He opened the hatch onthe side and, sure enough, the bundle of insulated containers andfitted, detachable plates and cups fell out and dealt his kneecap aglancing blow.
“Ah!” Hegrabbed his knee, ignoring the rolling bundle. He leaned against theedge of the container waitingfor the pain to subside.
The bundle rolledunderthe railing,falling to landwith a soft thump on the garden bed in the middle of their courtyard.Trisha’s surprised voice wafted up to the third level but he didn’tcatch what she’d said.
“Found them!” heshouted.
By the time thecontainers were cleaned of the precious dirt they’d brought all theway from Earth, Frank’s knee was ready for a walk. They carefullypoured the foodinto two of the larger receptacles, closed them up and attached fourplates to the top, concealing a stack of flatbread.
Their walk to the mainsquare led them down a narrow back street to one of the mainthoroughfares, all of which were pedestrian only. A soft glow camefrom the ornate, imperial-style streetlamps, giving the town a warm,festive feel.
Frank had neverbeen much of a city-boy but he thought this must be the mostbeautiful place on Earth. He smiled shaking his head. Themost beautiful place in the Human fief,he corrected himself.
The flow ofcolonists thickened as they neared the square. Everyone wasexchanging friendly greetings, whether they knew each other or not.We’ll all know each other soon enough,Frank thought.
His own feelings ofbeing a minority were gone now. Here, so far from Earth, having metaliens, it was easy to forget how he differed from other Humans.
And if he rememberedany of it, it seemed so unimportant now.
They reached thesquare and went first to the pavilion,just inside the park. It was a permanent structure, solid columnssupporting an ornate,groin-vaulted roof of carboncrete, cunningly arranged to look likestonework.
They dropped off thefood with the volunteers who’d be in charge of the meal and thenmoved out into the square to greet their neighbors.
The square wasn’treally very square and that suited everyone just fine. It was more ofthe central kidney bean. One end of the bean-shaped area was overhungby the trees of the park. Theother end had a Hindu temple, a Sikh temple, a Christianchurch and the town-hall.
Frank had alreadyspent plenty of time standing in the square, staring in slack-jawedawe at the sight. This worldhad an abundance of gold and it was no big deal for their naniteminers to bring it to the surface.
The soaring,terraced levels of the Hindu temple,the graceful domes of the Sikh temple and the largedomes of the Venetian-styleChristian churchall had a thin coating of the precious metal.
Though her jobdescription was literally ‘come to the republic and be a teenager’,Gabriella had done an incredible job of taking an imperial standarddesign and turning it into a home for the hundreds of new Ragnarians.
The placement of thereligious buildings had been a topic of an entire heated councilsession. It had finally been decided that they would all have a placeon the central plaza as a reminder to all that the republic wascommitted to freedom of faith.
There was stillextra parkland surroundingthe square, set aside should any other religious buildings berequired. In time, furtherstructures would likely appear. The second wave of colonists wouldcome once the first wave started to produce a self-sustaining levelof food.
The ceremonial part ofthe evening included elements from the three faiths of the colonists.Captain Hennessy participated on behalf of the colony’s smallChristian population and his words seemed well received.
Frank found himlater, talking with Sushil, a plate of food in his hand. “That wasan interesting ceremony, Captain…Captain-Reverend?”Frank shrugged. “What exactly should we be calling you?”
“Captain isfine,” he said, “orjust plain Bill, as long as I can call you Frank instead of‘Councilor’.Captain-Reverendmakes me sound like a conquistador or something.”
“They wouldhave been Catholics, yes?” Sushil asked.
“Doubtless theywould have said so,” Billsaid carefully, “but Idoubt they’d have gotten along very well with a Catholic from themodern age.”
“You said youwere Presbyterian, right?” Frank asked.
Several colonists weredrifting over and Bill offered them an easy nod of greeting. “Iwas,” he said, “but I think we put too much emphasis on...marketing, for lack of a better word. I was never all thatcomfortable with denominations.
“It just seemeda little cruel for the Almightyto reveal himself to a small group of folk and leave the rest to rotin Hell.”He took a bite of his food.
“Seems to me,” hecontinued a little indistinctly, “all those other faiths out theremight lead to the same place. I’m not gonna claim they’re headedfor perdition just ’cause they don’t carry the same membershipcard I have.”
“This is a goodapproach to take,” Sushil said. The crowd murmured in agreement.
“Most definitely,”Father Sulak’s gravel-echoed voice startled most of the Humans.They turned to see the alien oracle standing at the back of thecrowd.
He moved closer,the colonists making way for him, partly out of politeness but almostcertainly out of unease as well. “Faith must always be a personalmatter,” he rumbled. “Whenyou force it down someone’s throat, it stops being faith.”
“Then you’ve killedit,” Hennessy said, nodding his agreement. “All you have left isa carcass called dogma.”
“I think you peoplewill fit into our republic just fine,” Sulak said. “But Iconfess, my reason for coming here was to ask what that is.” Hepointed at Hennessy’s plate, proof that he was picking up Humangestures.
“This?” Bill heldup a skewer. “It’s called chicken tikka.”
“You understand,”Sulak said gravely, “that, as an oracle, I’m compelled to seekout the divine in all things…”
Bill grinned and handedover a skewer.
Sulak grabbed a chunkof chicken between his teeth and slid it off the skewer. The crowdpressed in as he chewed. They’d completely forgotten to be nervousabout the alien as they watched him sample the food.
“Ah,” heheaved a rumbling sigh of delight. “Itis concentrations of the divine such as these...” Hewaved the skewer in emphasis, “...Thatbalance the scales against long stretches of monotony!”
There followed a momentof reflection as the colonists digested Sulak’s less-than-cleardeclaration in Imperial Standard. When they worked out that he wasspeaking words of high praise for the food, there was a great deal ofgrinning and gesturing toward the pavilion.
They led him offto sample the other dishes asTerry and Vikram appeared,edging around the crowd with full plates of their own. Severalyoung
