"I don't get it." Both arms wrapped across her chest, Idar watched her breath congeal in the afternoon air. "What are we doing here? Not that I'm not as curious as the next person, but I don't see why our presence is necessary. We're not part of any formal first-contact squad."

"Neither is anyone else." Kairuna gestured skyward, once. 'The official contact team is stuck up on the Chagos. So the job, and the burden, not to mention the responsibility, has been dumped on Pranchavit and Maroto." He gazed across the bobbing heads in the direction of the field, where the headers of the survey team's scientific and support contingents stood side by side, watching the northern horizon and waiting for something to happen. "Better them than you or I."

"I could do a better job than any of 'em," Alwyn avowed. 'At least I wouldn't be standing out there with my ass ex-posed to the four winds and no gun."

"You heard the appraisal from the experts on board the Chagos," Kairuna admonished him. "If these aliens intended hostilities they would already have attacked the ship."

Not if they're still sizing us up and trying to gauge our strength," Alwyn shot back. "Or waiting to see if we're good to eat."

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Idar challenged him angrily. "If you're so worried about malicious aliens, what possessed you to apply for a position on a deep-space exploration run?"

"Let me guess." Kairuna responded before the other man could reply. "Money."

"Good guess." Alwyn tugged the brim of his warming cap down over his forehead, trying to shut out the wind. "But that's not the only reason. Earth was getting too dangerous Too many people crammed into too many big cities. That's what the colonies are all about. Room to move around and keep clear of the crazies."

"So why didn't you apply to move to one of the Centaurus worlds, or New Riviera?" Idar wondered aloud. "With your technical qualifications you could have emigrated anywhere.'

"It's the same there as on Earth," he responded without hesitation. "Too many lunatics. The only difference between Earth and the colonies is that the more adventurous nuts apply for emigration." He nodded skyward. "Deep space seemed the safer bet. At the time."

"It still is." Kairuna exuded quiet assurance. "I think you're going to be surprised. I think we're all going to be surprised."

"Yeah, we'll be surprised, all right," the specialist muttered. "That's why I'm standing back here, as far away from the designated greeting point as possible. Closer to the forest that way. At least in the woods we'll have a chance."

"You'll have a chance." Idar did not try to hide her distaste. "The rest of us aren't going anywhere. I've got work to do, and as soon as this formality is concluded, I'm going right back to it."

Not deigning to respond, Alwyn turned to his other companion. "What about you, Kai? You with me?"