He turned to the Forester woman that had answered his previous question, “Does she have puppies?”
The woman gave a slight ducking motion and pointed back at the bush.
Hayes leaned farther forward and could just make out two little, furry faces huddled together. The smell of the jerky was wearing down their mother, and she was edging closer. Hayes reached further, and she stretched her neck that last millimeter in order to reach it. She retreated to her lair under the bush and began sharing it with the little ones.
Hayes resealed the pouch and exchanged it for another one before returning to the stool. This pouch contained chewy butterscotch candy. Genetic analysis of the Foresters and what they ate indicated a general ability to metabolize almost all human foods. He took one of the thick discs out and made a show of eating it with great pleasure. Then, he offered one to the little girl that was absolutely fascinated with him.
Doctor Twisst’s voice came from behind him, “Really, Hayes; you’re offering candy to little girls? I’m going to tell the Admiral on you.”
“Let’s not be hasty, Doc; I’m doing my bit to smooth the road. Besides, I like dogs and kids.”
The little girl was pointing at Hayes’ offering and talking to her mother. It looked as though his previous interactions with her were proving fruitful; she was encouraging the girl to go get the candy. The father stuck a word in occasionally but did not seem to object.
Finally, she came toddling over; she was wearing a long, straight, ‘granny’ dress kind of garment and could be judged to be about three or four years old by human standards. She stopped in front of him but did not take the candy.
“Are you a <monster>”
He almost broke out laughing. Instead, he straightened and put on his best comic-offended look as he pressed a hand to his chest.
“Nooo! I am not a monster. Why, where I come from, the girls think I am very handsome and chase me everywhere.”
Doctor Twisst had a different belief system, “Oh, brother!”
“Here, this is very good.”
Now, she took the candy and put it in her mouth--carefully. Hayes just hoped that butterscotch flavor agreed with them; if not, he had some mints in the bag.
He dug in the pouch and popped another one into his mouth as a smile started on the girl’s face, and she began chewing enthusiastically.
He handed her the pouch, “Take this to your parents and give them some.”
He turned back to Ames and Twisst and the leadership group; they were all looking at him.
“What?”
Ames just smiled and turned back to Joe, “In the next few days, other ships will be arriving; they should be able to take around three thousand of your people to our nearest planet. Seven days from now, a very large ship will arrive that can take about 125,000. Only one of the first ships to arrive can land here,” he pointed at the game field, “the others must remain in orbit but will send small ships down here to move people up to the big ships.”
He pointed toward the south, “The very large ship can land on the surface, but it will need to be over there where the ground is harder.”
Joe was silent for a moment before he turned back to his group. A minute later, he turned back to Ames.
“We will talk <conference> - be here tomorrow <question>”
“Yes! We will be here to talk at any time. May we enter your town and talk with your people?”
Joe looked a question at others around him and saw no objection.
“Yes”
#
The longer rotational period of Forest gave them the opportunity for a good night’s sleep. Hayes was up early, got his shower out of the way, and made sure that Ames and Twisst’s ship suits had been adequately cleaned during the night. Forty minutes after rising, he was placing a hot, reasonably good breakfast on the small, fold-out tables next to Ames’ and Twisst’s bunks.
Ames pushed his hair back into some sort of alignment as he rotated his feet onto the deck and sat on the edge of his bunk, “Really, Hayes, breakfast in bed? It is not necessary to treat us like this.”
“It is my job to take care of you so that the two of you can do your jobs. Besides, this is the only reasonable position on this ship for you to eat while grounded, and I actually prefer not having two brilliant scientists with several advanced degrees fumbling around in my galley.”
Hayes stepped back onto the central ladder and made sure they had everything they needed for their meals, “Remember, by authorization of the Terran Federation Navy and under the direct orders of Admiral Wills Reynolds, Commander of the Archer Sector, I, Lieutenant Easton James Arlington Hayes of the Terran Federation Navy am charged and commanded as Lord and Master and Pilot in Command of the starship Santana, absolute authority over any and all personnel and equipment in and on the hull of said starship.
“Basically, that means keep your hands off my kitchen. I ain’t your mother, and I don’t want to clean up after you. Now, anything else I can get for you before I go outside?”
Doctor Twisst had a fork-full of her breakfast half-way to her mouth, “Did you develop that theory on your own?”
“Oh, no, Doc; it’s in the book, they wrote it down for me.”
#
It was another nice day; the temperature was very comfortable but would get warmer as the day went on. There were a fair number of Foresters gathered in the field already; Hayes knew that many of them had spent the night there but had maintained a worshipful--or fearful--distance from the Santana. The seating area that the three of them and the leadership group had used also remained vacant.
Hayes carried the
