He left them spreading his explanation and returned to his seat where he renewed his efforts to make friends with the critter and her puppies.
#
An hour later, a call came down from the Kellogg warning of the incoming fleet of floaters from the Gregory Falls. They watched as they settled onto the field behind those that were already there--except for one. They had all been lining up for a standard approach to the open section of the field when one of them broke away from the group and swung around for a landing on the wide path between the field and the town; there were several locals on it and they had to scramble out of the way.
They all rose from their seats to watch.
“Who the Hell is that lunatic?” asked Twisst.
Hayes was pretty sure he knew, “I would have to guess that Captain Stewart Weathers of the Gregory Falls has just arrived.”
All eyes were on the forward hatch as it swung open, the stairs extended, and a neatly dressed steward posted himself at the bottom of the stairs and saluted.
Pressler leaned closer to Mays, “Any ideas on how we get our people to do that?”
She leaned back toward him, “Lots of money.”
Weathers stepped out onto the top step.
“What the frozen bells of Hell is that?” Hayes was having a hard time focusing on what had to be the shiniest object on the surface of Forest; everyone was.
“Before I came out here, I went through a military museum on Earth.” said Twisst. “That looks like the uniform of a nineteenth century Prussian artillery officer, only worse.”
Everyone in the group, including all of the Foresters within sight of the apparition was paralyzed as it approached. Hayes swept his incredulous gaze from the mirrored black boots with the ruby encrusted, gold toe tips, up the dark burgundy slacks with the elaborately patterned gold and jeweled stripes up the sides. The soft, cream colored jacket was so heavily embroidered with burgundy colored metallic thread and encrusted with gold highlights that Hayes thought it had to weigh ten kilos or more. The ruby and gold buttons and jewelers nightmare of a sword were a nice touch, but the puffy, burgundy cap with the shiny gold visor made the entire scene more than his mind could handle; he dropped to his seat and then to the ground, struggling to breathe as he laughed hysterically.
The scene turned into a comedy show as the infectious laughter spread to the Foresters who had not been sure as to what the aliens thought of this new arrival; he could have been their Slave Master or God for all they knew.
Weathers stood there and fumed with his left hand maintaining a death-grip on the Ardmore Tree Lizard skin wrapped grip of his sword. The fact that all of the humans were wearing ship suits or plain duty uniforms did not add to his satisfaction.
“MADIGAN!” he yelled and began stripping off the jacket. Madigan came running up and saluted, “Yes, Sir!”
“STOP WITH THAT DAMNED SALUTING!” he yelled again as he jammed the cap, jacket, and sword into Madigan’s arms. “PUT THESE IN THE FLOATER!”
Weathers was still grinding his teeth when Hayes was able to stand and put his arm around his shoulders. Between gulps of air, “Captain, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart; we needed a good laugh, and you gave it to us.”
Weathers still had a tight look on his face as he sat down and asked, “What’s the situation down here; how soon can I expect to start loading?”
Hayes looked at Ames, who took up the question, “It may not go as well as we were hoping; it is possible that you might be leaving this system as empty as you arrived. We have not--“
Ames broke off as something in back of Hayes caught his attention. Hayes turned and saw that a large number of the Foresters gathered around the field had risen and were coming toward them. Hayes wasn’t sure of the feeling that passed through him; all he knew was that something was about to happen. Ames, Twisst, and Joe came up beside him as an older male stopped in front of them, tipped his head toward Joe, and waved an arm at the group that surrounded him.
“We will do this <trial/adventure> that is given to us”
Joe made a subdued ducking motion and turned to Ames.
“Take as many of my people as you can to this new world”
Joe turned, waved, and called to someone further back in the group; Susan came forward.
“It is correct that this sky watcher will send our people to the stars - give her your wishes - all here will obey her”
Joe and two others turned and headed back toward the town. A heavy cloud seemed to settle over the crowd that stood in the warm sunlight.
Hayes turned to one of the Foresters standing near him, “What made you decide to go?”
“You laugh”
##
“Breakout in three, two, one.”
The Weasel returned to normal space just past the worst of the flares that were tearing up the surface of the Forest primary after a snapshot jump and began maneuvering for alignment to Forest.
“Kellogg to Weasel.”
“Weasel to Kellogg, this is Reynolds; how are things going?”
Wills sat back and waited the several minutes it took to get a response.
“Reasonably well now, Admiral; there was a problem getting things moving until three days ago. However, the Winslow left two days ago with a full load, and the Pugnacious should be leaving in a couple of hours. The Gregory Falls has just begun loading.”
“Glad to hear it. We will be making our approach for landing as planned. ETA to ground is three hours.”
“Acknowledged, Admiral.”
Wills swept his gaze across the console and the resonator display. The Weasel would be aligned for a
