have an egg I've been nurturing for decades and now the entity within is breaking through her shell. If you're in another mess, use your skills to get out of it.
What is it?
Your skills, Terran!
What's in the shell?
I cannot be certain, but it may very well be a female of my own species. I believe I have combined the correct mix of DNA and–Oh. She is breaking through!
Spirit…
He'd cut the link.
I sat back and took a deep breath. It occurred to me, in this small interlude, that the air seemed very Earthlike, besides the smells of cooking, with none of the tainted odors of other planets I'd been on. The gravity, too, seemed just right. I had run to this building and now I realized I hadn't been out of breath.
I gazed out a window. Beyond the dirt field and the wire fence, a thick forest laced rolling hills. The trees were also Earth-like, green, lush, and towering, with needles like Earth's conifers. A thick carpet of grass stretched uphill until it was lost in the darkness of woods. I looked up at silver-rimmed cumuli clouds, creamy puffs that seemed to be lit from within as they drifted lazily in an emerald sky. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was in my home state of Colorado.
Big Mack tapped the table to get my attention. “That's why we call it New Terra,” he said, “Goldilocks for short. It's just right, isn't it? Always within the life zone for its entire orbit.”
And why,
I thought,
the islands that made up this sea world were so coveted by Terran colonists that they could find excuses to annihilate the civilized natives of the planet.
The cook brought a tray to our table and set dishes before Mack and me.
Mack nodded at my meal. Steak, mashed potatoes, a green salad, a slice of mud pie and coffee.
“Yum,” he said. “Your favorite, and it's mock. There are no cattle-like animals on New Terra. I suspect the colonists will bring them along once we announce the Day of Land Grab.”
“When the last of the natives are gone?” I asked.
“That's right! When the last Orang is dead and buried. Is
that
what you wanted to hear? We offered them relocation on one of the Northern islands, but they refused to go.”
“Imagine that,” I said. “Stubborn bastards.”
“You're a wise ass, Rammis.”
I was hungry and the smells made me drool. “I'll eat when my friends are fed,” I said.
Mack leaned forward and folded his arms on the table. “Give me your word that you'll cooperate and aid us in our mission, and your friends will feast on foods to suit their alien palettes.”
“You should know I can't do that.” I glanced around. Many of the men had stopped eating and were watching us.
“How would you like to be fed intravenously?” Mack asked.
“I guess I couldn't stop you,” though the thought of a needle made me shiver, “but that doesn't mean I'd cooperate.”
His eye twitched. I'd seen it before in him, a sign of stress. “Then what will it take?”
“Nothing you can offer. I think you wasted good creds buying me on the block. Suppose you sell me to some other planet that can use a tel's abilities for a purpose other than exterminating a race of people?”
He sat back and stroked his scruffy beard. “They're not
people
. They're Orangs, nothin' but a bunch o' tree-swinging monkeys!”
“Is that why you can't beat them? Maybe they're more guerrillas than monkeys?”
He grabbed my shirt in a swift motion and pulled me closer. The room grew quiet. I smelled tobacco on his breath. His clamped teeth were yellow. “I can fill your days with so much pain you'll beg me to let you cooperate. You'd turn over your own mother and pray for death.”
I gripped his hands, but he held on tight. “What you said about the tel death blow…”
His eyes narrowed.
“I can use it on myself, too.” As I thought about it, I realized that I probably could do just that.
He let go and pushed me back in the chair. “Salo!” he called. “C'mere.”
The cook stopped slicing a brisket and
What is it?
Your skills, Terran!
What's in the shell?
I cannot be certain, but it may very well be a female of my own species. I believe I have combined the correct mix of DNA and–Oh. She is breaking through!
Spirit…
He'd cut the link.
I sat back and took a deep breath. It occurred to me, in this small interlude, that the air seemed very Earthlike, besides the smells of cooking, with none of the tainted odors of other planets I'd been on. The gravity, too, seemed just right. I had run to this building and now I realized I hadn't been out of breath.
I gazed out a window. Beyond the dirt field and the wire fence, a thick forest laced rolling hills. The trees were also Earth-like, green, lush, and towering, with needles like Earth's conifers. A thick carpet of grass stretched uphill until it was lost in the darkness of woods. I looked up at silver-rimmed cumuli clouds, creamy puffs that seemed to be lit from within as they drifted lazily in an emerald sky. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was in my home state of Colorado.
Big Mack tapped the table to get my attention. “That's why we call it New Terra,” he said, “Goldilocks for short. It's just right, isn't it? Always within the life zone for its entire orbit.”
And why,
I thought,
the islands that made up this sea world were so coveted by Terran colonists that they could find excuses to annihilate the civilized natives of the planet.
The cook brought a tray to our table and set dishes before Mack and me.
Mack nodded at my meal. Steak, mashed potatoes, a green salad, a slice of mud pie and coffee.
“Yum,” he said. “Your favorite, and it's mock. There are no cattle-like animals on New Terra. I suspect the colonists will bring them along once we announce the Day of Land Grab.”
“When the last of the natives are gone?” I asked.
“That's right! When the last Orang is dead and buried. Is
that
what you wanted to hear? We offered them relocation on one of the Northern islands, but they refused to go.”
“Imagine that,” I said. “Stubborn bastards.”
“You're a wise ass, Rammis.”
I was hungry and the smells made me drool. “I'll eat when my friends are fed,” I said.
Mack leaned forward and folded his arms on the table. “Give me your word that you'll cooperate and aid us in our mission, and your friends will feast on foods to suit their alien palettes.”
“You should know I can't do that.” I glanced around. Many of the men had stopped eating and were watching us.
“How would you like to be fed intravenously?” Mack asked.
“I guess I couldn't stop you,” though the thought of a needle made me shiver, “but that doesn't mean I'd cooperate.”
His eye twitched. I'd seen it before in him, a sign of stress. “Then what will it take?”
“Nothing you can offer. I think you wasted good creds buying me on the block. Suppose you sell me to some other planet that can use a tel's abilities for a purpose other than exterminating a race of people?”
He sat back and stroked his scruffy beard. “They're not
people
. They're Orangs, nothin' but a bunch o' tree-swinging monkeys!”
“Is that why you can't beat them? Maybe they're more guerrillas than monkeys?”
He grabbed my shirt in a swift motion and pulled me closer. The room grew quiet. I smelled tobacco on his breath. His clamped teeth were yellow. “I can fill your days with so much pain you'll beg me to let you cooperate. You'd turn over your own mother and pray for death.”
I gripped his hands, but he held on tight. “What you said about the tel death blow…”
His eyes narrowed.
“I can use it on myself, too.” As I thought about it, I realized that I probably could do just that.
He let go and pushed me back in the chair. “Salo!” he called. “C'mere.”
The cook stopped slicing a brisket and
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