Damia's Children by Anne McCaffrey Page A

inaugurated the lift. So she knew the second in which the personnel carrier was taken from the cradle, as it hovered and, with a split second to prepare herself, was thrust across the void in the teleportation that would end at the Mrdinis’ world.
    Clarf, which was the nearest that humans could come to the sounds which Mrdinis made for their homeworld, was in the usual third position of a oxygen-hydrocarbon world about its primary. The system, however, was in the midst of a very populous area of the galaxy. It was no wonder the Mrdinis had achieved star flight, with so many near, bright and sparkling neighbors to encourage them to explore other worlds. Clarf’s position in such a teeming cluster also gave the Mrdinis some protection from the encroaching Hive: there were many other worlds to attract that species’ interest.
    When the transfer of teleports occurred, Laria was involved in the exchange.
    Hi there, small stuff,
a cheerful baritone voice said.
Allow me to introduce ourselves: Yoshuk is me, and Nesrun is my happy otherself.
There was an alto chuckle.
    Yoshuk has his joke,
the alto voice said.
Be welcome, young Laria. And there! You’re landed. Quite a welcoming committee so be ready.
    Since the capsule’s controls were for human manipulation, Laria unsealed the hatch and cracked it. The blazing light that poured in made her squint while the ’Dinis sneezed, honked, crackled at a high level of joy and excitement. Shielding her eyes, Laria pushed the hatch back, and then stoodaside. Tip and Huf were most insistent in sign and sound that they emerge first. Noise poured in on them as well as light, and the noise was almost as violent as the assault of light on her eyes. But she couldn’t see well enough to locate the source. Then the other Mrdini filed past her, clicking softly with polite appreciation of her courtesy. The moment they stepped out, they added their own sharp barks and shouts to the external din. She blinked furiously to adjust her eyes. She wondered how the ’Dinis had been able to see at all on Aurigae if this brilliance was constant on their world.
    Ooops,
said Yoshuk,
try these.
A pair of wraparound lenses floated in through the open hatch to her.
Someone should have warned you.
    Laria put the glasses on and the light abated to a much more comfortable level. The noise outside, however, crescendoed and, just as she peered outside, four pairs of ’Dini paws reached in toward her. The clicks and squeaks of welcome were abetted by signs of “come out,” “come here,” “join us,” and “where it”—meaning herself.
    Laughing at the conflicting salutations, Laria stepped out and had her first view of Clarf. Or rather the Tower complex, reassuringly familiar despite the alien sky, the incredible sun making the flat apron a heat-trap. She was right beside the Tower which had been one of the first such installations on the Mrdini-controlled worlds. The shapes of the Tower and its auxiliary buildings, even the cradles, were familiar but the materials from which they had been made were most unusual. Rock, orange slashes with black and red, had been used for the walls: some deep blue materialslated the roofs. The cradles were iron black, not alloy blue, and the plascrete was a greeny-black—and the yellow-white of sun soaking up light and throwing back glare.
    Laria had only the merest glance at what panorama lay beyond—low and layered buildings of complex geometric design, great triangular mounds which she assumed were entrances to immense hibernatories and, overhead buzzing like so many angry insects, the unmistakable figures of airborne ’Dinis, using their personal lift belts. Occasionally a vivid orange line shot across the sky and a flying figure veered abruptly out of its way. There seemed to be uncluttered air space over the Tower Complex.
    We’ll be with you as soon as incoming traffic eases,
Yoshuk said.
They may