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Thin fingers of purple and yellow vegetation reached up over the silver fence. Beyond them, far off in the distance, the ground ascended steadily to three rounded peaks. On top of those hills sat clusters of gigantic purple and yellow balloons, looking like markers for some colossal birthday celebration.

“You’ll have plenty of time to examine everything in the next few days,” Gage said. Even the Lasker brothers were staring around in fascination. “Right now I want you all inside. I’m very surprised they haven’t come out to meet us. I’ll just say this about Solferino: This place is the most Earth-like world we know—except, of course, for Earth itself. But that doesn’t tell you half the story.”

He began to walk the group toward the buildings at the edge of the clearing.

“The fact is, Solferino is the most Earth-like extrasolar planet that humans have ever encountered, by every measure that you care to choose. Grisel is a little bigger and cooler than the Sun, but the temperature range over much of Solferino is something you can tolerate. Gravity is only slightly different from Earth, and the day just one hour longer. The planet has one big moon—a very significant fact in shaping the development of life, if the archaeo-biologists are to be believed.

“Most other planets that humans have visited haven’t developed life of any kind. They are of value only for mining and minerals. And if they do have life, it’s single-celled organisms. This is the only place we know, other than Earth, where complex, multi-celled life has developed. With minor lung modifications to accommodate differences in oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor, you can breathe the air. This is also the only place where living things exist that we can clearly recognize as plants and animals. My next stop, for example, will be Merryman’s Woe. On that planet, all we have found so far are cyanobacteria and things similar to slime molds—very valuable, maybe, but not remotely like multi-cellular plants and animals. But Solferino life is amazingly Earth-like. Many of the animals have internal skeletons and backbones, the same as we do. The plants have discovered the use of cellulose, which makes large organisms possible, like the ones over there.” He pointed to the huge balloons on the distant hills. “Those really are plants, though you might not think so when you first see them. So when you walk around on Solferino, don’t think about how different it is. Think how like Earth it is, and be amazed.”

“Well, isn’t that truly, truly wondrous.” That was Sig Lasker on Josh’s left, speaking too softly for Bothwell Gage to hear and mimicking the instructor’s high-pitched and nasal voice. “Hey, guy, you don’t have to do a sales job on me. We wanted to come here—though I’m not sure we’d have been any worse off if we’d stayed in the Pool.”

Josh was inclined to agree. Listening to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Stacy, you’d think that Solferino must be some sort of heaven. The real thing was strange, and definitely scary. What about that tall, silvery fence? It surely hadn’t been built to keep anything in. What was it keeping out?

“Animals with internal skeletons and backbones,” he said aloud.

Dawn was walking at his side. She didn’t look at him, but she added, “Lions and tigers and bears.”

Everyone turned in unison to stare at the silver fence.

“Not quite,” Gage said. “The most advanced—or at least, the most intelligent—animal on Solferino, so far as we know, more resembles another of Earth’s larger species, the panda. Solferino life forms need their own classification system, but in our terms the nearest thing would be the Procyonidae family—which includes pandas, and also our friend the raccoon, whom you all know well.”

The whole group, with the exception of Dawn and Bothwell Gage, exchanged looks that said, We’ve got a real bunghead here. Josh couldn’t speak for the others, but he knew that he had never seen a raccoon. He wasn’t sure they weren’t extinct outside zoos and private collections. Who did Gage think he was dealing with? Rich kids who lived out in the country and took walks on closed game reserves?

“They term that animal Procyon solferino pseudolotor,” Gage continued, unaware of the trainees’ reaction. “A bit of a mouthful, so it’s more commonly called a ‘rupert.’ One reason for the fence, apart from holding back the taller vegetation, is to keep animals like the ruperts out. Some of them like to lie in the open, and they get in the way. They used to be flattened by the landers, because they wouldn’t move. I suppose that smartness is relative. The rupert is reputed to be quite intelligent, but extremely shy. However, I’m not sure that I believe either of those statements. No Solferino animal has a great need for cunning and wariness, nor is there a logical reason for it to be shy. Maybe they mean that it is nocturnal, and only comes out at night. The larger native beasts are also, so far as we know, all vegetarians.”

So far as we know—there it was again. It was another way of saying, we don’t know. Josh, walking along last in line, wondered. What did people actually know about Solferino?

“And of course, there are some major differences that you might not notice unless you look for them.” Gage waved his hand upward. “For example, no Solferino animal has ever mastered the air. You will seek in vain for birds, bats, and flying insects. Plants, however, are another matter.”

They had reached the buildings, which put an end to Gage’s well-meaning tutorial and mystifying final remark. He had been striding ahead at an increasing speed that suggested uneasiness on his part. He hurried straight into the central building, and the trainees followed. They found themselves in three connected rooms, two dormitories with a combined kitchen and living area between them. As Josh closed the door—a broad flexible skirt on its edge provided a perfect air seal—he heard a mutter of equipment coming to life in the ceiling. A current of cooler air blew from wall vents.

Bothwell was emerging from one of the dormitories. He shook his head in bewilderment.

“Where can they be? There’s not a sign of them. Stay here while I check the other buildings. But surely they would have come out when they heard the lander? You can take your masks off now, by the way. You are in a closed environment designed to match Earth’s atmosphere in composition.”

“No sign of who?”

It was the obvious question, but only Sapphire Karpov was bold enough to ask it.

“The other people.” Gage realized that was not enough explanation. “We weren’t supposed to find this place deserted. Our arrival was expected. I am supposed to depart at once in the Cerberus for another node transition, and begin my work on Merryman’s Woe. There should be Foodlines teachers and scientists waiting for you, as well as someone in charge of the kitchen and general maintenance.”

“You mean we won’t be able to eat?” Rick Lasker made it clear where his worries lay.

“Oh, certainly you will. There are ample supplies.” Gage waved at a line of storage cabinets along the kitchen wall. “And the autochefs are good ones, they can handle most things you are likely to ask for. My worries are more general. A failure of organization like this is quite unusual.”

“Why don’t you call Foodlines headquarters and ask them?” Amethyst said. “They must know. Or see what the other Foodlines groups here can tell you.”

That produced a strange expression on Bothwell Gage’s face. “You don’t seem to understand, my dear. We are twenty-seven light-years away from Foodlines headquarters. A radio signal would take that many years to travel there. The only way to get a message to headquarters in a reasonable time is by taking it back through the network nodes we used to come here. That would be hugely expensive, but it suggests another thought. If the others are already here and for some reason beyond the fence, messages may have been left in the camp’s communications center. I must check.”