The town was small, consisting mostly of cabins and cottages. There were two moderately sized buildings, probably a school and a city hall. She could also make out moving cars. “But where do they come from?” asked Derek. “There’s obviously no manufacturing plant for them here anywhere.”

“Imports,” said Ken. “They must be pretty well organized to be able to manage the economy. Most of these islands wouldn’t support a population large enough to manufacture several major products. So, they have to bring everything in. Probably each island specializes in something. This place might do TV sets and cranberry sauce.”

“Focus on the beach,” said Derek. “Let’s try to get a look at them.”

There were probably a thousand or more of the creatures on the sand and in the ocean. They were wearing short pants or maybe bathing suits, and many were sitting under umbrellas. For a wild moment it reminded Hutch of the Jersey Shore.

“Seen enough?” she asked.

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “Go.”

She began to climb. And almost immediately heard something crackle and felt a simultaneous loss of power. And lift. She didn’t have much altitude and suddenly it was almost gone.

“Uh-oh,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” asked Derek.

“Not sure.”

“It’s the AG generator,” said Tasha. “I cannot be certain what’s happening. Power going down.”

“Can you make a correction?”

“One of the couplings has failed. Right wing. And no, I can’t compensate for it. It has to be replaced.” The lander had three couplings, one in the undercarriage, and one in each wing. “We have spares on board.”

Hutch took a deep breath. More maintenance issues. She wondered if the Union teams had gotten any of their work done.

“Head for the island,” said Derek. Right. They couldn’t afford to go down in the ocean. “Wally, you following this?”

“He’s not in range,” said Tasha.

“Get us to the island,” said Derek.

“We’re too low.” Barely skimming the waves. There was an outside chance she could make it, but she’d almost certainly either crash in the surf or on the sand. If she got lucky and made it past them, she’d come down on the town.

“They’ve seen us,” said Beth. They were crowding into the water to get a better look.

Derek threw up his hands in frustration. “Don’t go down in the ocean, Priscilla.”

“For God’s sake, Hutch,” Ken said, “look out.”

She wasn’t sure what he wanted her to do. But she was not going to take out the sunbathers. “Tasha, is the air breathable?”

“Fortunately, yes, I believe so.”

Ken began shouting at the creatures. “Get out of the way! What are they doing? Just standing there. Move, you idiots.”

Actually, they’d begun moving, giving her space. But it wasn’t happening quickly enough.

Beth was pointing directly ahead. “There are little ones. Children.”