The ground car climbed the gently sloping hillside quite easily, its electric motor humming softly. Brad drove it manually, with Felicia sitting beside him.
The car was open, roofless, although an invisible energy screen shielded its occupants from the weather and would enfold them in unyielding protection to keep them safe from injury in the case of a crash. The two rear seats were empty.
As they neared the crest of the ridgeline, Brad said, almost to himself, “Nearly there.”
Felicia glanced at him, then returned her gaze forward. Brad stopped the car just below the top of the ridge.
“Let’s go the rest of the way on foot,” he said to Felicia as he got out of the car. “We can show them the buggy tomorrow.”
He came around the car as she got up from her seat and stood beside him. A half-dozen steps and they reached the crest.
“There it is,” he said.
In the hollow below them sat the village, just as it had appeared when Brad had first seen it. Buildings arranged in a pair of circles, Gammans coming in from the fields, a few of them leading their six-legged draft animals, a gaggle clustered at the longhouse, as usual.
Almost in a whisper, Felicia said, “It looks … peaceful.”
Brad nodded, took her hand, and started down the slope.
“They all look alike,” Felicia noted. “How can you tell them apart?”
“Their body markings.”
“They’re all naked?”
Brad nodded. “They don’t have any sex. No shame.”
“Like Adam and Eve before they ate the forbidden fruit.”
“More or less,” Brad said.
One of the Gammans shouted, “Look! It’s Brrd.”
“And someone with him.”
Felicia touched the earbud of her communications set, adjusting the volume.
The Gammans stood by the longhouse, staring as Brad and Felicia came down the hillside and approached them.
“I’m going to introduce you as Fil,” Brad told her. “That’ll be easier for them to pronounce.”
She nodded, gazing fascinatedly at the tall, cone-headed aliens.
Brad recognized Mnnx standing at the head of the crowd. And Lnng right beside him.
“Hello,” he called. “I’m back.”
They were staring at Felicia.
“This is Fil,” Brad said as they stopped before the group.
“Fll,” said Mnnx. The computer translator repeated the sound.
“Fll is very small,” Lnng said undiplomatically.
Brad knew that trying to explain sexual dimorphism would be useless to them. He said, “Not all of my people are as tall as I am.”
“Her fur is longer than yours.”
Striving to keep a straight face, Brad said, “Yes, that is so.”
“Your people have many differences, Brrd,” Mnnx said.
“That’s true,” Brad admitted, realizing that the main difference between one Gamman and another was the pattern of colored splotches on their bodies.
“Can Fll speak?” Lnng asked.
“Yes, I can,” said Felicia. “What is your name?”
“Lnng.”
“I am Mnnx. I am the village’s Rememberer. You are welcome among us, Fll.”
“Thank you. I am happy to meet you.”
Brad glanced up at the sky. Mithra was almost touching the hilltops. Shadows were stretching across the hollow.
Brad started to say, “We have to return to our own village—”
The Gammans seemed staggered. “You are returning to your home in the sky?”
“No, no,” Brad quickly reassured them. “My people are building a village where we can live while we show you how to build a new village for your new Folk.”
“And how to live through the winter,” Lnng added.
“Yes, that too,” said Brad. “We’ll return tomorrow, with many more of our people.”
“You can stay here, with us, Brrd and Fll,” Mnnx offered.
“That’s very generous of you,” Brad replied, “but it will be better if we return to our own village. We’ll be back tomorrow.”
“If that is your wish.”
The computer’s translation could not convey moods or emotional shadings, but Brad thought he detected sorrow in Mnnx’s words.
“We’ll return tomorrow,” he promised.
As Brad and Felicia trudged up the hillside toward their waiting car, she said, “They seem … passive.”
He nodded. “Right. That’s something we’ll have to teach them about.”
* * *
“Look,” said Felicia, as they rode down the hillside to the site of their base camp. “The whole camp is almost finished.”
Peering through the deepening shadows of twilight, Brad saw that most of the robots stood lined up to one side of the buildings, inert, their tasks finished. Cars trundled supplies from the shuttlecraft to the buildings. Lights shone through the windows. People moved back and forth; somehow they seemed to Brad to be less purposeful, less intent than the tireless robots.
In the distance a trio of engineers was inspecting the damaged shuttlecraft that Brad had originally flown in on. Two robots stood behind them, unmoving, waiting for orders.
He drove up to the building that housed the camp’s offices and saw that Littlejohn was standing in its doorway, waiting for him.
“You’re right on time for dinner,” Littlejohn called as Brad turned off the buggy’s engine. “How did it go?”
Climbing out of the car, Brad reported, “They seemed happy to see us.”
“I’ll bet they were.” Extending his arm toward Felicia, Littlejohn smiled and said, “Let’s go to the dining hall and see what kind of dinner the robots have prepared for us.”