She came to within a couple of meters and spoke.
“I am a sky watcher.”
Ames had a small smile on his face, “Do not be afraid of us; we will not harm you or anyone else here. We are scientists from another star.”
She was still tense but the translation did change the look in her eyes.
“Do you watch your star?”
She gave that little ducking motion, “Yes.”
“Do you know that there is something wrong with your star?”
That hit a nerve; the apprehension was back, but her look back over her shoulder told them that they were not the cause of it. She moved closer and spoke quietly.
“I think there is - the others do not - the <anomaly> has been always <therefore> not a problem”
The three of them exchanged looks. Hayes said, “Uh, oh.”
Twisst touched Ames’ arm, “Jonathon, I suggest we get a group of their leaders and scientists gathered for a little talk; we can sit in those seats.”
She pointed to a group of stools that served as general seating at the near end of the game field; Ames looked, nodded, and turned back to the sky watcher.
“We would like to talk to your leaders, scientists, and you over there. Can you get them for us?”
She ducked and headed for the group.
#
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting facing a group of Foresters on the game field sideline. The crowd had flowed onto the field and had turned into a mass picnic, complete with blankets, food, and drink. Everyone had given the Santana a wide berth as they passed it.
Hayes sat behind Ames and Twisst and paid more attention to the situation around them than the conversation. The name of the sky watcher was ‘Sathen’; Ames instructed the translator to equate her to ‘Susan’. The Mayor was ‘Joe’. Joe did not seem to like Susan sitting in the forefront of the high-ranking group.
Doctor Twisst gave them a quick review, “Our people discovered your world about fourteen of your years ago. Since then, we have been watching your people and the anomaly that orbits your sun. Our star scientists have determined that the anomaly is disturbing your star to the point that it will cause a great wave of radiation to hit your world and destroy almost all life here.”
She raised her hands to indicate the sky, “Our people are spread out over many stars, and there are many other worlds for your people to live on. We are able to move many of you to one of those other worlds if you wish.”
Joe did not look happy; none of them looked happy.
“You tell us that <Susan> is <correct/reasonable> with her <lesson/warning> <question>”
“Yes!”
Joe turned to the group while some of them stood and gathered next to him into a tighter cluster. Susan remained sitting on her stool with her head bowed; she gave the impression of someone whose goal in life had just been realized--to her horror.
A noise behind Hayes got his attention and he turned his head. The side of the field had a line of trees and a moderate level of undergrowth. Sticking out from under the nearest low bush was the head of what had been decided was the local equivalent of a dog. The Foresters kept pets and there were a fair number of these ‘dogs’ around. What recorded sightings of them that had been made indicated a limited breed range and gave rise to the opinion that they were the result of a few that had come with the Foresters. This one was about the size and had the look of a Beagle with an elongated nose, short ears, and a solid rust colored coat; it was regarding Hayes with suspicion and growling.
There was a Forester couple sitting on a blanket a few meters from him. They had a small child--which he thought might be a girl--that was hiding behind her mother; she had not taken her wide eyes off of Hayes since they had arrived.
Hayes turned to them while he pointed to the bad attitude under the bush, “Is that dog dangerous?”
It was easy to tell that they were startled by being spoken to by an alien, but the woman managed to recover.
“Owner died - <dog> ran away - lives in open with other <dog/dogs> - we give food when we gather at this place”
Hayes abruptly got off his stool and headed straight for the Santana--a path that took him right through the audience.
“Hello! Nice day! Love that scarf! Excuse me!”
When he got to the ship, he climbed in and tossed the sheathed knife on his bunk then rooted through the stores in the lower compartment. He left the ship with a small bag and plowed another path through the spectators.
“Good morning! How ya doing! Nice looking kids!”
Every eye on the field had followed him. When he sat down again, Ames had a slightly exasperated look, “Lieutenant, what are you doing?”
“Breaking the ice, Doc.”
He removed a foil pouch from the bag and pulled the zip-tag. It took a few seconds for the aroma of genuine beef jerky to reach the dog, but when it did, all appearance of hostility vanished. Hayes broke off a small piece and tossed it in front of the dog’s nose. One sniff and it disappeared.
Now, he held out a larger piece toward it. Desire, anxiety, need, and distrust washed over the animal’s body language. Hayes slid off the stool and sat cross-legged on the ground.
“Breakfast in bed is over; now you have to come and get it.”
He continued waving the jerky; the animal slowly moved out from under the bush.
“Come on, nobody’s going to hurt you.”
It prowled back and forth in a
