“Captain!” said the ship’s AI, her holographic face popping up suddenly as the captain pulled her shoes off to get ready for bed. “My microdrone swarm has found something really cool down there!”
“What is it, Circe?” Captain Ellen Dunkel asked.
“The swarm just moved into a new area, that long peninsula at the southwest corner of the equatorial continent. And they picked up a transponder signal from an Earth ship! The Flying Squirrel, a private yacht that was reported lost thirty-one years ago, last seen nineteen point two light-years from here. It was registered to Dr. David Sciuridae, but my local records don’t say exactly who was aboard for that last flight. Shall I request more information from Earth?”
“Yes, please. Have you found the ship? How intact is it?”
“Badly damaged, but it looks like some of that damage happened after the crash — the local sapients have salvaged some materials from it. I’ve found two houses and a mill in the nearby village that are partly or wholly built with material from the spaceship. And!” she exclaimed, her eyes flashing, “I just found something even cooler! A human survivor!” A hologram of a dark-skinned human girl popped up in place of Circe’s face; she was wearing the same sort of loose robe the locals wore — when they wore clothes at all — and chatting with a local about two-thirds of her height, who was naked.
“Are you sure she’s not one of the locals shapeshifted to look like a human corpse they found in the wreckage, or a photo?”
“Her body temperature is 37.1C. The locals are consistently three degrees warmer, whatever form they’ve shifted into. There are some slight anomalies with her internal organs, but they seem to be within the range of human genetic variation.” Circe replaced the visual-spectrum holo with another that showed cutaways of both sapients' bones and organs, showing major differences — Captain Dunkel wasn’t anatomist enough to spot the anomalies Circe had mentioned, but it looked to her like the girl was human.
“Okay,” Ellen said. “Circe, direct my voice to everyone aboard on my mark. Circe has found a crashed human spacecraft and evidence of at least one survivor. We will be changing the destination of the first survey team to target the village where the human survivor was sighted. Circe’s drone swarm will continue to survey the area and inform us of any other survivors. Captain Dunkel out.”
Science Officer Tess Verres barged onto the bridge, her antennae quivering. “My team just woke up from a transformation coma,” she said, “and you’re telling me we’re going to a completely different place? We’re going to be the wrong ethnic group for that peninsula!”
“Yes, and you don’t really need to blend in that well, as it turns out,” Captain Dunkel said apologetically. “Turns out first contact happened thirty-one years ago, so it’s too late to worry about cultural contamination.” Tess and her survey team had spent the last three days in nanite tanks, being transformed into the semblance of the local sapients, or at least the default type of body they wore when not shapeshifting. The original plan had been to land their shuttle on an uninhabited island and travel by boat to an island which had had no contact with the mainland since the human explorers had started watching. “We’ve only sighted two human survivors, an old man who matches the photo Star Archive sent us of Dr. David Sciuridae, and a girl who looks a lot like his daughter Grace. We haven’t overheard any conversations in English between them, though; they’re always speaking the majority language of the peninsula. So you’ll have to get your language implant reprogrammed, but I don’t think you need to re-transform.”
Circe’s drones had been listening to tens of thousands of hours of conversation in various local languages, both on the island they’d originally planned to contact and in selected places on the populated continents. Just before she’d discovered the spaceship and the human girl, she’d been able to start translating the conversations they overheard on the original target island and program language implants for survey team. She still didn’t quite have enough data to translate the language of the peninsula where the Sciuridaes had crashed, but said she was getting close.
Tess paced around the bridge, deep in thought. “If they’ve already met humans, and presumably learned a significant amount about us, then there’s no reason not to land in human form. It would be rude to impersonate them if we don’t need to do it to prevent cultural contamination. Is there any indication that the — how do you pronounce that? — the Sciuridaes need immediate rescue?”
“No, they seem to have assimilated into the local culture, and we haven’t seen any evidence of war in this part of the continent, or even significant crime.”
“Then we’ll go back in the tanks and be human again. See you in three days.” As she walked off the bridge, Ellen could hear her musing, “Hmm, do I feel like being a man or a woman for the next few weeks?”
Finally, the survey team were human again and had their language implants programmed for the majority language spoken in the southwest peninsula. Tess and her team, Sarah Brown, Nanase Kitsune, and Susan Pompoms, boarded the shuttle and strapped in. Their pilot, Justin Tolkiberry, took them down.
He found the landing site they’d picked out, a fallow field of about thirty hectares adjacent to a field of some sort of grain and a field of a leafy vegetable crop, and settled down. “Here you go,” he said. “I’ll sit tight and be ready to take off in a hurry if you run into trouble.”
“Thanks, Justin,” Tess said. “Let’s go, ladies.” They disembarked from the shuttle and started walking toward the village where the drones had seen the Sciuridaes. They hadn’t gone far when they ran into some locals (they called themselves Uryuom in their language), a couple of adults and a child.
“Mama, they look like Grace!” the child piped up.
“Are you from Earth?” one of the adults asked. “Or one of the other human planets that David told us about?”
“Most of us are from Earth,” Tess said, and introduced herself and her team. “Nanase was born on New Hokkaido, one of our older colonies. How much has Dr. Sciuridae told you about the world he came from?”
“A lot. I suppose you’ll want to see him? I can lead you to his house.”
“That would be helpful, thank you. We’d also like to meet more of your people, including the leaders of your village.”
“Sure.”
After some brief consultation, one of the adults led the child, pouting and complaining, away toward the nearby farmhouse. The other, who introduced themselves as Oryuxuvoch, led the survey team into the village, where they quickly accumulated a crowd of onlookers.
“More humans?” — “When did they get here?” — “Where did their ship crash?” — “It landed on Oryuxuvoch’s farm, it didn’t crash.” — “Somebody go tell David and Grace!”
Their guide led them through the crowd, but before they reached their destination, the girl they’d seen holograms of burst out of the door of one of the houses up ahead, stared at them for a few moments over the heads of the shorter Uryuoms, then turned and called through the door, “Grandpa! Come see! There are people like us!” Without waiting for him to reply, she started jogging toward Tess and her team.
She’s really pretty, Tess thought, and pushed the unprofessional thought away. “Hello,” she said when the girl got close enough. “I’m Tess Verres of the Lucky Bunny, and this is my survey team.” She introduced them and said, “You must be Grace Sciuridae? And —” The old man they’d seen in the drone holos hobbled out of the house, supporting himself with a cane. He was the oldest-looking man Tess had ever seen outside a historical film. “Dr. Sciuridae.”
“How long have you been on Gollu?” Grace asked. “It took Grandpa and Mama two years to learn Uryuomoco after they crashed here.”
“We’ve been in orbit for thirty-eight days,” Tess said, “and just landed less than an hour ago.” If this wasn’t Dr. Sciuridae’s daughter but his granddaughter, who had the girl’s father been?
Grace’s jaw fell open in astonishment, and Tess was about to start explaining about AI language analysis, wondering what the girl’s grandfather had taught her about Earth technology and how much of their yacht’s systems had survived intact, when Dr. Sciuridae said, “Come on in and sit down. My knees don’t like walking too much, but I couldn’t sit still when I heard...”
“Of course,” Tess said, wincing in sympathy. “We can shuttle you up to our ship and let you use the nanite tank to rejuvenate.”
“That sounds great,” he said, leading them into the house and indicating several wooden chairs — all but two of which were sized for the Uryuoms. “The one we salvaged from my ship stopped working after just a couple of years.” Tess and her team sat down in the smaller chairs, leaving the human-sized chairs for Dr. Sciuridae and his granddaughter. Oryuxuvoch and a couple of other Uryuoms came in with them and sat down as well.
“David, if I may speak?” one of the other Uryuoms said.
“Of course, Levolg,” the old man said.
“I’m sure you and David have a lot to say to one another,” Levolg said, “and we can leave you alone for a few hours if you’d like, but when you’re done, my co-mayor Daryuu and I would like to speak with you about your intentions. Are you planning to stay long? Are other human ships going to be visiting regularly? Questions like that.”
“Of course,” Tess said. “That’s entirely up to your people. If you don’t want us here, we’ll leave, but if you’re willing, we can stay for up to three hundred and two of your days, and send other Earth ships to visit later on after we return home.”
“You’re welcome to stay,” Dr. Sciuridae said to the Uryuoms. Tess privately wished he’d let them go, because there were questions she’d like to ask about the local culture that might be easier to ask if the locals weren’t present and listening. But it would be rude to ask them to leave now.
They spent over an hour learning how Dr. Sciuridae and his daughter, Grace’s eventual mother, had crashed here and been rescued from the wreckage by the Uryuoms. After several years of learning the language and culture, Grace had fallen in love with two Uryuoms, Quurgol and Decokfymo, and they had included her DNA in their next baby.
“They used all three of their DNA and a little bit from a cwyllor, a local animal known for its agility and its cuteness,” Dr. Sciuridae explained, winking at Grace, who blushed. Tess had to agree about the cuteness, but this raised so many questions...
“So they have advanced genetic engineering?” Susan asked. “I’m a bit surprised, given...” She gestured eloquently at the simple furnishings.
“Their theory is far more advanced than ours was when we hadn’t invented steam engines yet,” Dr. Sciuridae explained, “but most of their accomplishments in genetic engineering are due to their natural abilities...”
After somberly hearing the story of how Grace’s mother had died, and how Dr. Sciuridae had continued to live with his in-laws and granddaughter since then, and how Grace’s older half-siblings had moved out as they formed romantic partnerships while Grace stayed to take care of her ailing grandfather, Tess and her team shared the highlights of the last thirty-one years on Earth and its major colonies. About then, Sarah’s stomach started rumbling, followed a moment later by Tess’s. Dr. Sciuridae smiled. “Enough talk for now,” he said. “Let’s eat.”
“The soup should be almost ready,” Grace said. “Mom should be home for lunch any minute.”
Another Uryuom, whom Grace introduced as her mom Decokfymo, arrived while she was serving her guests bowls of soup. Tess and her team didn’t inquire about what was in it; obviously the Sciuridaes had figured out what local foods were safe for them to eat years ago, or they would have died.
“Mmmm!” Tess said. “This is amazing!”
“Thank you,” Grace said, beaming. “I came up with the recipe. It’s based on a traditional recipe from the north, but I tweaked it with different spices and substituted guleh for kegugeh.”
After everyone had taken the edge off their hunger, Levolg suggested they talk business. Tess let Nanase and Susan handle most of this discussion, finding her mind wandering a lot, and her eyes drifting back again and again to Grace, who was listening raptly to the conversation. This would be a long mission; they’d probably stay a full Earth year, as long as regs allowed, before going back to Earth. Tess hoped they’d spend a lot of that time right here. And then, maybe...
Tess shook her head. What was she thinking? Grace had grown up here, and all her family and friends were here, except maybe some distant relatives she’d never met. She’d never want to migrate to Earth. Maybe visit someday, but...
All that could wait. Tess returned her attention to what Nanase and Levolg were saying, managing to only glance at Grace once every four or five minutes.
After a couple of hours of conversation, in which they learned a lot more about the nations and political structures of the southwestern peninsula than they’d been able to figure out from the recorded conversations, and got Levolg’s promise to escort them to the capital of this nation and introduce them to its leaders, Tess asked where one went to relieve themselves. Grace got up and said, “I’ll show you.”
As Tess had known to expect from the drone recordings, Grace showed her to an outhouse about eight meters behind the house. Tess went in, finding to her surprise that it didn’t smell particularly strongly — maybe the Uryuoms' genetic engineering at work, some sort of bacteria living down there that ate human and Uryuom excretions and produced something less noxious? After she did her business and emerged, she found, to her surprise, that Grace was still outside waiting for her.
“I wanted to ask you a question,” Grace said. “I didn’t want to interrupt, though.”
“Of course,” Tess replied. “What is it?”
“You said something about taking my grandpa up to your ship? And making him young again?”
“Yes, we can do that. We won’t take him any farther than low orbit over your planet,” she hastily reassured her, “unless he wants to go with us to Earth or any other human-inhabited planet along our route.”
“Could I go, too?”
“Yes, of course. Do you want to come with us to Earth, or just visit our ship with your grandfather?”
“No — maybe — I just wanted to know if it was allowed,” Grace said in a rush. “If Grandpa is going to be young and healthy again, then he can work again, and I won’t be needed here. I can finally move out. And — well, Grandpa has told me so much about Earth, and Mars, and Boondock; I’d like to see them if I can.”
“Boondock is on the far side of Earth from here, so we won’t be stopping there on the way home, but we can certainly take you to Earth, and from there you can visit Mars without much trouble. And Boondock shouldn’t be much harder, though it will take more time — we can show you how to post a hitchhiking request, and then you’d just wait until there’s a ship heading that way with room for another passenger and your number comes up. If you learn enough in the meantime, you can offer yourself as crew, and potentially have a shorter wait.”
“What about coming back to Gollu?” Grace asked. “Would it be the same way — post a, um, a hitchhiking request and waiting for my turn?”
“You’d have priority passage in any ship that’s going this way — anybody returning to their homeworld gets priority over those going sightseeing. But there probably won’t be as many ships coming this way in the next few years as there usually are going to Boondock. I’m sure another expedition here will be planned as soon as we return, if not sooner, but it still might not leave for several months.”
“When do I have to decide and let you know?”
“Any time before we leave the planet.”
Grace looked thoughtful. “Thank you. I think I’ll probably come. Three hundred days will give me plenty of time to say goodbye to my parents and brothers and sister and friends.”
Tess had already decided she was taking a sabbatical as soon as they returned to Earth. “I’ll be happy to show you around Earth,” she said. “And any other planets you’d like to visit.”
“Yay!” And with that, Grace hugged her. Tess had known intellectually that hugging was a common custom on the peninsula, but it still came as a wonderful surprise.