A light patter of raindrops above his head strengthened the feeling that he was crouched in a forest of mauve umbrellas. Did they furl when high winds came, or close at night when there was no sunlight?
The umbrella forest seemed so peaceful that Josh hadn’t given a thought to animal life. A rustle of brittle stalks behind him changed that in a moment. He spun around, sure that no matter what Bothwell Gage might say, he might be attacked.
It was Dawn. She seemed at ease in the purple gloom, slipping toward him like a graceful ghost through the tangle of thick stems.
He reached out to the side of the balloon plant to steady himself, and was astonished to find that it was warm. He jerked his hand away as if the rough surface might burn him.
A warm-blooded plant? Well, why not? On Solferino, anything seemed possible. He felt as out of touch with things here as Dawn had been on Earth.
“What have you been doing?”
She didn’t answer—he hardly expected her to—but she was cuddling something close to her chest. It was a stuffed toy, a pudgy, misshapen little elephant covered with tiny silver beads. Josh wondered how she had managed to smuggle it all the way from the farm without anyone finding it in a baggage check. Sapphire had done the same thing with her triple-snap. Maybe he was the dumb one. Maybe all the other trainees had found a way to bring with them something they specially liked or needed.
Then he noticed that the little stuffed toy was moving. A blind head turned toward him. The trunk waved, and membranes like delicate, iridescent ears spread wide on each side. He heard a series of clicks and chirps. The silver beads expanded like opening flower buds, turning the outer layer to bright orange feathers. The creature was suddenly twice as big and nothing like an elephant.
“Dawn—put it down.” But as soon as he said that, he changed his mind. “No! I mean, don’t put it down. Don’t let it go. Come with me.”
They had to hang on to the animal, take it back, and make sure that it hadn’t hurt Dawn to hold it. Suppose the scaly beads or the orange feathers were poisonous?
He reached out his hand. She took it in one of hers, still holding the thing—elephant, dragon, lizard, whatever—to her breast with the other. But she offered no resistance when he towed her toward the gate.
If only Brewster were up and about, and somewhere that they could talk to him…
Josh pushed Dawn into the clearing ahead of him. As soon as they were through the gate he realized that finding Sol Brewster would be no problem. The man was standing outside, staring up. So was Sapphire, without a triple-snap tube in her mouth. So was Sig, so was Topaz—they were all there. They had noticed what Josh, in his worry about Dawn, had been deaf to.
He could certainly hear it now, and he could see it, too. Another lander, smaller than any that Josh had encountered before, was approaching. While the whole group watched, the little vessel drifted in. It settled lightly, rolled forward, and came to a stop no more than twenty yards from where they stood.
Compared with Sol Brewster’s arrival the previous day, what followed was an anticlimax. The woman who emerged had nothing of Brewster’s overpowering presence. She was short and fat, with vague blobby features and mousy fair hair. You wouldn’t look at her twice in a crowd. The yellowish tinge to her complexion suggested that free fall agreed with her even less than it had with the Lasker brothers. Her approach to the group was not so much a walk as an uncertain waddle.
Even so, Sol Brewster seemed disconcerted. He stared at the approaching woman, his jaw slack and his mouth open.
“What the devil,” he said.
The new arrival glanced at the rest of the group but walked at once to Brewster. She made an obvious effort and stood up straight. “Mr. Brewster? My name is Winnie Carlson. I am reporting for service.”
“What the devil!” Brewster said again. He paused, took a deep breath, and went on, “What’s happening here? What are you doing on Solferino?”
“Huh? Sir, are you Solomon Brewster?”
“I am.”
“Good.” The woman smiled. “Then I’m in the right place.”
“You are in the wrong place. I wasn’t expecting any new people.”
It was the woman’s turn to look bewildered. “You weren’t? I’m sorry, sir, but the information should have been provided to you. I was sent here by Foodlines HQ. They told me Solferino has been a maintenance technician short for nearly five months.” She patted half a dozen different suit pockets, and at last brought out a small card. “Here. Take this, if you don’t believe me, and have a computer read it. It spells out my qualifications, work experience, assignment dates, duties on Solferino, everything.”
Brewster took the input card but he didn’t look at it. Instead he said, “You’ll work for me, and do exactly what I tell you?”
“Yes, sir. Those are my instructions.”
“And you were never on Solferino before?”
“No, sir. All I know about this planet I got from reading about it. I did a lot of reading while I was waiting to be transferred out.” Winnie Carlson glanced nervously around her, as though comparing what she had read with everything from the distant purple hills to the tall fence and the cluster of orange-yellow buildings. “I have a list of the original equipment that was shipped here, and I know the maintenance schedules. Some of your machines are long overdue for service.”
“True.”
“I can take care of that, sir. Also, I was told that you have trainees here.” She nodded toward Josh and the others. “They should be taught how to look after equipment. I can set up service rosters to include them. Subject, of course, to your review and approval.”
Brewster hesitated. “We’ll discuss that later. But just now I want to talk to you in private. I agree that the trainees ought to be working, but I’m not sure I trust some of this crowd to blow their own noses. Come on.” He started toward one of the buildings.
“Sir!” Josh’s cry was urgent. He was afraid that his chance to ask about the animal was disappearing.
“What do you want?” Brewster turned his head but did not break stride.
“That, sir.” Josh pointed. The silver beads had closed tight, and the delicate ears were furled. The creature again looked more like an midget elephant than a lizard. “Is it dangerous?”
Brewster offered one quick look. “Of course not. Perfectly safe. Everything around here is safe, didn’t Gage tell you? That’s only a spangle.” As he vanished through the door he added, “Don’t eat it, though. Your internal flora and fauna may not be quite right yet.”
As Brewster and Winnie Carlson vanished inside, the others moved to crowd around Dawn. Even if she had reacted normally to questions, they came too fast to answer.
“A spangle. What’s a spangle?”
“Where did you find it?”
“Eat it. Yuck. Were you going to eat it?”
“What are ‘internal flora and fauna’?”
“Are there any more where you got it?”
“Look at the little trunk.”
“It’s opening its wings!”
And finally, overriding everyone else, “Don’t touch it!”
That came from Sapphire. Ruby was reaching her hand out to stroke the silvery beaded back. Ruby ignored her sister and touched the spangle anyway.
“It’s gorgeous,” she said. “I want one just like it. He told us it isn’t dangerous.”