Before de Falla or anyone else could respond, Adri added, “But if you wish, you can have your robots carry the food you brought with you and eat it.”
“We don’t mean to offend you,” Jordan said.
“No offense is taken,” Adri replied. “We understand how strange this must be for you. Strange and perhaps more than a little frightening.”
Glancing at Aditi, Jordan said, “It’s certainly strange. And rather wonderful, actually.”
De Falla asked Jordan, “May I borrow your phone?”
Jordan handed it to the geologist, wondering how the man was going to eat if he remained sealed inside his protective suit.
De Falla walked off to a corner of the room, speaking in low, urgent tones to Hazzard up in the ship.
“He’s not usually so … tense,” Jordan apologized to Adri.
The alien smiled once more. “It’s understandable. What I find remarkable is how you and your brother have thrown caution to the winds.”
Jordan glanced at Brandon, who was in earnest conversation with Aditi. He noticed how nicely she filled the clothes she was wearing. “My brother’s the impulsive type.”
“And you?” Adri probed. “You don’t strike me as impulsive.”
Jordan had to think a moment. At last he said, “I suppose I trust you. I’m hoping that we can be completely frank with one another. We both have a lot to learn.”
Adri’s smile widened. “Yes, that is quite true. A lot to learn.”
Hospitality
Most of the welcoming committee left the dining room, rather reluctantly, Jordan thought. Adri bade the four men from Earth sit at the oblong table, which was set with eight places.
Jordan looked across the room to de Falla, who was still on the phone, deep in intense, serious conversation. Adri, standing beside Jordan, was also gazing toward the geologist. This is getting awkward, Jordan thought. They’ve prepared a meal for us and Silvio’s holding up the proceedings.
But how could they possibly have produced food that we can eat? Jordan asked himself. Adri says our biochemistries are similar, but how similar can they be? We’re from different stars, different worlds. This planet seems very much like Earth, but it can’t be identical. Even the smallest difference could be potentially dangerous, fatal.
With those thoughts whirling through his mind, Jordan excused himself to Adri and walked across the room toward de Falla.
“You’re absolutely certain?” the geologist was saying into the phone, in a tense, urgent whisper.
De Falla glanced up at Jordan as he approached, nodded once, and said tightly, “All right. I’ll tell him.”
He clicked the phone shut.
“What did they have to say?” Jordan asked as he accepted the phone from de Falla.
De Falla’s normally cheerful expression was gone. He looked worried, suspicious.
“They’re all over the place,” he complained. “Longyear says the air’s okay to breathe—he thinks. Thornberry’s sending one of the robots here with food packets from the plane. Hazzard thinks we ought to go back to the plane and stay there overnight. Or maybe go back to the ship in orbit.”
“Is there any reason why we shouldn’t eat the food that these people have prepared for us?” Jordan asked.
“They’re all agreed on that. No way. It can’t be suitable to our bodies. We shouldn’t touch it.”
Jordan said, “They’re entirely right to be cautious.” He turned back to the table, where Adri and the others were seated and waiting for them. Brandon had seated himself beside Aditi, Jordan noticed.
“How long will it take the robot to get here with our food?”
“It’s already on its way,” de Falla answered. “Maybe another fifteen, twenty minutes.”
Jordan gripped the geologist’s arm and started toward the table. “Let’s continue the experiment, then. Brandon and I will try the food they’ve prepared. You and Meek can wait until the robot arrives.”
De Falla looked appalled. “You could be killing yourselves!”
“They don’t look like poisoners to me,” Jordan said, gazing toward Aditi, who was chatting amiably with Brandon.
“They might not want to harm us,” said de Falla, “but if their biochemistry is even an eyelash different from ours…”
Trying to appear unconcerned, Jordan said, “We’ll soon find out, one way or the other.”
De Falla shook his head. “This is crazy.”
“Perhaps,” Jordan admitted. “But no matter what you eat, you’ll have to open your biosuit.”
As the geologist fumbled with his suit seals, Jordan sat down at the empty chair between Adri and one of the other women. At last de Falla took the only other empty chair, down the table across from Meek. A door in the sidewall opened and human servants—at least, they looked like humans to Jordan—began to bring in trays of food and drink.
“I’m afraid we don’t have any intoxicating refreshments for you,” Adri said as the service began. “Only water … or milk, if you prefer.”
“Water will be fine for me,” Jordan said.
“You don’t produce any wine?” Brandon asked.
With a slight shake of his head, Adri replied, “Oh, yes, we do. But we rarely drink it, especially during the daytime.”
Brandon looked puzzled by that, but Jordan thought, Different customs. Our biochemistry may be the same, but our social customs aren’t.
Adri cocked his head, as if listening to something that only he could hear. Then, looking down the table at de Falla and Meek, he announced, “Gentlemen, your robot has arrived with food from your supplies.”
At that moment, the chamber’s main door opened and the humanform robot rolled in, bearing a knapsack slung over one shoulder. It headed directly toward Jordan.
Pointing, Jordan told the robot, “Deliver to Dr. de Falla, please, and Dr. Meek.”
The aliens watched interestedly as the robot brought containers of food and bottles of water out of the knapsack and laid them before Meek and de Falla. Then it rolled back to the door and left the room.
Rising to his feet at the head of the table, Adri said, “Well, now that we all have been served, I suppose we can begin.” Raising his glass of water, he proclaimed, “Welcome to New Earth, gentlemen. May your stay with us be pleasant and instructive, for both of us.”
“Hear, hear,” said Jordan.
The food was excellent, Jordan thought. A salad of greens, a main course that looked and tasted like roast beef. Darkish bread, something like rye. Jordan saw that Brandon ate with relish.
Aditi, sitting between Brandon and de Falla, asked the geologist, “May I try a taste of your food?”
De Falla looked surprised. He glanced at Jordan, who nodded an okay, thinking, Our thin sandwiches aren’t as tasty as their beef. Nutritious, yes, but not haute cuisine.
Sure enough, Aditi took a bite from the half sandwich de Falla had handed her, made a smile for him, and left the remainder on her dish.
As the servants began clearing away the dishes, Meek yelped and jumped out of his chair. “A rat!” he shouted. “Look, it’s a rat! Two of them!”
De Falla hopped up from his chair, too. Brandon half-rose.
Jordan saw a dark furry creature about the size of a rat scurrying along the floor. It dashed under the table and out the other side. None of the aliens seemed in the least bit perturbed, although Adri rose to his feet.
“I must apologize,” he said. “These creatures have been developed to clean the floor. They are not vermin, they are rather like the machines you use to sweep your floors. Vacuum cleaners, I believe you call them.”