The Gentle Giants of Ganymede

Shapieron during its epic voyage from Iscaris, they had never seen a blue sky, a landscape or a mountain, never breathed natural air, and had never before conceived the notion of leaving their ship without requiring any kind of protection. To them, the lifeless void between the stars was the only environment that existed.

At first, many of them shrank from coming out of the ship at all, fearful of consequences that had been instilled into them all their lives and which they accepted unquestioningly as fundamental truths. When at last a few of the more trusting and adventurous ones crept warily to the doors at the tops of the access ramps and peered outside, they froze in utter disbelief and confusion. From the things both their elders and ZORAC had told them, they had a vague idea of planets and worlds #151;places bigger than the Shapieron that you could live on instead of in , they gathered, though what this could possibly mean had never been clear. And then they had come to Ganymede; obviously that was a planet, they #146;d thought.

But now this! Hundreds of people outside the ship clad only in their shirtsleeves; how could that be possible? How could they breathe and why did they not explode with decompression? Space was supposed to be everywhere, but it wasn #146;t here; what had happened to it? How did the universe suddenly divide itself into two parts, half 'up' and half 'down' #151;words that could only mean anything inside a ship? Why was down all green; who could have made anything so large and why had they made it in strange shapes that stretched away as far as one could see? Why was up all blue and why weren #146;t there any stars? Where did all the light come from?

Eventually, with much coaxing, they ventured down the ramps and onto the ground. Nothing awful happened to them. Soon they became reassured and began to explore their new and wondrous surroundings. The concrete at the bottom of the ramps, the grass beyond, the wooden walls of the chalets #151;all were new and each held its own particular fascination. But the most astounding sight of all was that stretching away, seemingly forever, on the other side of the ship #151;more water than they had ever believed existed in the whole of the universe.

Before long they were romping and reveling in an ecstasy of freedom greater than anything they had ever known. The crowning glory came when the Swiss police launches started running joy rides for them, up along the shore, out into the middle of Lake Geneva, and back again. It soon became obvious that only the grownups and their hang-ups stood in the way of the question of settling on Earth; the kids had made their minds up in no uncertain manner.

Two days after the landing, Hunt was enjoying a coffee break in the residents #146; cafeteria at Ganyville when a low buzz from his Ganymean wrist unit signaled an incoming call. He touched a button to activate the unit and ZORAC #146;s voice promptly informed him: 'The coordination office in the Bureau Block is trying to contact you. Are you accepting?'

'Okay.'

'Dr. Hunt?' The voice sounded young and, somehow, pretty.

'That #146;s me,' he acknowledged.

'Coordination office here. Sorry to trouble you but could you come over? We could use your help on something.'

'Not until you promise to marry me.' He was in that kind of mood. Maybe it was coming home after being away for so long.

'What? . . .' The voice rose in surprise and confusion. 'I don #146;t. . . that is, I #146;m serious . . .'

'What makes you think I #146;m not?'

'You #146;re crazy. Now how about coming over? . . . on business.' At least, he thought, she recovered her balance nice and quickly.

'Who are you?' he asked lightly.

'I told you #151;the coordination office.'

'Not them #151;you.'

'Yvonne. . . why?'

'Well, I #146;ll make a deal. You need me to help you out. I need someone to show me around Geneva before I go back to the States. Interested?'

'That #146;s different,' the voice retorted, though not without a hint of a smile. 'I #146;m doing a UN job. You #146;re conducting private enterprise. Now are you coming over?'

'Deal?'

'Oh . . . maybe. We #146;ll see later. For the moment what about our problem?'

'What #146;s the problem?'

'Some of your Ganymean pals are here and want to go outside. Somebody thought it would be a good idea if you went too.'

Hunt sighed and shook his head to himself. 'Okay,' he said finally. 'Tell #146;em I #146;m on my way.'

'Will do,' the voice replied, then in a suddenly lowered and more confidential tone added: 'I #146;m off on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays.' Then it cut itself off with a click. Hunt grinned to himself, finished his coffee and rose to leave the table. A sudden thought struck him.

'ZORAC,' he muttered.

'Yes, Vic?'

'Are you coupled into the Earthnet local comms grid?'

'Yes. That #146;s how I routed the call through.'

'Yes I know. . . What I meant was, was she talking through a standard two-way vi-terminal?'

'Yes.'

'With a visual pickup?'

'Yes.'

Hunt rubbed his chin for a moment.

'You didn #146;t record the visual by any chance, did you?'

'I did,' ZORAC informed him. 'Want a playback?'

Without waiting for an answer, the machine reran a portion of the conversation on the screen of the wrist unit. Hunt nodded and whistled his silent approval. Yvonne was blond, blue-eyed, and attractive, her appearance somehow enhanced by the trim cut of her light-gray UN uniform jacket and white blouse.

'Do you record everything you handle?' Hunt inquired as he sauntered toward the door.

'No, not everything.'

'What made you record that then?'

'I knew you #146;d ask for it,' ZORAC told him.

'I don #146;t think I like eavesdroppers in on my calls,' Hunt said. 'Consider yourself reprimanded.'

ZORAC ignored the remark. 'I logged her extension number too,' it said. 'Seeing as you didn #146;t think to ask for it.'

'D #146;you know if she #146;s married?'

'How could I know that?'

'Oh, I don #146;t know . . . Knowing you, you could probably crack the access codes and get into UN #146;s personnel records through the Earthnet or something like that.'

'I could, but I won #146;t,' ZORAC said. 'There are things that a good computer will do for you and things that it won #146;t. From here on in, you #146;re on your own.'

Hunt cut off the channel. Shaking his head, he emerged from the cafeteria and turned in the direction of the Bureau Block.

He appeared a few minutes later inside the coordination office on the first floor, where Garuth and some other Ganymeans were waiting with a number of UN officials.

'We feel we want to return the welcome that the people of Earth have given us,' Garuth said. 'So, we #146;d like to go for a walk outside the perimeter to meet them.'

'That okay?' Hunt asked, directing his words at the portly, silver-haired man who appeared to be the most senior of the officials present.

'Sure. They #146;re guests here, not prisoners. We thought it would be a good idea if someone they knew went with them though.'

'Fine by me,' Hunt said, nodding. 'Let #146;s go.' As he turned toward the door, he caught a glimpse of Yvonne