The Visitors Chapter 05

F'lar and Lessa were standing in the shadow of the ship from outer space. They'd been called down from Benden because D'ram thought they should know about this, but now that they were here, there didn't seem to be much for them to do.

"Can we take any good guesses about what will happen next?" F'lar wondered.

"Word of this is going to spread all over Pern," Lessa decided. "The Lord Holders will soon start arriving on dragonback, demanding to know everything there is to know about that spaceship, and its intentions, and what we're going to do about it. The Weyrs have already been exposed to spaceships, so they probably won't care unless something bad happens. The Crafthalls... well, the traditional ones will go about their business, and the new ones that were formed under AIVAS's influence will be consumed alive with curiosity. The Abominators are going to have a heart attack when they hear about this! Maybe we should post some guards, just in case."

"We also ought to get a Harper down here," F'lar nodded. "We want this news to go out in a way that makes sense to people, and won't cause panicky speculations. Controlling the news is a Harper function."

He had barely finished speaking when two big bronzes appeared in the sky above them. The dragons circled the spaceship several times.

"The lead dragon is Lioth from Fort," F'lar decided. "He'll have Lord Groghe on board. The second one looks like Heth, so he is probably bringing Lord Toric from Southern."

"I can deal with Lord Groghe," Lessa commented. "He's demanding but fair-minded. Lord Toric, on the other hand, is probably thinking of reasons why he should be suspicious of us. Let's get D'ram and Lytol to join us for moral support. This could be quite a confrontation." F'lar nodded and went to find the two overseers of Landing. The four of them were ready when the two dragons landed and their distinguished passengers dismounted. The bronze riders followed them at a respectful distance.

Toric stood a few inches taller than Groghe and was a good deal more energetic, but the Lord Holder of Fort was considerably senior to him and he knew it. He held back his urge to stride straight over to the Benden Weyrleaders, and stayed a step behind Groghe with barely-concealed impatience.

"Lord Groghe, Lord Toric, welcome to Landing," D'ram said calmly. "You obviously have seen our visitors from outer space."

"It was most kind of you," Toric said scornfully, "to have invited us to see it as soon as you knew about it."

"We were waiting until we had something solid to report," Lessa said, trying to keep the stress level in the discussion low. "All we know so far is that it's here, it's damaged, and they want to make repairs. The Smiths have agreed in principle to help them."

"Do they pose a threat to any of us?" was Groghe's first question.

"No, they do not," F'lar answered. "Only one man has gotten off, and he has been very polite and friendly, once you learn to understand his accent. He is presently in one of the computer conference rooms, talking to Mastersmiths Fandarel and Terry about the repairs that his ship needs. We believe that there is a very small number of people on board. There is no reason to think that they have any malicious intent. They seem to be shipwrecked mariners from the stars, and nothing more."

"Have you made any attempts to contact the other people on the ship?" Toric demanded.

"Lord Jaxom, Piemur, and Jancis went on board a while ago," Lytol replied. "Piemur and Jancis came back a few minutes later; Piemur looked very disturbed. Lord Jaxom is still on board,"

"What did they see while they were inside the ship?"

"Lord Toric, we don't know," F'lar said. "The young Harper and his lady friend walked away as soon as they got off the ship, and we haven't seen them since. If Lord Jaxom was in any danger, then Ruth would have communicated that to the other dragons, and there has been no such communication. We have seen and heard nothing that suggests any kind of hostile intent."

"You always assume the best about people, Benden," Toric growled.

"That attitude has served me well, Lord Toric," F'lar replied peacefully.

"So, what are you going to do?" Groghe wanted to know.

"There doesn't seem to be much for Lessa and me to do, so we'll probably return to Benden Weyr soon," F'lar answered. "I'm sure that D'ram, Lytol, and the smiths have the situation well in hand. I was arranging for a Harper to come here and create a news story to be spread to all the Holds and Halls when you arrived."

"Can't Piemur do that?" Toric asked. It was a reasonable question, but at the same time, Piemur was being groomed to become Southern Hold's official Harper, so he would probably take Toric's side in any interpretation of the news.

"If he can overcome his personal issues with the situation, then yes, he can," Lessa answered smoothly. "But something on that ship shook him up badly, and I'm not sure he's able to function as a Harper in this matter. We will definitely find out what he saw and heard, but that could take time, and you have correctly noted that we should not waste any time informing the rest of Pern about this." He looked around Toric and called, "N'ton, I hate to make this request of you, but are you willing to return to Fort and bring one or more Harpers here? We want their ability to describe unusual things in a way that explains them clearly and doesn't cause panic."

"I'm willing," N'ton said. "Lioth informs me that word of this spaceship has already reached the Harper Hall, and both Sebell and Menolly have donned their flying clothes and are waiting impatiently for a dragon to bring them here. Lord Groghe, may I go and get the Masterharper without inconveniencing you?"

"You may," Groghe said shortly. He was staring at the spaceship, tall and stark against the afternoon sky.

"We'll be back soon," N'ton promised, turned, and left at a run. His dragon took off soon after and vanished between.

"I'm surprised that the other Lord Holders aren't here yet," Groghe said distractedly. "This is big news. They ought to see this, all of 'em."

"How did you find out about it?" Lessa asked him.

"The dragons are talking to each other," he replied. "My fire lizard Merga picked up on some of it, but all she could tell me was something big that just arrived in Landing. I asked the Fort Hold watchdragon's rider what was going on. He told me what little he knew. I decided to find out more."

"Likewise," Toric added. "Those fire lizards can't speak in words, but they can share pictures with their minds, and the picture I got was something new, big, and almost in my back yard. Of course I needed to know more!"

Lessa hid a wry face. Landing wasn't even close to Toric's back yard! But he tended to think of all the Southern continent as his own personal property, awaiting ways for him to circumvent the will of the Weyrleaders and the other Lord Holders so he could take authority over it. Anything he learned about this spaceship would be weighed solely on the basis of the potential advantage it gave to him and his plans for expanding his Holding.

"If that's the case," F'lar thought out loud, "then all the Lord Holders with fire lizards are probably learning something about this spaceship already. They'll be requesting transportation from the Weyrs so they can see it for themselves."

"We're going to have a crowd here," Lytol nodded. "I'll notify the cooks to prepare extra food for tonight's meal." He bustled off toward the kitchen building.

"A good idea," Groghe nodded.

"Are you telling me," Toric said with rising irritation, "that an unknown craft from outer space just landed on our planet, and the biggest worry you have is how to feed all the spectators?"

"We do have one sincere concern," F'lar said. "The Abominators. They're not going to like the presence of this ship here. We were thinking of posting some guards around the ship, to make sure nothing bad happens."

"I'll supply the men for that," Toric snapped. "The last thing I want is some kind of incident that will make that ship turn hostile toward us! I can put twenty-four men on guard, four watches of six men each, as soon as the Weyr provides transportation for them."

"Will any of those men cause an incident themselves?" Lessa asked.

"They'll obey orders," Toric said tightly.

"Thank you, Lord Toric," F'lar replied politely. "That will be helpful."

"I'll speak to K'van about providing the transportation," Lessa added.

"Then I'll send a note home by fire lizard, ordering twenty-four men with weapons to be ready to fly here and stay for a while." He called to one of his fire lizards and began writing a note, using one of Bendarek's paper sheets and a writing implement from the same source, made of wood with a dark-gray center. Lessa thought, Toric certainly has his faults, but he is no Abominator!

Meanwhile, on board the ship, Jaxom was answering Helva's questions as fast as she could ask them, and working in a few questions of his own. She called up a map of Pern on the main screen; he looked around, over, and under Ruth to name the main Holds and Weyrs, and identified the major landforms as well. He answered her questions about Hold, Hall, and Weyr, about dragons and fire lizards, about Thread and AIVAS and Landing. She also asked him about Sharra and his sons, subjects about which he was only too happy to talk. When she asked about music, he had to shrug.

"I'm sure it's just a matter of time before some Harpers arrive to check you out," he explained. "Music is their stock in trade. They can explain it better than I ever could."

"But you must have a favorite song or two," she protested.

"I don't want to offend you with my singing voice," he answered.

"I wouldn't be – oh, two more dragons just arrived! Big ones!" She put them on the screen.

"The one in the lead is Lioth, N'ton's dragon from Fort Weyr," Jaxom said confidently. "The one behind him... I don't know. I'm sure the Weyr dragonriders can recognize him on sight, but I only know the ones I've repeatedly flown with. Each of them has a passenger, but they're too far away to identify, and –"

Helva suddenly zoomed the view much closer. Jaxom was startled, but went on, "...and even if they were closer, they're wearing riding gear so I can't see their faces."

The one in back is Heth. He brings Toric from Southern. Lioth brings Lord Groghe.

Jaxom smiled. Ruth's bias was evident; he identified the dragons, not the riders, and he expressed his low opinion of Toric by neglecting to mention his title. "Lord Groghe of Fort is rather brusque and strong-willed, but he's a reasonable man and he's a fine Holder, well-respected by all the others. Lord Toric is... well, he is a very ambitious man."

"You don't like him." Helva's comment wasn't a question.

"He is my wife Sharra's brother, and she is barely on speaking terms with him. His relations with me are correct, but distant. He's done a lot with Southern Weyr, which didn't even exist until he started taming the land, but I don't trust him as far as I could throw him. None of the other Lord Holders do."

"Will I get to meet these men?" Helva wondered.

"I doubt it," Jaxom decided after a moment. "They're the kind of men who like to let others gather the facts and bring a report so they can make their decisions. If they're still here when I return to the ground, they'll have all kinds of questions for me, but 'Can we go aboard?' won't be one of them."

"So I'm surrounded by a planet full of people who supposedly don't exist," Helva mused, "and I only get to meet one of them?"

"I'm sure that's a temporary state of affairs," Jaxom reassured her. "Once the dust has settled, I'm sure that D'ram will want to talk to you, and when a Harper arrives, he'll be very eager to meet you. I'm quite sure about that. Piemur will be back, once he's had some time to get more comfortable with the idea of a shell person, and he'll bring Jancis with him. The fact that I've been here will mean that some of the younger Lord Holders will also want to come aboard, like Lord Asgenar and Lord Larad." He paused. "There will be others, too. I'm sure of that."

"So you can count my potential visitors on your fingers?" she asked, a bit harshly.

"Surely you wouldn't want all of Pern trooping through your command center?" Jaxom countered.

"Well, no," she admitted. "But I'll probably never come here again; you're kind of out of the way; so I'd like to meet as many of you as possible, or as many as is feasible, while I can."

Jaxom considered that. "If it wasn't for AIVAS, you'd have visitors lining up to come aboard. But when we found AIVAS, all the curiosity-seekers came, heard his voice, saw nothing, and left. A few of them came with specific, self-centered questions, and they left when he couldn't answer them. Once people know what kind of person you are, and that you can't leave the ship, they'll treat you a lot like an AIVAS, except that the curious ones are no longer curious, and the ones with self-centered questions will assume that you don't know. That will leave a much smaller number of people who will actually want to talk to you face-to-face... well, you know what I mean." He paused again. "Just out of curiosity, do you have access to a bank of knowledge, like AIVAS did?"

"I do have a lot of data at my disposal," Helva said, "but most of it pertains to space flight and the planets I'm likely to visit. I can't imagine that much of it would be of any interest to a planetfull of people who have chosen a non-technical lifestyle."

"Do you have anything about healing and medicine?" Jaxom asked.

"Only broad historical facts, and instructions for emergency procedures," Helva answered.

"Ships and fishing?"

"No, nothing like that."

"Mining for ores and metals?"

"No."

"Raising livestock?"

"No."

"Agriculture? Textiles? Leatherwork? Winemaking?"

"No, no, no, and no. I've got lots of star charts, though."

Jaxom shook his head. "Then, aside from Starsmith Wansor, you won't get many visitors from the Crafthalls. The exceptions will be the Smiths, because they'll be working to repair your damage, and the Harpers, whom I've already mentioned."

Helva sighed. "That damage! We were right on schedule to pay off our debt to Central Worlds in about seven years, and then this had to happen! Now I hope Niall lives long enough to see us pay off."

"Is it a lot of money?" Jaxom wondered.

"More than you could probably imagine," she said bitterly. "I can't even be sure how much damage that impact did, because some of my cameras and sensors in that area were wiped out along with everything else."

"There isn't anything we on Pern can do to help with the paying-off part, is there?" he asked.

"That's a noble thought, and I appreciate it," she said, "but unless you have a fortune in gold and gemstones stashed away somewhere, and you're willing to give them to me, then no, there isn't anything you can do."

Jaxom considered that. "We do have gemstones here on Pern, but all of them are spoken for. Most of the Lord Holders have a few good ones hidden away for their ladies to wear on special occasions, but no one has a fortune. I'm sorry."

"I didn't really think you could help," Helva replied, "but I do appreciate the thought. Actually, maybe there is something you could do. If we could take one or two of your dragons with us, or just the eggs..."

"That's impossible," Jaxom said firmly. "A queen dragon won't let her eggs out of her sight until they hatch. Once they hatch, they have to Impress a human rider right away, or they'll die. They accompany that human wherever he goes for the rest of his life."

"So we can't take a dragon unless Niall becomes a dragon rider," Helva realized. "I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen. What about the little ones, the fire lizards? A few of those, sold as pets, wouldn't pay off much of my debt, but they'd help."

That would be unkind to the fire lizards, Ruth interjected.

"That probably isn't a good idea, either," Jaxom said. "You can't take a fire lizard anywhere unless he wants to go there, and they won't go with a person unless they're Impressed on that person, which has to be done at hatching. The eggs have to be kept very warm in buckets of sand until they hatch. The moment they hatch, you have to stuff their faces with food and think kind thoughts at them. Otherwise, they'll grab any food they can find, even if that means turning on each other, and they'll remain wild animals."

"It sounds like I'm very good at coming up with more work for Niall to do," Helva said. "How many fire lizards can one person tame?"

"Most people have their hands full with one. My wife has two, and they keep her hopping. Menolly, the harper, has her own fair of ten fire lizards, and she needs help at feeding time. If you think Niall can care for a fair of those lizards, please think again, especially if you don't carry raw meat on your ship. And if he did Impress them, they would never leave him, so he couldn't sell them as pets."

"Okay, I'll cross that idea off, too," Helva sighed. "You do have some treasures on this world, and it sounds as though they can't leave Pern! What a frustrating place. Oh, I'm sorry; I'm a guest here and that wasn't a very kind remark."

"No offense taken," Jaxom said amiably. "I'm sure our ways are very different from what you're accustomed to."

"I'm just a bit frustrated, that's all," Helva replied. "I'm surrounded by unfamiliar wonders, but when I get back to known space and make my report, I won't bring anything with me except pictures to back up my story."

Would it be all right if I left? It is rather cramped in here.

"Ruth would like to step out," Jaxom said.

"I know. He talks to me in my head," Helva replied. "I don't mind if he leaves. I'll count it a privilege that he joined me for a while. As far as I know, no brainship has ever played hostess to a dragon before!"

Jaxom, I will wait for you on the ground. Helva, I am glad I met you. You are a nice person. But your control cabin was not made with dragons in mind.

She laughed. A moment later, Ruth flicked between and was gone.

"Helva..." Jaxom hesitated. "About that report that you have to make. How detailed does it have to be?"

"Why?"

He stretched his legs out; there was room for them, now that Ruth wasn't taking up most of the cabin. "There are a lot of people here who like their simple, slow-moving lifestyle just fine the way it is. A few of them, the ones we call the Abominators, might actually get violent if a bunch of people from other planets showed up here, talking strangely and bringing unfamiliar ways and devices with them. A few of us might welcome some visitors from way-out-there. I think the majority would prefer it if the rest of the galaxy could just leave us alone. That's why our ancestors came here in the first place; maybe it's in our blood. But if you tell the galaxy all about us, and our dragons, and our fire lizards, then all of your scientists who want to make a name for themselves by discovering something new will descend on us like Thread. Your people will probably turn our world and our culture into one big experiment, and the Pern we know and love will be gone forever."

"Hmm." Helva considered that. "You're probably right. That's exactly what will happen. There was another colony that dropped off our radar years ago, on a very remote planet called Exador III. They got their colonial charter, they loaded their ships, they headed out, and then... somehow the paperwork disappeared into that bottomless pit called 'the bureaucracy,' and we forgot all about them. A few centuries later, a prospector looking for minerals stumbled across them. They were living a rough existence, but they had worked out a way of surviving on a world that wasn't as friendly as we all thought it was, and they were proud of that."

"Did they have Thread, or something like it?" Jaxom asked.

"No, they had solar storms. Every seven or eight years, their sun would become super-active for a few hours. The day and time were unpredictable. Anything on the lit side of the world would get a massive dose of solar radiation. Every building the people built was made of thick stone for that reason. The ones who were indoors when the sun flamed up would usually survive. Some of the people outside might make it into their underground shelters, if they were close enough when the radiation started. The others... well, the ones on the dark side would wait it out, then spread out into the irradiated zone, help to bury the dead, replant the crops, and keep their culture going."

"Wow," Jaxom intoned. "Compared to a threat like that, I'll take Thread any day! At least we know when Thread is coming, and we can fight back against it."

"The people of Exador III weren't exactly used to it, but that was their world and they lived with it. But our sociologists and our psychologists wanted to know how they dealt with the stress of knowing that any day might be their last, and they all booked passage to the Exador system as fast as ships could bring them there. Within ten years, the whole culture failed, not from the strain of the solar storms, but from the strain of having so many outworlders among them.

"They had some suicides and some substance abuse, but mostly, the people just lapsed into apathy. They knew that the scientists would keep them alive to study them, so they had no motive to maintain that life-and-death struggle against their own sun. The farmers stopped putting all their efforts into farming, the fishermen stopped putting all their efforts into fishing, and the whole planetary economy shifted from subsistence living to pleasing the sociologists. The culture collapsed under its own weight, and when the next solar storm hit, no one felt like rebuilding. Exador III is almost abandoned now, except for a few hardy religious hermits living in stone buildings, and the mineral prospector who rediscovered it in the first place. I hear that he's a rich man; he found what he was looking for, even if no one else did."

"I do not want that to happen to Pern!" Jaxom said emphatically, banging his fist into his palm. "Helva, I don't know how you're going to arrange it, but you can't tell them about us! Please!"

"Jaxom, I don't know how I could do that," Helva said apologetically. "My navigation logs will prove that I was here, so I can't lie about that. As for who and what I found here... I'm filling my data storage with pictures and videos of the people of Pern, your dragons, your fire lizards, and the village you've built here. I'm not willing to delete them all! That would be like erasing my own memories. Are you asking me to do that?"

"I'm asking you to not destroy us," Jaxom nearly pleaded.

Helva repeated, "I don't know how I could do that."