can meet with their technical people.”

“I’d like that,” said Thornberry.

“What about Meek and de Falla?” Jordan asked. “Are they coming up to the ship or staying down here?”

Hazzard came into the picture, behind Thornberry’s shoulder. “They’re coming up here. I pointed out to them that they’d just have to go back tomorrow, but they insisted on returning to the ship. They’re really spooked, especially Silvio.”

“I’m afraid so,” Jordan agreed.

“How are the aliens treating you?” Hazzard asked.

“Very well indeed,” said Jordan. “You can tell de Falla to relax.”

“You’re in uncharted territory, Jordan,” Hazzard said. “Be careful.”

“Thanks for the advice. I’ll call you first thing in the morning.”

“Or sooner, if you need to.”

“Yes, certainly. But for now I’m going to turn off our phones.”

“No!” Hazzard snapped. “We need to be in constant touch with you.”

Frowning slightly at the oversized image on the wall screen, Jordan said, “I don’t feel comfortable having you listening in on every word I say.”

“We need to know what’s going on,” Hazzard insisted. Thornberry agreed with a tense nod.

Jordan saw that his brother was grinning at him. To Hazzard, he said, “Geoff, I’m going to pull rank on you. I’m going to turn off our phones after dinner. If they murder us in our sleep you’ll find out about it soon enough.”

“I don’t like it,” said Hazzard.

“I understand,” Jordan replied. “Your objection will be noted in the ship’s log.”

Once the wall screen went blank, Brandon said to Jordan, “You want some privacy when you’re with Aditi.”

Jordan tried to stare his brother down, failed, and at last admitted, “Wouldn’t you?”

The four of them had a leisurely meal in a sizeable dining room down the corridor from their suite. Several dozen tables were filled with couples and larger groups. Human—or rather, alien—waiters served trays laden with steaming soups, crisp salads, and savory meats. There was no wine, but Adri introduced them to a pungent drink that somehow seemed to go well with each course.

Jordan chatted with Aditi, for the most part, leaving Brandon to talk with Adri.

“I take it that Adri heads your government here,” he prompted.

“Government?” Aditi asked, as if the term was new to her.

“He’s your leader,” Jordan said. “He makes the final decisions about things.”

“Oh! You mean chief of the administration. Yes, you could say that’s Adri’s position.”

“And you? What do you do?”

Again Aditi looked briefly at a loss, but then her expression brightened. “I’m a teacher.”

“A teacher? Really?” Jordan realized that he hadn’t seen any children in the city. Not one.

“Yes.”

“Can you teach me your language?”

She smiled. “It’s very different from yours. We use different tones, different parts of the vocal organ.”

“Would it be very difficult to teach me?”

“It might be,” Aditi said, her face growing serious. “The most arduous part of learning is preparing the mind to accept new knowledge.”

“I never thought of it that way.”

“Would you like to see more of the city? The farms, the orchards, they’re quite lovely.”

Jordan felt she was changing the subject, but he nodded readily. “I’d be happy to have you show them to me.”

“Good,” said Aditi. “First thing tomorrow.”

At last they finished the meal with cups of a brew very much like coffee. Jordan bade a reluctant good night to Aditi and Adri, then he and his brother made their way back to their quarters.

“No dessert,” Brandon noted.

“So they’re not trying to fatten us up for the slaughter,” said Jordan.

“From what Adri told me, they don’t slaughter meat animals. The grow their meat in biovats, just as we do on the ship.”

Jordan nodded. “Makes sense. Why raise an animal just to kill it when you can grow the same meat from a culture of a few cells?”

They entered their suite. Jordan popped his phone open and called up to the ship. Trish Wanamaker’s chunky face appeared on the wall screen.

“Where’s Thornberry?” Jordan asked.

“Sleeping, I guess. He’s been at this station all day, just about. I’ve taken over the night shift.”

“I see. Well, we’ve had a pleasant dinner with our new friends and now we’re going to retire. I’ll turn off the phones, but I’ll call you when we awake.”

Wanamaker looked troubled. “Geoff won’t like that.”

“I know. We’ve been through all that. Geoff will just have to accept it.”

With a shrug, Wanamaker said, “You’re the boss.”

“Good night, Trish.”

“Good night, boss.”

Her image winked off and Jordan clicked his phone’s power button. Brandon pulled his phone from his shirt pocket and did the same.

“No alcoholic beverages,” Brandon observed as he went to the sofa and plopped down on it.

“That drink they served with dinner wasn’t bad, though,” he said to his brother.

“I wonder why they didn’t serve us the wine that Adri told us they make?”

Jordan shrugged. “Perhaps they didn’t want us to get sloshed our first night here.”

Brandon grinned at him. “It’s been a helluva day, hasn’t it?”

“Indeed it has.”

“Do you think Hazzard’s right? Are we in any danger here? Should we be on our guard?”

Jordan eased himself down onto the armchair nearest the sofa. “We’re in the lions’ den, Bran. If they harbor evil intentions we’ll know about it soon enough.”

“They’ve got a high technology. Higher than ours, with their bioengineered animals and energy domes.”

“And a lot more, I’m sure.”

Leaning forward intently, Brandon said, “I get the feeling that they expected us. They knew we were coming.”

“Well, they did set up the laser beacon to attract us.”

“No, I don’t mean that. I think they expected us to send a ship here. They probably tracked us all the way from Earth.”

“Really?”

“They’ve been studying us, Jordy. For god knows how long. They’ve learned our language, they know where we’ve come from. It’s like they expected us.”

“They could have learned a lot by tapping into our radio and video broadcasts, I suppose. And the webs, of course.”

“Why? Why would they do that?”

“Why not? They’re as intelligent as we are. We sent probes to this planet before our mission was launched. Of course they knew about us, expected us.”

“But why didn’t they try to contact us? If they can pick up our radio and video, why didn’t they call us?”

“I’ll have to ask Adri about that.”

Brandon shook his head. “It’s all just too damned convenient. A planet just like Earth. Human beings. We can breathe their air and eat their foods. It’s uncanny. It gives me the creeps, kind of.”

Jordan said nothing.

“Tell me the truth, Jordy: doesn’t all this bother you? Doesn’t it worry you?”

Jordan thought about it as he looked into his brother’s troubled eyes, and found that the truth startled him. “Bran, the truth is that I feel as if I’ve just arrived home.”

Rebellion

Jordan awoke and stared at the ceiling for long, languorous moments. Morning sunlight slanted through the room’s one window. A bird—a winged creature about the size of a hummingbird with feathers gleaming like jewels—was flitting back and forth up near the ceiling. Bug catcher? Jordan wondered.

His bed was one of the most comfortable he’d ever slept in; it seemed to mold itself to his body shape. He knew he had dreamt, but he couldn’t remember what his dreams were about. Probably better that way, he thought.

He rose, showered, then shaved with implements neatly laid out on the bathroom cabinet top. His pencil-thin mustache seemed a bit less ragged than it had appeared a few days ago.

Three ankle-length robes hung in the bedroom closet, all in the same bluish gray tone. Underwear in the bureau drawer, together with slipper socks that had padded soles. They all fit reasonably well, although the underpants felt looser than Jordan would have preferred. So they know my approximate size, he thought, but not my precise preferences.

Brandon was already in the sitting room, wearing his own slacks and wrinkled shirt from the day before, in thoughtful conversation with Paul Longyear.

“It’s just plain impossible,” the lean-faced biologist was saying. “I spent half the night running a statistical analysis of the likelihood of a biosphere being so exactly like Earth, and the program kept blowing up in my face. Everything goes to infinity! It’s just impossible!”

Brandon made a sour face at the image on the wall screen. “Paul, you know there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. It doesn’t matter what the computer program says, the planet is here. It exists.”

“How can it be so much like Earth?”

“Maybe Earthlike planets are commonplace. For all we know—”

“Come on, Brandon,” Longyear interrupted. “Out of the thousands of exoplanets that have been discovered, this one individual planet is a duplicate of Earth. An exact duplicate!”

“Not entirely exact,” Brandon said.

“With human beings living on it!”

Jordan had never seen the normally imperturbable, stolid Longyear so worked up. His hair, normally braided in a neat queue, looked frayed, hanging down over his shoulders in careless disarray. His dark eyes glittered with suspicion. Or is it fear? Jordan asked himself. Fear of the unknown. Fear that we’re finding ourselves pretty ignorant, compared to Adri’s people.

“It exists,” Brandon repeated. “It’s real, no matter what the theories or the statistics may say.”

“Have you considered,” Longyear said slowly, as if trying to calm himself, “that everything you’re seeing is an illusion? A trick? Maybe they can manipulate your senses so that you see what they want you to see.”

Brandon rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. Then, “Listen, Paul. The food I ate last night wasn’t an illusion. It gave me a gas attack. I’ve been burping and farting all damned night.”

Jordan laughed aloud as his brother abruptly ended the link and Longyear’s image on the wall screen winked off.

“Really? The food gave you gas?”

Brandon grinned slyly. “A little. Not as bad as I made out to Paul.” He shook his head. “He thinks they’re manipulating our minds, that all this is just an illusion.”

“It could be. Gas and all.”

“Get real, Jordy.”

“Is that possibility any less real than the idea that this planet is a natural duplicate of Earth? Down to an intelligent race that exactly resembles us?”

Before Brandon could reply, a fluting musical tone filled the room. Turning, Jordan saw that their front door was glowing with a pulsating light.

“Doorbell?” he wondered as he rushed to the door.

It slid open at the touch of his finger. Aditi stood in the corridor, smiling at him. She wore chocolate brown shorts and a lighter short-sleeved blouse. Her hair, the color of autumn leaves, was nicely tousled.

“Welcome!” said Jordan, delighted. Then he noticed an orange-furred catlike creature slinking around Aditi’s ankles, looking up at him with big, bright, saucer-shaped curious eyes.

“Welcome to both of you.”

Aditi glanced down at the animal. “Sleen is a pet. She’s very quiet. You don’t mind if she accompanies us?”

“Not at all. Come on in.”

“The robe fits you,” she said as she stepped into the sitting room. “I’m relieved. I wasn’t certain we had the right measurements for you. We only had an hour or so, and the remote measuring system can be … well, less than exact.”

“The system worked beautifully. The robe is very comfortable,” Jordan said, ushering her in with a sweep of his arm.

Aditi said, “I thought we’d have some breakfast and then go to see the farms.”

“Fine,” he said, “although I should speak with the people on the ship first. Why don’t you and Brandon go to the restaurant and I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

She looked slightly disappointed, but said, “Very well.”

Brandon offered his arm and gallantly led her out of the suite. The furry pet trailed after them, tail held high. Jordan stood in the middle of the sitting room, wondering if he’d just made a grievous mistake.

The wall screen was wide enough to show Thornberry, Hazzard, and Meek sitting side by side at one of the wardroom tables. They looked grim, like three judges about to pronounce a death sentence.

“We’ve reviewed the mission protocol,” Hazzard said, without preamble. “There’s nothing in it that covers the situation we’re in.”

With an amused smile, Jordan said, “I should think not.”

“But we can’t all go down to the surface, Jordan. The protocol specifies that there has to be at least a skeleton crew aboard the ship at all times.”

“That could be handled by robots, couldn’t it, Mitch?”

“It could,” said Thornberry.

But Hazzard said, “The protocol says crew members, not robots.”

“How many would constitute a skeleton crew?”

“Three, at least,” said Hazzard.

“So seven of you can come down and join Bran and me here.”

Meek spoke up. “Not there, where you are. Not in their city.”

“Why not?”

Thornberry said, “We thrashed this out last night, Jordan. We’ve come to the conclusion that we should set up a base camp for ourselves, just as we planned to do before we knew that the aliens existed.”

Jordan felt slightly nettled. “But why go to the trouble of setting up a camp when you can live here in comfort? Even luxury.”

“Mission protocol,” said Hazzard, rigidly.

“But—”

Meek pointed a lean finger and said, “We’ve decided it will be much safer for us to set up our own base and not be in the hands of these strangers.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little … well, overly cautious?” Jordan asked.

Thornberry smiled placatingly. “Look, Jordan. These folks may be grand and wonderful people. But we don’t know that for certain, now, do we?”

“They’ve certainly treated Bran and me very handsomely.”

“Yes, surely they have. But there’s nothing wrong with being just a teeny bit careful, is there?”

Before Jordan could answer, Meek blurted, “Safety first! Fools rush in, but we’re not going to be foolish. No matter what you say!”

Good lord, Jordan thought. I have a rebellion on my hands!

Hazzard looked grimly adamant. “Look, Jordan, we’re on our own here. The messages we’re sending back to Earth take more than eight years to get there. And another eight years for them to respond. We’ll get no help from home.”

“But we’re not under any threat. Adri and his people have been more than kind to us.”

“We have no idea of what their motivations are,” Meek said, almost vehemently. “Or their intentions. I, for one, have no desire to live among them. Not until we learn much more about them. Much more.”

“We’ve decided that’s our best course of action,” Hazzard said.

“I see,” said Jordan. Trying to buy time so he could think the situation through, he asked, “Have you decided where you’ll set up your camp?”

“In the clearing where the rocketplanes put down,” Hazzard replied. “It’s close enough to their city to be convenient and—”

“And far enough away to give us a measure of safety,” Meek added.

Jordan saw that Thornberry wasn’t wearing his usual slight smile.

“Mitch, do you feel the same way?”

Looking uncomfortable, Thornberry spread his hands and said, “It’s for the best, Jordan.”

Is it? Jordan wondered. But aloud, he replied only, “Perhaps it is.”

And he thought, When faced with a rebellion, join it so that you can lead it.

The Farms

After breakfast, Brandon returned to their apartment, eager to talk with Elyse, back on the ship. Aditi, with her pet slinking alongside her, led Jordan along a street faced with low buildings to the edge of the city and the stone walkway that seemed to circle its perimeter.

Beyond them stood large cultivated fields, rows of green crops poking their heads above the neatly tilled soil. The catlike Sleen bounded into the field and was quickly lost to sight in the greenery.

“Don’t worry about Sleen,” Aditi said. “She always finds her way home. She’s just out hunting for a while.”

Jordan nodded.

“You’re very quiet this morning,” said Aditi.

“I have a lot to think about,” Jordan said.

“Such as?”

“Well, this is all rather overwhelming. To find a planet so much like Earth, peopled by creatures who look exactly like human beings—”

“We are human beings,” Aditi said, a smile dimpling her cheeks. “Just like you.”

“Really?”

Her smile faded. “Our studies showed that you are xenophobic. I was hoping you wouldn’t be. Adri told me you were carrying weapons when he first met you.”

“We were in a strange environment,” Jordan tried to explain. “Possibly hostile…”

She smiled at him. “But now you know better?”

“It’s just that … well, as I said, it’s rather overwhelming. Please give me a little time to get accustomed to all this.”

Aditi looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then said, “You can have all the time you need.”

Turning, she began to explain that the farms were outside the energy dome that protected the city from weather. Jordan saw heavy-looking deep brown animals moving slowly along the rows of crops, with long snouts and flicking red tongues.

“Do those beasts tend the farms entirely on their own?” he asked.

“Mostly on their own,” said Aditi. “They behave almost entirely by hardwired instinct. They have a very low order of intelligence.”

“Like some of our politicians,” he muttered.

“Politicians?” Aditi asked. Then, before Jordan could reply, she said, “Oh, you mean your leaders of government.”

“Yes,” Jordan said. Changing the subject, he asked, “The weather. Do you ever have serious storms? Storms strong enough to damage the crops?”

Aditi looked at him quizzically for a few heartbeats, as if she were searching her memory for the right answer. At last she replied, “Severe storms are very rare at this latitude. If one develops, we extend the energy shield to protect the fields.”

“I see.”

Aditi led him out into the farm. Jordan felt a tingle flicker through him as they stepped from the paved walkway onto the bare ground.

“We’re outside the energy dome now, aren’t we?” he said.

Aditi nodded. “Yes. Out in the open.”

Squinting up at the sun, Jordan saw Sirius glowing a hot bluish white. And a smaller blaze of light not far from it. The Pup, he realized. Sirius’s white dwarf companion.

“It must seem strange to you,” Aditi said, “to see two suns in the sky.”

“Everything here is strange,” said Jordan. “Yet somehow … familiar.”

They walked down the row of what looked to Jordan like newly sprouted cabbage. The sky was dotted with puffy white clouds. The earth at his feet looked soft, warm. He saw a beetle scurrying between sprouts.

“How old are you?” Aditi asked.

Surprised, he replied, “Fifty-two, if you must know.”

“Oh! Was I impolite?”

“Only a little.”

“I became one year old sixty-seven days ago,” she said.

“One?”

Aditi laughed at his consternation. “Our orbit around Sirius takes thirty of your years.”

“Oh. Of course.”

Jordan looked in the direction they were walking. The cultivated fields seemed to end well short of the wooded hills that rose before them. Beyond the hills, craggy mountains rose, green with trees almost to their rocky crests. Darker clouds were building up above them.

“Our calendar is different from yours,” Aditi said. “We have no moon, so we don’t count months the way you do.”

Jordan replied, “That’s a shame. No beautiful moonlit nights.”

“When the Pup swings in its orbit farther away from Sirius we have practically no nights at all. Just a sort of dim twilight.”

“Moonlight can be very romantic,” said Jordan.

“‘The orbéd maiden, with white fire laden, whom mortals call the Moon,’” Aditi quoted.

“You know Shelley?”

“I love his poetry.”

“You know so much about us,” Jordan said, “and I know so little about you.”

“We’ve been studying your world for a long time. More than nine years.” Then she added, “Our years.”

“Nearly three hundred Earth years. That goes back to before we invented radio.”

Aditi nodded.

“Did you know that we existed … the human race, I mean?”

“We saw that your world seemed to be a duplicate of ours,” she said.

“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 suppressed 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.

“If we trusted him,” Brandon said, “we’d be having dinner in his city, instead of here.”

Jordan said, “Bran, you and I have stayed at the city, we’ve partaken of Adri’s hospitality. No harmful effects. Nothing sinister.”

“It’s just too confoundingly pat,” Meek grumbled. “Too good to be true.”

Longyear and several others nodded.

“Harmon,” said Jordan gently, “perhaps you’re looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” Longyear muttered.

The robots glided into the room and began to place bowls of steaming soup before each person.

Jordan looked down the table at their suspicious faces. “Very well, you don’t trust Adri and his people. What do we do about it?”

Brandon replied instantly, “We try to find out as much as we can about them. Who they really are. Where they come from.”

“Adri says they were born here; they’re natives of this planet,” said Jordan.

“How can they be exactly like us?” Meek argued. “It’s beyond the realm of belief.”

Longyear countered, “They evolved on a planet just like Earth. Maybe it’s convergent evolution, or parallel evolution, if you want to call it that. I mean, this is the first really Earthlike planet we’ve found. Maybe wherever the conditions are the same, the results are the same, too. Inevitable.”

“I can’t believe that,” said Meek. “It goes against everything we know about biology. And statistics.”

“Maybe it doesn’t,” Longyear replied. “I mean, we have two examples of Earthlike environments and both of them have produced a human species.”

De Falla spoke up. “That’s another thing. How could this planet have survived the Pup’s explosions? How could it possibly bear any life at all?”

“Zadar told me that Sirius can’t be more than five hundred million years old,” Meek chimed in. “That’s not enough time for a planet to evolve such a complex biosphere.”

“Especially if the Pup went through a nova phase and showered this planet with lethal radiation,” said Meek.

Elyse said, “And this planet has no moon.”

“What does that have to do with it?” Jordan asked.

“Earth’s Moon acts as an anchor,” she explained. “It keeps our axis of rotation from tipping over too far. Without a big moon serving as an anchor, this planet should wobble wildly, its climate should swing back and forth every few tens of thousands of years.”

“Which would destabilize its ecosystems,” Longyear said. “Ice ages and global warmings, one right after another.”

“You see?” Meek said, almost triumphantly. “None of this adds up.”

Jordan raised both hands. “All right. All right. We have a lot of questions to be answered. But for the moment, let’s dig into this soup before it cools off.”

Meek dipped his spoon into the soup, then looked up and said, “We should set up a systematic investigation. Paul, you start examining the local plant and animal life. Sylvio, you and Elyse should dig into the geology, see if there’s evidence of damage from Sirius B’s nova explosions.”

Brandon said, “That’s my area, too.”

“Then you work with them.”

“And Zadar can compute the range of the planet’s axis shifts,” Elyse suggested.

Jordan said, “Good. Let’s put together an agenda for study. I’ll question Adri about his people’s history.”

“We should’ve brought a cultural anthropologist with us,” Brandon said.

“Who knew we’d need one?” said Thornberry, with a crafty grin.

Soon they were all firing questions back and forth, creating agendas, working out a map to be explored.

Jordan watched them at it while he quietly spooned up his soup. Hardly tasting the brew, he smiled inwardly. Now they’re working instead of fretting, he told himself. They’ve replaced their suspicions with curiosity. Good.

And he thought that he would like to ask Aditi several thousand questions about her people, her society, her customs, herself.

The following morning, Jordan dressed in his own clothes, which had been brought down from the orbiting ship along with everyone else’s. He could hear others coughing or splashing in the common lavatories. These partitions leave a lot to be desired as far as privacy is concerned, he thought.

He started for the dining area, but stopped at the open doorway to Brandon’s cubicle. His brother was sitting at his desk, his phone open on the desktop, long lists of words scrolling down the big flat screen affixed to the desk.

“Hard at work this early?” Jordan called from the corridor. “I’m impressed.”

Brandon looked up, the expression on his face dead serious.

“Come and look at this, Jordy.”

Jordan stepped through the doorway and went to his brother’s side. The screen showed lists of what seemed to be proper names, with definitions beside them.

“Elyse thought Adri’s name sounded vaguely familiar to her. She thought she’d heard it somewhere before. So this morning I started poking through our files on names from various cultures.”

“She thought she’d heard Adri’s name before? Back on Earth?” Jordan asked.

“Take a look.” Turning to the computer, he commanded, “Show name Adri.”

The words on the screen dissolved, replaced by Adri, and a definition:

Jordan blinked at the screen. “It must be a coincidence of some sort,” he murmured, trying to convince himself. “A wild coincidence.”

“Is it?” Brandon asked, his voice flat and hard. “Another coincidence? Aren’t these coincidences getting beyond the realm of belief?”

Jordan said nothing.

“A completely Earthlike planet. Peopled by creatures who are totally like us. Now one of them has a Hindu name. That’s way beyond coincidence, Jordy.”

“Look up Aditi,” Jordan said.

Brandon commanded the computer, and the screen instantly showed:

Jordan stared at the screen.

Brandon said, “That’s no coincidence, Jordy. None of this is a coincidence. It can’t be.”

Examination

Jordan called Meek and Thornberry to Brandon’s cubicle. They crowded the narrow space, bumping against the bed, the desk. There were no chairs; they had to stand and lean in behind Brandon. Once they looked at the names and their definitions, Meek said heatedly:

“I knew it. I knew it! They’re not what they claim to be. None of this is natural. It can’t be.”

Jordan shook his head as he sat on the unmade bed. “An entire planet made to exactly resemble Earth? It beggars the imagination.”

Thornberry shook his head. “Maybe what we’re seeing is an illusion. Maybe we’re being tricked.”

“How could that be?” Jordan demanded.

“How could any of this be?” Brandon countered, still seated at his desk.

Meek stood hemmed in by the desk, the expression on his face radiating suspicion. “Things are not what they seem,” he said, tapping the forefinger of his right hand into the palm of his left. “We’re being tricked. Hoodwinked.”

“But why?” Jordan asked, almost pleading. “Why would anyone go to all this trouble?”

“That’s what you’ve got to find out,” Meek said.

“Me?”

“You’re on friendly terms with this Adri person. You should confront him, tell him that we know he’s up to something.”

Jordan ran a hand through his silver hair. “I suppose so,” he said, reluctantly. To himself he added, I’m supposed to be the leader here. It’s time for me to lead.

As he started down the path toward Adri’s city, Jordan marveled again at how Earthlike the trees and shrubbery were. A squirrel-like creature scampered up one of the stately tall trees, a blur of gray fur. Then a dark buzzing little ball of purposeful energy, very much like a bee, zoomed past his ear, making him flinch. Birds glided through the foliage high above. Sunshine filtered through the forest canopy.

Meek and the others are right, Jordan thought. This is all too good to be true. Maybe it actually is an illusion, maybe Adri and his people have some way of reading our minds and then showing us what we want to see.

Suddenly Adri was on the path, walking slowly toward him, wearing his usual ankle-length grayish blue robe. Jordan noticed that it bore an intricate design, fine threads making delicate loops and curves.

“Good morning,” Jordan called to the alien.

“And a very pleasant good morning to you, friend Jordan,” said Adri, with a warm smile.

He seems so friendly, Jordan thought. So happy to see me.

“I was going to the city to find you,” said Jordan.

“I was going to your camp to find you,” Adri said.

“I have a lot of questions to ask you.”

Nodding, Adri said, “I’m sure you do. I hope I can answer them all to your satisfaction.”

They started walking side by side, through the rich green foliage and the warm dappled sunlight, toward the city. Adri reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out a tiny creature, no bigger than the palm of his hand. He stroked its dark fur soothingly.

He noticed Jordan staring at the animal. “Pets can be a very good relaxation implement,” he said, almost apologetically.

Is he nervous? Jordan wondered. Worried?

“What is it that you want to know?” Adri asked.

“All this is not what it seems, is it?” Jordan began.

Adri blinked. “I don’t understand you.”

With a wide sweep of his arm, Jordan said, “This planet, your city, you yourselves … it’s all an illusion that you’re producing to make us feel comfortable about you.”

“Oh no. No, no, no,” Adri said, his voice soft but the expression on his face troubled, distressed. “I assure you, this is how I look. I’m as human as you are, truly.”

“It’s so very hard to accept.”

Smiling gently, Adri said, “I believe you have a saying, ‘What you see is what you get.’”

“How can you have exactly the same form as we do? It goes against everything we know.”

Adri’s smile widened slightly. “Then you are learning something new. That is progress, isn’t it?”

Jordan stopped and planted his fists on his hips. “Adri, my friend, I’m afraid that I don’t believe you. I can’t believe you.”

Adri stood in silence for a few heartbeats, stroking his furry pet, apparently thinking it over. “Would it help if I went back to your camp with you and allowed your people to examine me?”

Surprised by his offer, Jordan said, “Yes, I believe it would.”

“Then let’s do that, by all means.” Adri turned around and started heading for the camp.

Jordan caught up with him in a few strides and walked alongside the alien, who slid his pet back inside his robe.

“I appreciate your willingness to let us examine you,” Jordan said, almost apologetically.

Adri murmured, “Doubting Thomas.”

“From the Bible.”

“Yes.”

Suddenly embarrassed, Jordan stammered, “I … I don’t mean to call you … I mean, well, it’s only natural for us to doubt such coincidences.”

“You’ve been to so many worlds that you know that this one is anomalous,” Adri said, almost seriously.

“No, this is the first—” Then Jordan realized that Adri was bantering with him. He laughed and the two of them walked side by side back to the humans’ camp.

Adri patiently allowed Meek and Longyear to examine him. X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging, tissue samples, neutrino scans: all revealed a completely human body. Even his tiny pet, which Adri clutched in both hands through the examination, closely matched a species of miniature terrestrial prairie dog. Scans of Adri’s brain were strikingly similar to scans of the humans in the computer files.

The alien seemed to take all the prodding and scanning with good grace. He accepted lunch with Jordan, Brandon, and Elyse while Meek and Longyear studied the results of their tests. His furry pet remained hidden inside his robe.

“Aditi was asking about you,” Adri said as they sat in the dining room, munching on sandwiches.

Jordan felt his heart leap.

“About your name,” Brandon said, his face showing suspicion. “And hers.”

“They are from your Hindu culture,” Adri replied easily. “I’m afraid you would find our names, in our own language, impossible to pronounce.”

“We seem to have the same vocal equipment,” Brandon said, almost accusingly.

Adri acknowledged the point with a dip of his chin. “Yes, of course. But it would take you quite a bit of time to learn how to make the sounds we make quite naturally.”

“You learn your language in childhood, of course,” said Jordan.

“Of course,” Adri said.

They spent the afternoon in more examinations, more tests. Dr. Yamaguchi gave Adri a standard physical exam, testing his reflexes, muscular coordination, even his eyesight. Adri accepted it all with an accommodating smile. Through it all his little pet sat in a corner of Yamaguchi’s cubicle, silent and still, its bright eyes watching.

At last, late in the day, they had gone through every test they could think of.

“If there’s nothing more,” Adri told Jordan, “I should return to the city now.”

Jordan walked with him partway along the trail through the forest.

“You must come to the city tomorrow,” Adri said, once Jordan stopped. “Aditi would like to see you again.”

“I would very much like to see her,” Jordan heard himself admit.

With a smiling nod, Adri said, “Tomorrow, then. Perhaps you would be good enough to let our people examine you.”

Surprised, Jordan burst into laughter. “Certainly! Turnabout is fair play.”

Adri laughed too. Then he turned and started along the trail once more. “Until tomorrow, then,” he called to Jordan.

Once Jordan got back to the base he found Meek, Longyear, and Thornberry waiting for him at the entrance to the main shelter. They looked grim.

“Well,” said Jordan, “Adri’s as human as you or I, isn’t he?”

Meek said, “More than you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come with us,” said Meek.

They led Jordan to Longyear’s biology lab. The biologist called up the scans he had done on Adri’s DNA.

Jordan peered at the screen’s display. “It looks perfectly normal to me. Of course, I’m no expert—”

“It is perfectly normal,” said Longyear, almost in a growl. “That’s human DNA. From Earth.”