Page 55 - Extraterrestrials, Foreign and Domestic

Zaratan or Gaia?
(Fantastic Transactions 3, 2006)

Doctor Milgrist broke into his commanding officer’s daydreams of
promotion and prosperity.
“Captain Yabbowitz: we’ve got to talk. Right now! The Sohar—and
therefore our lives--are in imminent danger.”
The skipper scowled and turned away from the screen on which a
bucolic scene of the world outside was slowly panning.
“I’m off duty, Milgrist. But the scanners never sleep. They’ll let me
know in a hurry if anything goes wrong in the ship or a meteor is
headed our way. Now why aren’t you tidying up your report for the
search commission? It’s likely to be read very closely by a lot of big
shots on Station One.”
He pointedly returned to the monitor. But the science officer
would not be brushed off. He grabbed the older man’s arm, an
offense normally resulting in disciplinary action against the offender
“It’s not going to be read by anyone, Captain—unless you shut
down operations out there and get the Sohar off this planet as fast as
you can!”
Yabbowitz pushed him away.
“All right, Milgrist! You’ve got my attention. But it better be good.
We’ve still got another couple of days of sampling to do before we
leave.”
“Taking those samples is a good part of the problem. Listen
closely: time is running out on us. Our charter, like that of a hundred
other missions, is to find a planet fit for human habitation, preferably
one not already occupied by an intelligent species. We jumped
through hyperspace half a dozen times, risking disaster in wormholes
of unknown extent or terminus, running down leads and finally
finding this beautiful planet, similar in hundreds of ways to Earth.
After a few orbits taking the measure of the place, we landed,
thrusters blasting, in a lovely meadow. That was five days ago.”
The captain shrugged. “Seems longer. Life is good on solid ground
after a couple of years in space.”

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