"I've lived a survival lifestyle. I would not be surprised to learn that the population fell to a million or so, or that there are less than ten million there now, total. The cities are certain to be ruins by now, even if they weren't destroyed in the unrest." He looked at each of them. "You, gentlemen, will certainly be the most technically sophisticated people on that world." He chuckled. "They'll probably call you 'wizards'."
Perez shuddered again. "It would be like settling a cemetery. Or robbing a corpse."
Zant snorted. "Ridiculous! Those people killed their world five hundred years ago. Should we allow their descendants to live a stone age existence and allow a prime agricultural planet to go to waste?"
Belen turned to his companion. "There are no rotting corpses there, Humberto. Just ruined cities. Five hundred years ago is ancient history. At least wait until these people complete their survey before you dismiss it so casually."
Perez looked doubtful, but he nodded.
Belen turned back to Cale. "So. What will you do? How will you proceed?"
Zant replied smoothly. "As with all aspects of our program, The client has many options for the survey, each building upon the last.
"All of them start with gathering all available records. We know that Jumbo was completely terraformed, and can support human life. We will, of course, get the terraforming records, to compare with the results of our own survey. From there on, the simplest and least expensive option is a simple orbital survey. The scouts will orbit the planet, take sensor readings, and produce a 'ball of twine' three-dimensional map of the planet from orbit. Optionally, we can equip them with probes they can send down to the planet for detailed examination of likely sites.
"The next level includes actually landing on the planet, for 'hands-on' examination. If you wish, a low-level 'ball of twine' map can be built from flitter flights. That, however, is quite a costly operation."
Cale smiled. "You see," he explained, "first, such a map would take weeks, perhaps a month, to complete. And then, of course, the map must be made by day, and we are certain to be seen and perhaps even pursued by the locals." He shrugged. "The risks are high, and price reflects that." He shrugged. "Since Jumbo is so large, we may have to ground overnight several dozen times, at various locations."
Zant nodded and continued. "The danger element is why we do not recommend that option. A more reasonable option, however, is for the scouts to actually ground and contact the 'natives' . . . "
"If any," Padilla said, dryly.
Zant nodded. "If any. The scouts will ground in a settled area and attempt to actually talk with a few of the residents, to get information on the current residents' culture, and perhaps guidance on possible colony sites. The scouts will be disguised, of course, but they will still risk discovery."
Belen nodded. "I see. And if they should receive such guidance, does this option include an examination of the site?"
It was Cale who nodded. "If possible. You must realize that primitive people will have different criteria than we, and different standards. What may seem a paradise to a bronze-age barbarian may seem a wild wasteland to us. Also, much of what we are told will likely be tales and legends. Extensive travel is a feature of mechanized cultures. However, we would do our best to locate several desirable sites for your selection."
"They will return here with their data," Zant continued, "and you will review the information and decide on a probable location, and more importantly, learn much about the planet and its people. Jumbo is large; there are almost certainly huge expanses of uninhabited land. So, you may choose to locate far from other humans, and leave contact to your children and grandchildren.
"On the other hand, we may find that the locals have a culture with which you can trade, or even commingle profitably." He shrugged. "At that point you can begin the actual preparations for the colonization. You can, of course, decide to start over with another planet; but as you can imagine, that can be costly."
"Well," Cale put in before anyone could reply, "unless you have some questions for us, we'll get out of your way and let you get down to business."
"I have some," Perez said. "Tell me a bit about your ship, young man. I do not care to send you off to die. Is your ship fast? Is it armed? What are its capabilities?
Cale smiled. "She's Cheetah, a stinger-class Empire courier converted into a yacht. She's quite fast, and she is armed with a laser and an Alliance quickfirer. She's quite a capable ship, and I wouldn't take Dee into a possibly risky situation if I didn't believe we can handle it."
Perez smiled and shook his head. "Ah, the assurance of the young. An unknown planet, people possibly reverted to savagery or worse, yet you are smiling and at ease. I envy you, young man."
Cale's smile widened. "I'm honored by your concern, sire. But we will return, and with good news."
Padilla turned back to Zant. "Yes, there is that. How far away is this planet? How long will this scouting trip take? I would like us to be moving within the year, before the election." Belen nodded his agreement.
"Jumbo is three jumps from here," Zant began. "But one of those jump points apparently leads only to Jumbo, so it probably hasn't been used for centuries. The old records indicate an apparent travel time of about three weeks each way. Add in a month for the survey, and some fudge time, and we're looking at about three months, ship time, and almost six months planet time."
Padilla frowned. "Six months! That's nearly half our lead time."
Zant's professional smile turned to a genuine grin. "Don't worry, sire Padilla. You will be quite busy. There is much we can do while we wait."
Belen turned a significant glance on each of the others before he replied, "Assuming we agree, how soon can you start? As Sire Padilla mentioned, time is not our friend, here. Once the election takes place, we can expect immediate and massive changes."
"Cheetah is fueled and ready to lift," Cale put in. "We could gather the records we need and lift off in less than a day."
"Yes," Zant chimed in. "As soon as you gentlemen can agree on the options you prefer for the survey, we can send these two off, and begin discussing more detailed plans and timelines."
The three put their heads together, speaking quietly in Santiagan for several moments. Finally they straightened, and Belen said, "Very well. We will fund the survey, at the prices we discussed before. We will want a ball-of-twine orbital planetary map, and we will wish the scouts to actually talk to the 'natives', if any. We will wish to know as much as possible about their culture and level of civilization. We will expect at least three recommendations for possible colony sites with detailed data on each. Two should be in inhabited areas, if any, and the third should be in an unoccupied area, the more isolated, the better. All three should include evaluations of their potential for agriculture, and should include soil samples."
"Agreed!" Zant's grin was wide, his handshake firm. He turned to Cale. "You heard him Cale. Go to it!"
Cale grinned, but it was Dee that replied. "Thank you, gentlemen. On Faith we have a tradition called a 'honeymoon'. You have just made it possible for me to have one!" She grabbed Cale's arm possessively, and walked him out.
They did launch within the day, but only barely. It took much longer than expected to gather the old Empire records from their dusty repository. Cale decided he had depended entirely too much on Tess' encyclopedic memory banks.
Tess was Cheetah's artificial intelligence. Cheetah was not originally Cheetah, and she was not an Empire Stinger class. She had been built as the yacht Rimrunner some 430 years ago, just before the Empire Rim Sector became the Alliance of Rim Worlds. At the time, the rim had been the most technologically advanced sector in man-settled space, and Rimrunner had been built with cost no consideration. The rim world techs built better than they knew, for Rimrunner's AI, Called Kaleen at the time, was, or became, sentient, a thinking being.