Chapter 1

The ship spiraled out of hyperspace and into the new solar system. We had traveled for a week getting out of our home base and then traversing hyperspace to the first new system. We hoped it would have a habitable planet to explore which would be better than the last systems I had seen.

We were on Confederation Ship CS-E-156, called the Blue Dolphin. The E was for exploration, which was our primary mission. Beginning with the one hundreds, the ships were made larger. Too many of the prior ships had been lost because of problems and loss of crew with not enough people to survive and return. Our ship's company was sixty-four people, men and women, as usual. Exploring was risky but paid well. The crew had a survivors' clause, which meant that crewmembers dying on the trip would have their pay shared equally by the survivors. If the entire crew didn't make it, our pay would go into the survivors' fund for all explorers.

We had left no dependents behind. We would create no new dependents on the trip as all of us were given birth control good for two years, more than the expected duration of the trip. That was a requirement of the Confederation for all exploring missions. On this trip, there was only one acknowledged couple. Our astrogator and her assistant were officially together but they both joined in our shipboard fun enthusiastically.

Traveling from solar system to solar system was boring once you set your course. The rest of the process was practically automatic. Myra and Tom were good and plotted our course carefully. I had shipped with them before and they knew their stuff when it came to astrogation.

I guess I should introduce myself. I am the First Mate for the Blue Dolphin and my name is Frank Houston (pronounced House-ton) from New Georgia. New Georgia was settled about one hundred fifty years ago directly from Earth and had a warm, comfortable climate. My ancestor was from Georgia of North America and brought the name of the area with him along with his name. As First Mate, I led the on-planet exploring parties and was second in command overall.

We were headed to our second planned stop. Our first never put us on the surface. The natives had gone nuclear in their last war. Most of the planet was radioactive. Even the air was poisoned. We documented our findings and set our course for the next system on our list.

The initial view of our new system looked promising with a G class star and planets with one in the right zone. We moved steadily toward it on our pulse drive. We began to scan for any sign of current or prior human types. The two best finds for us would be an advanced civilization with or without space travel or for an empty, living world. If the former, we would try to make friends. If the later, we would land to truly explore the area trying to determine if our scans had been correct. There were a surprising number of earth type planets with no sapient species ever having developed. It makes you realize how lucky we are to exist.

I had been on three other exploration ships and this one was no exception. Sex occurred frequently and orgies were not uncommon. My first exploration trip was as a team leader on one of the smaller ships. The astrogator and I were the only two survivors of the voyage. The next voyage saw me as leader of the scout troop and eventually First Mate and then Captain on our return. It had been bloody on the last planet of that trip with large, predatory beasts.

This planet looked good from space. There were no signs of technology emanating from the planet which, while it didn't rule out intelligent beings, made the likelihood that there was not much in the way of civilization We placed the ship in orbit around the planet that we called, "Two," for the moment since it was the second from this solar system's sun.

As we orbited, we checked for cities or any signs of civilization and found nothing. Our science team guessed that this world was at an early time in its history compared to Earth or just never developed intelligent life. The first was more likely than the later in the experience of the exploration corps but that was the initial reading of the age of its star. It was now time to land. The Blue Dolphin would not land but had landing ships, which we could use. Our landing ships could hold ten. I wanted to take Team A and four scientists for this first trip. It was policy that the First Mate was first to land.

The landing ships were simple to fly and I enjoyed flying them. Our pilots didn't like that as they would be sitting out our first trip. I found a grassy plain and landed somewhat in the middle of it. Amy Madison, a scout, asked me why and I told her that I didn't want anything sneaking up on me. The grass was no more than knee high.

Amos Tisdale, a meteorologist, took his readings and pronounced the air breathable. He said, "It's good air though a tiny bit heavier in oxygen than Earth normal. It's a late spring day for a temperate climate where we have landed. We have a breeze blowing lightly from the north. Will is running his checks on the contents for any dangerous bacteria or the like."

Will pronounced the air safe a few minutes later. We would still use the air lock and go through decontamination on our return. The lock could handle two comfortably and three in a pinch. I said, "Mary, you and I will go first with full arms and armor." My first boss died because there was nothing obvious when he stepped out. I tried to learn.

We went through the air lock and stepped out onto the surface of Two. As stated, it was a bright, sunny day and felt like spring in New Georgia. Mary and I stayed together and went around the ship in a big circle at about one hundred meters from the hull. I had her looking in, down, and up while I watched out, down, and up. I was wary and hoped I was wary enough. In the distance, I saw some movement but it was more than a kilometer away. I called to the ship and requested they turn a camera in that direction and focus in on whatever it might be.

"Frank, it looks like a herd of animals coming this way. They're not coming very fast but are bearing on us."

"Roger. We're headed inside until we find out what's coming and its or their intentions."

We went back to the air lock and closed the door. I plugged my commo unit into a socket on the wall. "Control, we're inside and not cycling. Put a picture on the screen and follow it as whatever it is approaches." Mary had plugged her comm-link in beside mine. We watched the screen as it lit and looked curiously at the herd or whatever that was coming our way. The camera focused in on the leading edge and I suddenly worried. It appeared that the land was being denuded by whatever was coming. I said, "Start cycling us through. Ready this ship for take off. When those things are one hundred meters away, lift off without further orders or regard to any person's safety. Hover at two thousand meters."