FEARS

Jordan walked down the broad stairs with Brandon, Meek, and de Falla. Their little buggy was sitting exactly where they had left it, with the robot that had brought their food sitting obediently inert in the rear row. Most of the aliens had dispersed after lunch, but Adri and Aditi stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for Jordan and his brother to return.

“You’re crazy!” de Falla hissed, lowering his head and hunching his shoulders as if trying to prevent anyone from reading his lips.

Jordan replied, “For god’s sake, man, we’ve made physical contact with an intelligent alien race! I, for one, intend to learn as much about them as I can, as quickly as I can.”

“They’re not going to disappear if you come back to the plane with us.”

“And they’re not going to murder us in our beds if Bran and I stay here overnight.”

De Falla looked as if he wanted to keep on arguing, but instead he pressed his lips into a hard, unhappy line.

As they reached the buggy, Brandon asked Meek, “Harmon, what do you think?”

“Think?” Meek looked alarmed, like a student unexpectedly called on by his professor. “Think about what?”

“About all this,” Brandon said, sweeping his arm in a wide gesture.

Meek ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “I think Silvio is correct. But he doesn’t go far enough. We should go back to the ship.”

“You mean, in orbit?” Jordan snapped.

With a vigorous nod, Meek said, “Why spend the night here when you could be safe and sound, up in orbit.”

Jordan said, “You may be right, both of you.” Before either man could say anything, he went on, “And yet I simply can’t turn my back on all this.”

“I think you’re being foolish,” Meek said. “Emotional.”

Jordan glanced up the stairs at Aditi standing there, waiting. “You’re probably right about that,” he muttered.

“Come on,” de Falla said to Meek. “Let’s get going, before they change their minds about letting us leave.”

He climbed into the driver’s seat and Meek got in beside him, the knees of his long legs poking up awkwardly.

“I’ll give you a call first thing in the morning,” Jordan said.

“If they don’t slit your throats first,” de Falla muttered darkly.

Jordan watched the buggy trundle down the street, then turned and started up the stairs again, Brandon at his side.

“Silvio’s gone off the deep end,” Brandon said. “He used to be a fun guy, but he’s turned hostile.”

“This is a lot for him to swallow,” said Jordan. “A lot for each of us, actually.”

“But it’s turned him into a paranoid.”

“He’ll adjust.”

Brandon said, “Maybe it’s better that he goes back to the ship. I got the feeling he was pretty close to cracking up.”

So much for all the psych testing before we took off, Jordan thought. But then the psychiatrists never expected us to meet intelligent aliens. None of us expected that.

As they approached the top of the stairs, Jordan saw that the sky was darkening. Thick clouds were rolling in.

“It looks as if it’s going to rain,” he said as he reached Adri and Aditi.

Squinting up at the sky, Adri said, “Yes. Rain has been predicted.”

“But it won’t bother us,” said Aditi. “We’re protected.”

“By going indoors,” Jordan said.

“No, the entire city is protected,” she corrected.

“The whole city?” Brandon asked.

Adri replied, “The city lies beneath a protective dome.”

“I didn’t see any dome.”

“It’s not material,” Adri explained. “It’s a dome of energy. That’s why your orbiting sensors didn’t see our city: the dome blocked their view.”

“A dome of energy?” Jordan asked, intrigued.

“Yes,” said Aditi. “We don’t really need these buildings at all. We could live completely out in the open, if we wished. Protected by energy shields.”

Adri pointed out, “The material buildings are more energy-efficient. And, of course, we learned how to build structures long before we learned how to generate energy shields.”

“Of course,” Brandon said, his voice hollow.

Adri gestured toward the building’s entrance. “Would you like to see the quarters we have prepared for you?”

“Certainly,” said Jordan. Then he added, “I presume they’re inside a building.”

Adri laughed. “Yes, yes, of course they are.”

“If you’d prefer to stay outside,” Aditi said, “we could provide energy shelters for you.”

Jordan glanced at Brandon, then answered, “No, thank you. We’re accustomed to living inside structures with solid walls and roofs, just as you are.”

Adri led them back into the building, down its central corridor, out the rear into a long rectangular courtyard bordered with small flowering trees. At the end of the courtyard stood a smaller, two-storied building. Jordan walked between Adri and Aditi; Brandon stayed on Aditi’s other side. The sky above had grown ominously dark, thick clouds scudding past. Lightning suddenly flashed and almost immediately thunder boomed, jarringly loud. Yet no rain fell on them, although Jordan felt a strong breeze gusting through the courtyard, making the little trees sway.

Totally unconcerned about the storm, Adri pointed to the building ahead and explained, “This is what you would probably call a dormitory.” He cocked his head slightly to one side, then added, “Or perhaps a hotel.”

“You must have other cities here and there,” Jordan said. Another flash of lightning and an immediate peal of thunder.

“Oh no, this is our only community. We have no need for more.”

“Farms, factories? That sort of thing?”

Nodding, Adri replied, “Yes, they are all here, on the edge of our city. The farms are enjoying the rain, I should think.”

“Everything we need is here,” Aditi said.

“You mean to say that the rest of the planet is empty?” Brandon asked, unbelieving.

“Not empty,” said Adri. “This world is teeming with life.”

“I mean human life,” Brandon said.

Adri smiled at him. “Our entire human population lives here, in the city. The rest of the planet is for the other living species.”

Jordan thought a moment, then asked, “That means you must keep your own numbers at a stable level.”

“Yes, certainly.”

“We have to,” said Aditi. “Otherwise we would put a strain on our natural resources.”

With a sigh, Jordan said, “I wish our people on Earth were that wise.”

“It is necessary,” said Adri. “We must live in balance with the planet’s resources.”

Brandon said, “Back home we use the resources of the rest of the solar system.”

“And our numbers keep growing,” Jordan added.

“Yes, that may be so for you,” said Adri, “but as you can see, we have no other planets to exploit. We must live within the resources that this single world can provide.”

With that, they approached the main door to the dormitory building. It opened for them automatically.